Posts filed under ‘READING’
BUNNY AND THE ROBOT
Bunny and the Robot
unny heard the truck pull up in front of the house with his extra-sensitive rabbit ears. When Bunny went to window, he could see a man in a brown uniform climb out of the truck, take a package wrapped in brown paper out of the back, and come up the walk.
“Ding dong!” the doorbell said.
“Delivery for Mr. Mugsy!” the man in the uniform shouted.
“Just leave it on the step. Thank you,” Bunny heard Mugsy say.
This really surprised Bunny. The people who lived in the house often got packages or mail delivered, but they were not home. Mugsy was a big, brown stuffed dog. Bunny had never heard of a stuffed animal, puppet, or toy of any sort getting a package sent to them. Bunny decided to find out what was going on.
Bunny climbed down to the bottom of the steps near the front door and peeked around the corner. Mugsy was sitting behind the front door. When he heard the truck drive away, Mugsy opened the door just a crack, stuck his head out and looked around to make sure nobody could see him. Then he reached out with his paws to snatch the package off the step.
The package was rather big, even for Mugsy to carry. It blocked his vision causing him to walk right past Bunny without even noticing he was there. Mugsy then made a turn and went down the family room steps. Bunny followed. Mugsy then opened the door to the basement and carried his box down there. Again Bunny followed.
In the basement, Bunny found a comfortable place on top of a paint can from where he could watch what Mugsy was doing. The big brown dog placed the package up on a workbench at one end of the room and then opened it. Inside were wires, bolts, nuts, metal bars and plastic parts in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Out of the box Mugsy also pulled a thick book with many pages. The title was “HOW TO BUILD AND OPERATE YOUR ROBOT.” Mugsy flipped open the book and started reading.
Bunny asked, “Mugsy, are you going to build a robot?”
Mugsy, startled, looked up. “Bunny, I didn’t know you were down here. You surprised me.”
“Sorry,” said Bunny, “So are you building a robot?”
“Yes,” replied Mugsy, “I ordered this kit to build a robot.”
“Can I help?” asked Bunny, excitedly.
“I suppose so,” said Mugsy, “but it will take a long time. First we have to read the assembly instructions, then we need to actually put it together, then we need to learn how to operate it properly.”
“That’s all right,” said Bunny, still enthusiastic, “I’m very patient.”
“Good,” said Mugsy, “How about taking notes while I read. Now it says here ‘Chapter One: Putting Together the Main Drive. You should have two main gear drives, parts 106 and 107. You also need two five-inch springs numbered 345 and 346. Slide the small end of one of the springs over the shaft B on the gear drive number 106. Then use a 30-millimeter wrench to-’”
“Tell you what, Mugsy” said Bunny, yawning, “I’m going to take a little nap, then I’ll come down and help you finish the robot. Okay?”
Mugsy smiled. “Okay, Bunny.” And with that Bunny went up to the family room and took a snooze on the sofa.
Bunny slept most of the day, but when he awakened he remembered about Mugsy and the robot and headed down to the basement to see what was going on.
Mugsy was sitting on the floor reading the instruction manual that had come with the robot kit. Bunny could tell that he was almost to the end of the book. In front of Mugsy stood a gleaming red, white and blue robot with a clear plastic bubble for a head and tank-like tracks for feet.
“So Mugsy,” said Bunny, “How is it going? Is the robot done?”
“The robot’s name is the FRED 2000. Fred stands for ‘Fully Robotic Electronic Droid.’ I just finished reading the instructions on how to operate the FRED,” said Mugsy, “now I’m going to test him out.”
Mugsy addressed the robot in a clear voice. “Well, my mechanical friend, let’s try out your motor. Robot, please drive once around me in a circle.”
FRED’s eyes lit up a soft blue color and blinked. In the dome on his head wheels and gears started to turn. Then the machine’s tire tracks moved, and the robot made a perfect circle around Mugsy and stopped where it had started.
