THE MISSING PICNIC FOOD
Once upon a time there
was a forest fire in a big, big forest. All the little animals that lived
there ran as fast as they could to get away from the hot flames. Squirrels,
raccoons, foxes, snakes, turtles, rabbits, mice and many other animals had to
find new homes. Some of them went to other forests, some of them went to
parks, and some of them actually had to make their little homes in the yards of
human beings, or, people.
Far, far away from the
fire was a house where three little children lived. Their names
were Thomas, Kathy, and Carrie. They all went to school but on this
September day it was Saturday. They had been playing all morning.
Now it was lunchtime. They were hungry. They asked their mom if they
could have lunch, and she said, "Why don't you have a picnic in the
yard"?
That sounded like a
great idea, but WHERE in the yard? So Mom told them to lay a picnic cloth
in the green grassy grass near the scruffy old juniper bushes. While they
were doing that, she would make some celery sticks, carrot sticks, and some
yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
When the kids had spread
out the picnic blanket, they ran into the kitchen and asked if lunch was
ready. Mom told them to take the carrot sticks and plates out to the
blanket, and to take their drinks also. So Thomas, Kathy and Carrie took
these things out to the blanket and arranged them carefully. Then they ran as
fast as they could, huffing and puffing, back to the kitchen and said to Mom,
"What else have you made so far"? So she said, "I've got
your celery sticks cut up for you now – run these out to your picnic
blanket." So out ran the three kids as fast as they could go to add
these to the carrots on their plates.
But when they got to the
blanket, something was wrong. Where were the carrot sticks? They
were all gone! "This must be a trick," said Kathy. "Let's
leave the celery sticks here and see what happens!"
Then they ran as fast as
they could back to Mom, who by now was making the peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches. They told her that someone had stolen the carrot sticks. She
said, "You're kidding!" and they said "Come on – we'll show
you!"
Mom hurried out with
them to the picnic blanket. But now, not only were the carrot sticks
missing, but the celery sticks were gone, too! Mom said, "Maybe one of
your neighbor friends is hiding them just to be silly."
So everyone spread out
and looked behind trees, bushes, and just about everywhere.
Unfortunately, they couldn't find the carrots, the celery, or anyone hiding.
Finally Mom said,
"Well, your drinks are still out here. Let's get your sandwiches.
You guys go ahead and eat them out here and maybe something will turn up."
So Thomas, Kathy and
Carrie sat down to their picnic and they ate their sandwiches. Of
course, while they sat there, they couldn't help but look around for the sneaky
celery and carrot thief.
They were just about
finished eating when Carrie looked over at the juniper bushes and saw
something move. She softly said, "Shshsh!" to Thomas and Kathy.
"There's something wiggling over there! See the bushes
moving?" So everyone sat very still, and a little brown animal came
to edge of the bushes and looked at them. It was a rabbit. Quietly
it went back into the bushes.
"I have an
idea", said Thomas. "Let's get more celery and carrots, and see
if that rabbit is our thief. We'll put them at the edge of the bushes,
and watch from the window."
They quietly went back
into the house and got Mom to cut up more celery and carrots. They
carefully put them down near the bushes and walked back to the house. As they
watched, the little rabbit came out and grabbed the vegetables in his mouth and
carried them back into the juniper bushes. Mom had watched, too, and she said
that she had never seen a rabbit in the yard before. She thought that
maybe because of the forest fire, he had needed to look for a new home.
"Maybe we can keep
feeding this rabbit, and he will stay here for a long time," said
Mom.
That is just what they
did. They fed the little rabbit every day. A few weeks went
by. The weather turned cooler and finally winter came and they didn't see the
rabbit. Sometimes they would take food out to the edge of the bushes, and
sometimes the food would disappear, and other times it just stayed there.
All winter they worried about the rabbit – was he cold, was he scared, did he
move somewhere else?
Finally, spring
came. They watched for the rabbit day after day. In early
April, the day before Easter, when the trees had just a few leaves, Thomas,
Kathy, and Carrie took the food out to the bushes, and as they watched, the
little rabbit came out and grabbed it! Whatever he had done during the
winter, he was OK now!
The kids continued to
feed him, and one day, the little rabbit came out to get his food, and he
had four little rabbits with him! Their rabbit was a Mommy rabbit!
So from that time on, the kids fed the rabbits, and year after year,
there was always a little rabbit family that lived in their scruffy old juniper
bushes.
source : http://www.bedtime.com
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