“You may come out from behind the rocking horse now, Easter bunny!” said Raggedy Andy.  “Fido will not hurt you, now that he knows, will you, Fido?”

“Indeed I won’t!” Fido replied.  “I’m sorry that I chased you!  And I remember now, I had to jump over a basket out by the shed!  Was that yours?”

“Yes, it was full of Easter eggs and colored grasses for the little girl who lives here!” the bunny said.

When the Easter bunny found out that Fido and the dolls were his friends, he came out from behind the rocking horse and hopped across the floor to the door.

“I must go see if any of the eggs are broken, for if they are, I will have to run home and color some more!  I was just about to make a nice nest and put the eggs in it when Fido came bouncing out at me!”

And with a squeeky little laugh the Easter bunny, followed by Fido and all the dolls, hopped across the lawn towards the shed.  There they found the basket.  Four of the lovely colored Easter eggs were broken.

“I will run home and color four more.  It will only take a few minutes, so when I return and scratch again to make a nest, please do not bark at me!” said the Easter bunny.

[Illustration:  The Easter bunny]

“I won’t!  I promise!” Fido laughed.

“May we go with you and watch you color the Easter eggs?” Raggedy Andy begged.

“Indeed you may!” the Easter bunny answered.  “Can you run fast?”

Then down through the garden and out through a crack in the fence the Easter bunny hopped, with a long string of dolls trailing behind.

When they came to the Easter bunny’s home, they found Mama Easter bunny and a lot of little teeny weeny bunnies who would some day grow up to be big Easter bunnies like their Mama and Daddy bunny.

The Easter bunny told them of his adventure with Fido, and all joined in his laughter when they found it had turned out well at the end.

The Easter bunny put four eggs on to boil and while these were boiling he mixed up a lot of pretty colors.

When the eggs were boiled, he dipped the four eggs into the pretty colored dye and then painted lovely flowers on them.

When the Easter bunny had finished painting the eggs he put them in his basket and, with all the dolls running along beside him, they returned to the house.

“Why not make the nest right in the nursery?” Raggedy Andy asked.

“That would be just the thing!  Then the little girl would wonder and wonder how I could ever get into the nursery without awakening the rest of the folks, for she will never suspect that you dolls and Fido let me in!”

So with Raggedy Andy leading the way, they ran up to the nursery and there, ’way back in a corner, they watched the Easter bunny make a lovely nest and put the Easter eggs in it.

And in the morning when Marcella came in to see the dolls you can imagine her surprise when she found the pretty gift of the Easter bunny.