Well, after he had hopped along for maybe a million hops or less, hecame to a little deer on a smooth lawn. So he stopped and spoke tohim, but the pretty little beast never said a word. He didn't evenlook at the little rabbit, so Billy Bunny touched him on the nose,but, oh, dear me! It was cold and hard, not at all like the nose of areal little deer.

But the little bunny didn't know it was a marble deer. He just thoughtit was alive, you see, and he was puzzled and didn't know what to doAnd then a lovely black dove flew down and exclaimed:

"He can't speak. He's only a statue."