“Come, come,” said Bunny.  “We must find that clover patch.  I am as hungry as a bear.”

So the three little rabbits hopped off across the meadow.

They could not hop so near the brook now because the ground was soft and wet.

And the rabbits did not like to wet their feet.

They hopped along, and at last Bunny called out, “Here it is.  Here it is.”

Billy and Bobtail hopped up close to Bunny.

Sure enough, there was the biggest patch of clover they had ever seen.

And how green every leaf was!

The clover was all in blossom, too.

The white blossoms held their heads up to the sun.

The sun smiled to see the pretty white flowers among the green leaves.

Many bees were flying over the clover patch.

They were asking the blossoms for nectar to make sweet honey.

“Buzz, buzz!” sang the bees, as they flew from flower to flower.

II

Bunny and Billy and Bobtail began to nibble the greenest leaves.

They nibbled and nibbled and nibbled.

The bees buzzed and buzzed and buzzed.

“What good honey we can make,” said the bees.  “Clover honey is best of all.”

“Oh, how good this clover is,” said Billy.  “I am glad I came so far.”

“Yes,” said Bunny.  “It is the sweetest clover I ever tasted.”

“Yes, it is,” said Billy.  “I—­

“Oh, oh, oh!” he cried.  “Oh, my nose!”

Billy jumped up and hopped round and round.  He rubbed his nose and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

Bunny and Bobtail stopped eating, and went to see what had happened to Billy.

“What is the matter?” asked Bunny.

“Oh, my nose!” said Billy.  “I took a bite of clover and something stung me on the nose.”

A bee flew up from the clover and sailed round and round in the air.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz!” said the bee.  “I stung your nose, Billy.  I thought you were going to eat me.”

Bunny saw the bee flying round and round over their heads.

“It must have been a bee that stung you,” said Bunny.

Billy looked at the bee.

“I am going home,” he said.  “I did not want to come so far anyway.  There are plenty of good things eat in our own field.”

So Billy hopped along home very slowly.

He stopped every few steps to rub his poor little nose.

Mother Rabbit saw him coming and went to the door to meet him.

“What is the matter?” she asked.

“I went to the meadow to eat clover,” said Billy.  “The bees were there and one stung me on the nose.”

“Rub your nose in the dirt and that will make it feel well again,” said Mother Rabbit.

Billy put some dirt on his nose, and the pain soon went away.

Then Mother Rabbit took him to a place where the grass was tender.