HC-66, Box 11014
Pahrump, NV 89048
Copyright © 1999 by W. E. Lopez
Boo-bah's Thanksgiving
By
W. E. Lopez
Boo-bah didn't need anyone
to tell him that he was lost. The
little bunny had been exploring when the snow began to fall around
mid-day. He knew that he should hurry
home but hadn't realized how far away it was.
It seemed the faster he hurried to get home, the faster the snow would
fall. After several hours it began to
grow dark and Boo-bah decided to look for a warm place to spend the night. Perhaps this would be a grand adventure he
could tell his brothers and sisters about.
In spite of his warm fur,
Boo-bah was beginning to get chilled in the cold fall air. The fresh snowfall began sticking to the
pads of his feet as he hopped across the fields and through the trees searching
for familiar landmarks that would lead him safely home. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't see
anything he recognized through the swirling snow.
It was nearly dark when he
saw the small building. He had never
seen a man made structure before and wondered what it was. At least he might be able to get inside and
find a warm place to sleep protected from the wind and snow.
Boo-bah approached
cautiously and saw a tiny door set low to the ground that he would have no
trouble entering. He poked his nose in
and sniffed the air. It didn't smell as
comforting and inviting as the burrow where he lived with his family, but at
least it wasn't cold. Slowly he took a
few steps into the darkness. He was on
a wooden floor that wasn't very soft and when he found a sort of ladder he
began to climb.
Soon he reached a level
where there were many large boxes filled with straw. Even though it was very dark he could make out the faint shapes
of birds sleeping, one for each box.
These birds didn't look the same as the hawks and falcons his parents
had told him to be afraid of so Boo-bah decided to investigate further. Quietly he hopped until he was very close to
one of the birds who was fast asleep with it's head curled back upon it's
shoulder. Boo-bah could feel the
wonderful warmth of being so close to the bird and decided to snuggle up next
to it.
He put one trembling paw
upon the straw, and then another. Soon
he was safely snuggled in and ready for a good night's sleep. He lay his ears flat along his back and put
his little pink nose between his paws and in no time at all he was fast asleep.
The sky had just begun to
brighten in the east when Boo-bah was rudely awakened. "Cock-a-doodle-doo," he
heard. Boo-bah had never heard anything
like that before! It was a dreadful
sound!
"Cock-a-doodle-dooooooo!" it came again. Boo-bah was so frightened he darted from the
warm box where he had slept and fell a short distance to the wooden floor. He scampered into a corner and tried to make
himself very tiny.
The chickens in the hen
house were accustomed to the racket when Sunrise called the sun up each
morning; but they were frightened by the furry little thing scampering beneath
them. "Squawk!" they
cried. "Squaaaaawwk!" They began jumping from their nests and
running from the hen house and out into the snow and making a great commotion
by flapping their wings and squawking loudly.
Bluster the dog was
attracted by the commotion. He came
running around the Lovely house from where he usually slept beneath the front
porch. He stuck his nose into the door
of the hen house but he was too big to enter himself. Nevertheless he could smell the presence of a stranger in the hen
house.
"Woof! Woof!
Woof!" Bluster growled.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-woof!"
"Whatever is the matter
with my hens?" Sunrise the Rooster asked Bluster as he jumped down from
the top of the hen house.
"There's a stranger in
the hen house, Sunrise. It might be a
fox or a weasel trying to steal the eggs or kill one of the hens."
"Nonsense,
Bluster! My nose may not be as good as
yours may, but I can surely smell a fox or a weasel if they try and get into my
hen house. It's probably just a mouse, or
maybe Rupert came in from his tree to sleep where it is warm with my hens. I'll just go in and check."
The minute Sunrise said
those words he regretted his impatience.
He was after all, a chicken, and he would have felt better letting
Bluster see what was in the hen house.
But, he gathered up all the courage he had and strutted into the hen
house. When his eyes became accustomed
to the dimness, he could see a tiny ball of fur cowering in one corner.
"Hello," said
Sunrise. The little ball of fur seemed
to be afraid of Sunrise. "I won't
hurt you. Why don't you come outside
where we can talk?"
