Early one morning, as the sun was rising, a little fox named Finn was sitting on a hill that sloped down to a pretty meadow. Finn’s mother told him to get up by sunrise and eat his breakfast, for he had lessons to learn. But there was no breakfast at that time of day. So, as soon as he woke up, Finn trotted away to see if he could find Benny the rabbit.
As he looked over the hill, he saw his friend coming, and by the time Finn’s mother came out of the house, they were together in the meadow.
Finn’s mother called him, and when he came home in the evening, she asked him what he had discovered in the meadow. Finn said that he had met Benny the rabbit, and they had hunted under the bushes, and played hide-and-seek in the tall grass, but he had found nothing out of the ordinary.
“Oh, did you not?” said his mother. “Do you know what I found in the meadow?”
“What did you find?” asked Finn.
“I found the mews kicking up her heels, and I found two chickens from Farmer Brown’s coop, and I found Mr. and Mrs. Bullfrog singing on the bank at the marsh. You must go again, Finn, and see if you cannot find out more about these new peas and cabbage plants that Farmer Brown has set out.”
Finn promised he would, and, as soon as there was light enough next morning, he seized Benny by the back of the neck and set off for the meadow again.
“Good friends are few and far between, so stick to me,” said the rabbit, and off they went together over the hill.
But they had hardly arrived at the foot of it before Finn stopped short and began snuffing up the morning air with his nose. Then he pricked up his ears and listened. After that he turned to Benny and said, “Don’t you hear that horrible noise? It sounds as if someone was pulling the town by its nose and calling to it to come along.” Finn was dreadfully frightened and stopped still. Benny laughed and laughed until he was out of breath.
“That’s only Jason and his friends,” said he; “but you must not lose your fine nose for that.”
So they went on towards Bennett’s Point, Finn smelling the grass and Benny nipping off a sprig now and then.
“It’s very pretty and new.” said Finn. “This is the first time that I ever saw these dense muzzles growing on the new peas and cabbage plants. And they are especially nice muzzles, too,” continued Finn, for he was nipping off a bud which had not swelled up into a muzzle and was nicely crimped all around the edge.
“You wouldn’t do for a housekeeper, Finn,” said Benny. “And if you were to keep house yourself, you would starve.”
“Why, what about my nose?” Finn asked.
“Your nose would not keep the pot boiling,” was the reply.
Finn thought Benny could not be so very wise after all, but as Finn had never kept house, of course he did not know how many very hard things a person has to find out.
After this they had a very merry time until it was time for Finn to go home and see if his mother missed him. So they set out together, and when Finn reached the top of the hill he stopped and turned around.
“Good-bye, Benny,” he said. “I shall be in Bennett’s Point all the time next week and if you like we can play together there?”
“Good-bye, Finn,” said Benny, with a hop and a jump, and all evening and all the next morning they both thought of each other and of the prospects of exciting adventures that were to come to both of them in the coming week.