Bitsy Bunny Learns A Lesson

Far away from your home, deep in the forest, is a very special place. It is called Magical Wood. Some very special animals live here in Magical Wood. If you walk to the old fallen tree (which is the home of Mr. & Mrs. Robbie Raccoon), and turn right, you will find the home of Mr. & Mrs. Bunny and their little girl, Bitsy.

Now, everyone in Magical Wood knows the Bunny family. That's because most everyone, at one time or another, has had to help poor Bitsy out of trouble. Bitsy was the most curious bunny anyone had ever seen, and she was always getting into mischief.

One rainy spring day, Mama Bunny was doing some spring cleaning while Bitsy was playing in her room. But Bitsy became bored and began to wish she could play outside. How could she play outside today she wondered? Well, if she were a duck, she could play outside.

That's it! What a great idea, thought Bitsy! She closed her eyes and imagined Mrs. Duck and all her ducklings laughing and splashing in the pond. Bitsy knew what she had to do. It was simple. She would become a duck! That way, she could play outside in puddles all day long and have lots of fun!

So, Bitsy slipped out the back door and began to be a duck! She was splashing in some puddles when Mama looked out the window and saw her. You could imagine her surprise seeing little Bitsy, soaked to the skin, walking and splashing in the rain! Mama quickly went to the back door and opened it.

"Bitsy! Bitsy Bunny! You come in here this minute!" called Mama.

"But Mama," Bitsy said, " I’m a duck, and ducks don’t have to come in when it rains!"

"Young lady," Mama said, "You are not a duck. You are a bunny, and I want you to come inside right now!"

So Bitsy went inside and Mama helped her dry off and gave her some hot carrot soup to warm her up.

"Bitsy," Mama said while Bitsy was eating her soup, "I know that you like to play pretend, but you must not forget that you are still little, and the Wood can be a dangerous place for such a curious little bunny."

"Oh Mama," replied Bitsy as she got up from the table and headed towards her room, "Little ducks are always careful!"

The sun was shining brightly the next morning, and so, after a tasty breakfast of carrot pancakes and milk, Bitsy was off to find her friends.

Down at the pond, all of Bitsy's playmates were frolicking about. The Opossum Triplets, Tillie, Willie and Millie, were chasing each other up and down an old tree. And over by a large, hollow log, the Raccoon Twins, Tim and Tom, were trying to catch a lizard that they were playing tag with.

Everyone was having such fun, but the friends Bitsy really wanted to play with were right in the middle of the pond! The Ducklings were having a ball! They were diving and swimming and splashing about. They looked as if they were having such a good time!

Bitsy decided she wanted to swim and splash, just like the ducklings, so she backed away from the pond and then began to run towards it just as fast as she could! Mrs. Duck saw her coming and started to yell for her to stop, but it was too late!

With one mighty jump, Bitsy Bunny landed right smack in the middle of the pond!

All of a sudden, Bitsy realized something very important.

She didn’t know how to swim!

Bitsy began to shout for help!. Everyone in the pond began swimming towards her, just as fast as they could. Old Mrs. Swan got there first and dove under the water and came up right under Bitsy!

"Now, just hold on tight Bitsy," Old Mrs. Swan said, "And I'll get you to shore. Then you can tell us why on earth you jumped in the pond when you know perfectly well that bunnies are supposed to hop, not swim!" When they reached to the shore, Bitsy hopped off and between hiccups and tears, she thanked Mrs. Swan for saving her. Mrs. Duck and her ducklings came waddling out of the water and they all gathered around poor Bitsy, who was crying quite loudly by now!

"Bitsy," said Mrs. Duck, "What ever were you thinking! Do you know what could have happened to you if Mrs. Swan hadn't been so quick? Well, I don't even want to think about it!"

"I'm so sorry," sobbed Bitsy. "I wanted to be a duck so much that I thought I could make it happen!"

"You want to be a duck?" asked the Ducklings. "Why would you want to be a duck? We have to stay near that silly pond all the time and we get soaked every time it rains! It would be so much fun to be able to play tag and run in the grass and have dry feet. Every time we see you playing in the field, we wish we were you!

Well, Bitsy could not believe what she was hearing! Could it be that being a bunny wasn’t so bad after all? She did so enjoy warm carrot soup in front of the fire on stormy nights. And she loved to scamper through the fields, and play hide-and-go-seek, and she loved to smell the wildflowers.

Being yourself is a pretty good thing after all, she realized!

After Bitsy finished talking with the ducklings, Mrs. Duck walked the very wet little bunny home. When they got there, Mrs. Duck explained to Bitsy’s Mommy what had happened. "Bitsy promise me you’ll never to do anything so foolish ever again", said Mrs. Bunny.

"I promise", said Bitsy.

Bitsy’s Mama thanked Mrs. Duck and gave Bitsy a big hug. Then she took Bitsy inside, dried her off, and rocked little Bitsy Bunny to sleep.

Interim Illustrations Courtesy of Bedtime-Story