Boo-bah peeked from between
his paws. "You promise you won't
hurt me?" he asked.
"Of course I
promise," Sunrise said. "I'm
the rooster in charge of this hen house and you have frightened all my
hens."
"But what about that
bear out there?" Boo-bah asked.
"The one that was growling at me?"
"That wasn't a bear,
little fellow. That was Bluster. He's a dog that Farmer Lovely keeps to guard
the farm. Bluster is a nice dog and he
wouldn't hurt a tiny thing like you?"
Sunrise had only seen a rabbit a few times near the pasture, but he knew
a rabbit would not hurt him.
"He won't eat me?"
Boo-bah asked with huge eyes and a trembling voice.
"He won't even bark at
you unless you are causing trouble. I
promise you; Bluster is a good friend of mine."
So Boo-bah decided to trust
this rooster and went out side with him.
By now, Rupert the Squirrel, Steady-boy the mule, Porker the Pig,
Giselle the Goat, and Leroy and Laverne the Llamas had all gathered around the
hen house to see what the commotion was all about.
They looked at Boo-bah and
Steady-boy said, "Why, it's only a baby rabbit! He looks awful frightened too!"
Indeed, Boo-bah did appear
frightened. His nose twitched and the
hide beneath his gray fur jerked with tiny spasms of fright. He wanted to run back into the hen house and
climb the ladder and burrow down into the nice soft straw and hide.
"You're a cute little
bunny," said Giselle. "What
are you doing in our hen house?"
"I was 'sploring
yesterday when it began to snow," Boo-bah said. "I tried to find my way home but I got lost and when I saw
this house I just crawled in to keep warm and go to sleep."
"Oh, you poor little
thing," Laverne said. "The
snow has covered all the grass and you must be starving also. Why don't you come into the barn where we
live and have some nice fresh hay? We
have plenty left over from dinner last night."
"Yes, let's go into the
barn," said Porker. She didn't
like the snow either, for she had no fur and was very cold when she was
outside.
The animals went into the
barn and Laverne made sure that the little bunny had some fresh hay for
breakfast and also some water to drink.
"What's your name,
bunny?" Leroy asked. "Where
do you come from?"
"My name is
Boo-bah," the rabbit said. "I
live with my parents, Bob and Brenda, and I have four brothers and
sisters. But I don't know where I live
because I got lost yesterday. With all
the snow on the ground and the fresh snow which fell during the night, I don't
know which way to go to find my home."
"You just finish your
breakfast," Laverne told Boo-bah.
We'll ask Diane the Dove if she will fly out and look for your family so
we can take you home. While she is out
you can stay and have Thanksgiving dinner with all of us, won't that be
nice?"
"What's a Thanksgiving
dinner?" asked Boo-bah.
"It's when Farmer
Lovely and his wife celebrate the harvest each year, and the whole family gets
together to express their Thanksgiving for another bountiful year. The Farmer's children have grown and moved
away from the farm, but each year they come back for Thanksgiving dinner and
they bring the grand children with them too.
It's a very happy celebration for the farmer and his wife, and we get
special feed too!"
"Yummy!" agreed
Porker who was nibbling her way through some sweet potatoes.
"I do hope that the
dove will find my home," Boo-bah said.
"I would very much like to see my brothers and sisters again,
especially since you say this is Thanksgiving Day."
"Diane is out searching
now, Boo-bah," Giselle the Goat said.
"I'm sure she'll be back by the time you finish your breakfast and
then we can all wish you well on your way back to your family."
Boo-bah ate and ate until
his tummy was quite full and he knew that he couldn't eat another bite. But it was several hours before Diane the
Dove returned and her news was not good.
"I'm sorry,
Boo-bah," she said. I flew all
around the Lovely Farm, farther and farther each time I circled. But I could not see your tracks in the snow
anywhere."
"Stands to
reason," Steady-boy said. "A
little ball of fur the size of Boo-bah doesn't weigh very much and won't make
very deep tracks in the snow. His
tracks would have been totally erased by the snow fall during the night."
