“Oh!  I like to play in the snow,” he said.  “I like to play in the snow.”

Plump!  Something hit Bunny on the head.

“I like to play, too,” some one called to the rabbits.

Bunny looked up to see who was talking.

Plump!  Something hit him right on the end of his nose.

“Hello, Bunny!” called Bobby Gray Squirrel.  “I hit you that time.”

“Come down here and I will catch you,” said Bunny, as he rubbed his little pink nose.

But Bobby only laughed and ran higher up among the branches of the oak tree.

“I will catch you some day,” said Bunny as he hopped away.

“Oh, no!” answered Bobby.  “You can never catch me.  You cannot climb a tree.”

The three rabbits soon found some tender little roots hidden under the blanket of snow.

“This is a good breakfast,” said Bunny.

“Yes, it is a very good breakfast,” said Billy, as he nibbled on the root he had found.

At last Bunny jumped up and shook his long ears.

“I have finished my breakfast,” he said.

“So have I,” said Billy.

“So have I,” said Bobtail.

“Now we can make a long slide over in the meadow,” said Bunny.

“I know where we can make the best slide,” said Bobtail.

“Where, where?” asked Bunny.

“Over on the hill beside the pond,” said Bobtail.

“That is too far away,” said Billy.  “I think I will go home.”

But Bunny and Bobtail would not let him.  They took hold of his hand, and made him hop along with them through the snow.

“Where are you going?” called Bobby Gray Squirrel.

“Follow us and you will see,” answered Bunny.

“Oh, no,” said Bobby.  “I like best to run about in this big tree.

“After I have found something to eat I shall curl up in my warm nest and go to sleep.

“Summer is the time to play, but winter is the time to sleep.”

II

The little rabbits hopped off through the woods.

Soon they came to the long hill.

They stood at the top of the hill and looked down at the pond.

“Is the ice thick on the pond?” asked Bunny.

“Oh, yes,” said Bobtail.  “Jack Frost covered the pond with ice last night.”

“But Mr. Sun is shining to-day,” said Billy.

“Sometimes he turns the ice back to water again.”

“I know that ice is very thick,” said Bobtail.

“All right,” said Bunny; “now let’s make the slide.”

Bunny hopped down the hill and made a little path in the snow.

Bobtail hopped down the path after him.  Then Billy hopped down the path.

The three rabbits hopped up and down the path until the slide was smooth and hard.

At last Billy said, “Now let’s try the slide.  Here is a sled that belongs to one of the boys.”