But all the animals were asleep, and nobody at all looked at Little Jack Rollaround except an old White Owl; and all she said was, “Who are you?”

The little boy did not like her, so he blew harder, and the trundle-bed boat went sailing through the forest till it came to the end of the world.

“I must go home now; it is late,” said the Moon.

“I will go with you; make a path!” said Little Jack Rollaround.

The kind Moon made a path up to the sky, and up sailed the little bed into the midst of the sky.  All the little bright Stars were there with their nice little lamps.  And when he saw them, that naughty Little Jack Rollaround began to tease.  “Out of the way, there!  I am coming!” he shouted, and sailed the trundle-bed boat straight at them.  He bumped the little Stars right and left, all over the sky, until every one of them put his little lamp out and left it dark.

“Do not treat the little Stars so,” said the good Moon.

But Jack Rollaround only behaved the worse:  “Get out of the way, old Moon!” he shouted, “I am coming!”

And he steered the little trundle-bed boat straight into the old Moon’s face, and bumped his nose!

This was too much for the good Moon; he put out his big light, all at once, and left the sky pitch-black.

“Make a light, old Moon!  Make a light!” shouted the little boy.  But the Moon answered never a word, and Jack Rollaround could not see where to steer.  He went rolling criss-cross, up and down, all over the sky, knocking into the planets and stumbling into the clouds, till he did not know where he was.

Suddenly he saw a big yellow light at the very edge of the sky.  He thought it was the Moon.  “Look out, I am coming!” he cried, and steered for the light.

But it was not the kind old Moon at all; it was the great mother Sun, just coming up out of her home in the sea, to begin her day’s work.

“Aha, youngster, what are you doing in my sky?” she said.  And she picked Little Jack Rollaround up and threw him, trundle-bed boat and all, into the middle of the sea!

And I suppose he is there yet, unless somebody picked him out again.

FOOTNOTES: 

[14] Based on Theodor Storm’s story of Der Kleine Haewelmann (George Westermann, Braunschweig).  Very freely adapted from the German story.

HOW BROTHER RABBIT FOOLED THE WHALE AND THE ELEPHANT[15]

One day little Brother Rabbit was running along on the sand, lippety, lippety, when he saw the Whale and the Elephant talking together.  Little Brother Rabbit crouched down and listened to what they were saying.  This was what they were saying:—­

“You are the biggest thing on the land, Brother Elephant,” said the Whale, “and I am the biggest thing in the sea; if we join together we can rule all the animals in the world, and have our way about everything.”