"But I want to go
home!" Boo-bah whined. "I
want to be with my folks and my brothers and sisters."
"You shouldn't have
strayed so far," Rupert said.
"I would never want to lose my hollow tree so I seldom let it out
of my sight."
"I don't think Boo-bah
needs to be scolded, Rupert," honker the Goose said. "He knows now that he made a bad
mistake by going so far away from his family and he feels bad enough about
that. What we have to do now is find a
way for him to get home."
"Oh, yes, please help
me!" Boo-bah begged. "When I
get home I'll be good and I'll never stray so far again! I promise!" Boo-bah felt very said that he might never see his home again.
"All right," Diane
said. "I'll just go and have a
snack to get my strength back, then I'll make another search. This time I'll go much further away from the
Lovely Farm."
While Diane was searching
for Boo-bah's home, Rupert decided that he would take over the task of baby
sitting the young bunny. He used a twig
to mark squares on the dirt floor of the barn and the rabbit and the squirrel
played hopscotch for awhile. When
Sunrise saw how much fun they were having, the rooster decided he would play
too.
When they tired of playing
hopscotch, Rupert found a piece of heavy twine and they played jump rope. While Boo-bah jumped Sunrise and Rupert
would swing the rope for him. Pretty
soon Boo-bah was all tired out and Laverne suggested that he lay down for a nap
because he was very much a growing bunny.
So Boo-bah lay down in the warm straw of the llama's stall and was soon
asleep.
It was late afternoon when
Diane came back from searching for Boo-bah's home. "I'm sorry," she said.
I searched round and round the Lovely Farm for many miles and I couldn't
find your home, Boo-bah."
"Waaahhhh!"
Boo-bah cried. "I want to go
home! I miss my family and I want to be
with them for Thanksgiving."
"Boo-bah!"
Steady-boy said gruffly. "It's no
use crying that you want to go home because no one can find your home while the
snow covers the valley. You'll just
have to wait until spring and then we can search for your home again."
"But where will I
live?" Boo-bah asked. "Where
will I sleep? Who is going to take care
of me until I get big enough to go out on my own?"
"Would you like to live
here on the Lovely Farm with us?" asked Giselle. "There is always plenty for us to eat and drink here, and
Farmer Lovely is very good to his animals."
"Sure!" said
Rupert. "That would be a wonderful
idea. You can sleep with me in my
hollow tree. I've always wanted to have
a brother, so I'll adopt you."
"Rupert, don't be
silly," said Porker. "Rabbits
can't climb trees. Boo-bah would never
be able to live with you. He should
stay here and wallow in this warm mud with me!"
"I don't want to seem
ungrateful, Porker," Boo-bah said.
"I don't like to get mud all over my fur. Mother always told me to keep clean and tidy."
"I should think
so," said Leroy the Llama. He knew
that clean fur was the warmest because he had a nice thick coat of wool. "Why don't you sleep with Laverne and I
in our stall."
"Well, I'm sure I would
be plenty warm and dry, Leroy," Boo-bah said, "but I'd be afraid that
one of you might accidentally roll over on me during the night and I'd be
squashed flat!"
"He's right you
know," Laverne said. "You do
toss and turn quite a bit, Leroy. Okay,
Boo-bah, where do you think you would be comfortable sleeping?"
"Well, it it's okay
with all of you, and with Mr. Sunrise, I'd sure be comfortable if I could sleep
in the hen house with all those nice chickens.
They are very warm and soft to cuddle with too!"
"That sounds like a
very good idea to me," Sunrise said.
"I'll take you out and introduce you to my hens and we'll adopt you
and you can live with us."
And that was how a bunny
happened to grow up living in a hen house.
Some folks say this is just a made-up story and that chickens and
rabbits would never be happy living together.
But little children know that the story is true, for Boo-bah soon grew
up to become the first Easter Bunny.
Every Easter he delivers gaily decorated eggs in baskets filled with
straw to little children all over the land to remind them to always stay near
home where they will be safe and sound with their own families.