The Bunny’s Book

It is spring in an enchanted place we all know of, and perhaps even visited once in our childhood daydreams.

The doors of a small general store fling open. A wolf is clutching a small rabbit by the scruff of his neck.

“No money, no service!”

The wolf sends the rabbit flying through the air, skidding through the dirt as he lands.

“Please!” the rabbit squeals to a slammed shop door.

Head down, ears drooping, the rabbit starts down the path to his burrow. He drags a black, rabbit-sized journal by a rose colored ribbon through the moss and pebbles, while its empty pages fill with dirt. The distant sound of drumming against the path almost goes unnoticed by the rabbit. The rhythm crescendos and lifts his head to a white horse thundering toward him. The rabbit dives out of the way and into the brush, while his journal tumbles across the path. As the dust settles, he spots the ribbon through the bushes, and sees a strange bundle has landed on the rest of the book.

The rabbit approaches it, pushing his nose against the fabric. He begins to push again, harder as his paws scuttle into the earth. He tries desperately to free his empty pages as hours pass, and the sun begins to set.

Puffing heavily, the rabbit pauses. He notices his paws have made small trenches in the soil of the path. He swipes at the loose dirt, and begins to burrow vigorously. When he joyously bursts through the surface, finally reunited with his pages, he realizes the bag is nowhere to be found. He looks up; the rabbit’s dirty face meets the archer’s.

“You squished my journal!” The rabbit squeaks. He crawls angrily out of the hole, preparing to pounce on his enemy, when the archer places three gold coins in front of the rabbit. The plinking of gold against the dirt catches the rabbit’s attention.

“For finding my parcel, I thank you.” And with a snap of the reins, the archer disappears into the night.

The rabbit, eyes wide with hope, sniffs at the coins. They flicker in the moonlight as he scurries excitedly, lifting the back of the journal and sweeping the coins into the cover pocket. With his heart thumping, the rabbit bounds back home.

The next morning, the rabbit snatches his journal and leaps into town.

Out of breath, he reaches the wolf’s shop. He takes a gold coin in his mouth and taps on the door.

The wolf opens it. “What do you want? You heard what I said yesterday!”

The rabbit lays the coin on the doorstep, and smiles.

“Two pencils please.”

The End