14 Carrot Rabbit

14 Carrot Rabbit takes place during the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) - "where men were men and women were women....a darn good arrangement" - and centers on Yosemite Sam (here as Chilkoot Sam) who steals other people's gold. The story begins with an old man named Louie slouching by a river, washing the gold he has in a pan. Sam suddenly appears and, using his guns and his reputation, scares Louie off and claims the gold. When he sees how little he has actually stolen from the old prospector, Sam says, "Picking's mighty slim around here, hardly no reward for a day's work." Sam takes the gold to Pierre, who runs the "Next to Last Chance Saloon", to trade it for money. After the weigh-up, Sam is furious to find out that Pierre can offer only $10 for the gold.

While Sam complains about this ("It's getting so a man can't earn a dishonest living!"), Bugs Bunny wobbles into the shop carrying a gigantic piece of gold. Pierre's comments to Bugs indicate that this is not the first time he has brought in such a chunk. In lieu of cash, Bugs gets paid off in carrots. Sam, speechless, watches Bugs leave; Pierre explains that Bugs always gets a "funny feeling" when he is near gold.

Armed with this information, eager to pursue his own underhanded ambition, Sam goes after Bugs...whom he manages to secretly observe get that "funny feeling". Bugs starts digging, only to unearth a lost collar button, which he discards. Sam then reveals himself and suggests that the two of them become partners; when Bugs locates gold, Sam will dig it up and split it with the rabbit in a 50/50 deal. Bugs looks at the camera and wiggles his eyebrows with a smirk, demonstrating that he is not taken in by the conniving Sam. Bugs plays along...asking if the deal is "honest and for true". "Sure," the claim-jumper replies. "Square-Deal Sam, they call me." They stroll off together and soon Bugs, in his unusual way, indicates that he has found gold. He points out the spot to Sam, who proceeds to dig...and abruptly dissolves his partnership with Bugs. The double-crossed Bugs notices that Sam is about to dig through a cliff and into a lake hundreds of feet down. Bugs feels he cannot "do that to the little guy" and tries to warn Sam, who yells at him to shut up. His conscience clear, Bugs chews on a carrot as Sam indeed digs through and plummets into the lake.

Bugs heads downhill, knowing Sam will show up shortly. When Bugs hears him coming, he starts digging; Sam immediately accuses Bugs of trying to get the gold for himself and grabs the shovel, hypocritically complaining, "That's what I get for trusting a rabbit". As the thief digs ever deeper, it turns out he is in a loaded dump truck. Bugs drives to a cliff and empties the load over the edge. Oblivious, Sam keeps digging until he finds himself upside down, gazing out from the bottom of the falling soil pile ("Great horny toads! I must've dug clean through to Chinee!"). His fall is broken by hard ground.

Enraged, Sam vows to chase Bugs through every state in the Union, and literally does, until the rabbit suddenly has another "funny" moment. In spite of thinking Bugs is again tricking him, Sam cannot resist the desire to dig for gold. He does so and indeed finds tons of it. ("I'm a Zillionaire!"). However, it turns out that Sam has dug up the United States Gold Reserve in Fort Knox, Kentucky. He is hauled off to the stockade by a couple of Military Policemen, while Bugs bids him farewell ("So long, Sam; see you in 20 years."). A third Military Policeman asks Bugs, "And what are you doing here?"; Bugs nervously explains that he is waiting for a streetcar. At that moment an ocean liner appears on the scene. Bugs is not stymied, "But, in a spot like this, a boat will do!" With that, he rushes aboard to make his getaway.

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)
• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• List of Yosemite Sam cartoons

Wikiquote has quotations related to: 14 Carrot Rabbit

• 14 Carrot Rabbit at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• 14 Carrot Rabbit at IMDb