“Very good, FRED,” said Mugsy, “Thank you.”
The robot answered with a beep. Then the lights in its eyes went out and it seemed to go back to sleep.
“Well, said Mugsy, “It seems to be okay. I’m tired after working all day to put that robot together. I think I’ll go up to the bedroom and rest.”
“Mugsy,” said Bunny, excitedly, “Could I play with the robot while you’re gone? Please! PLEASE!”
“Bunny,” replied Mugsy, “Operating the robot is complicated. Tell you what we’ll do. Go read the instruction manual. By the time you finish that I’ll be done my nap and we’ll play with the robot together.”
“Okay,” said Bunny. He was unhappy about having to wait.
Bunny started to read the manual, but before he finished the first page he was bored. “Why do I need to read the instructions before operating the robot?” Bunny said to himself. “It’s easy. I saw Mugsy do it. I’ll try just one simple command to see if it works.”
Bunny stood next to the robot and said, “Okay my mechanical friend. Go forward ten feet.”
The robot did nothing.
Bunny was puzzled. Maybe if he tried it louder. “ROBOT, GO FORWARD TEN FEET!” he shouted.
This time the robot replied, “That does not compute.”
Bunny was getting very frustrated. “What is wrong with you, you bumbling bucket of bolts,? I said, GO FORWARD TEN FEET!”
Suddenly, the robot’s eyes lit up a bright red and the gears in its dome started spinning. The robot shot forward across the floor and crashed into the side of a trash can sitting on the basement floor. The can went over and trash scattered all over the place. Papers, old cereal boxes and plastic wrappers covered the basement floor.
Bunny, ignoring the fact that he’d told the robot to go too far, yelled, “Now look what you’ve done! Now I’m going to have to clean up this mess.”
The little rabbit had started to pick up some of the papers when suddenly and idea occurred to him. Addressing the robot he said, “Okay, since you made the mess, you can clean it up! Robot, clean up everything on the floor and put it in the trash can.”
The robot replied, “That does not compute.”
“You bubble-headed bum! I said pick up everything on the floor and put it in the trash can!” The eyes on the robot lit up bright red and again the gears whirred. The robot turned, picked up a paper and then rolled over to the trash can. It dropped the paper in, then went to fetch a box and did the same thing. In a couple of minutes the entire basement floor was clean. Bunny smiled to himself and said, “Who needs the instruction book? Operating the robot is easy. After only five minutes I’ve got this thing cleaning up for me!”
Suddenly Bunny felt a metal claw clamp around his waist and he was lifted in the air. The robot had come up from behind him and picked him up. “What are you doing, you metal monster?,” yelled Bunny. “Stop! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!” Then the robot let him go and Bunny fell straight into the trash can.
Bunny stood up, but couldn’t see a thing. Then he realized there was an empty cereal box on his head. Shaking it off, Bunny climbed up the inside of the trash can. He reached the top and yelled at the robot, “Why, you transistorized tin can, you were supposed to throw trash in the can. Not me!”
The robot, ignoring Bunny, started climbing the stairs toward the family room.
“Come back here, robot! I command you to come back!”
Paying no attention to Bunny, the robot disappeared through the door at the top of the stairs.
Bunny, brushing some crumbs off his shoulders, leapt out of the trash can and followed the robot’s trail. When he reached the doorway at the top ,Bunny saw the robot rolling towards him. Clutched in one claw was a small child’s chair. In the other was an expensive vase.
“No! No! No!” shouted Bunny, “You were supposed to put the things you found on the basement floor into the trash, not things you find on the family room floor! Stop! Stop!”
“Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger! Obstruction in path!” announced the robot.
Bunny stretched out his paws to block the robot’s progress. The robot did not stop. Instead it ran straight over Bunny.
When Bunny stood up he felt a little dizzy. He snapped out of his daze when he heard the crash of the vase as it broke when it hit the bottom of the trash can. Bunny realized if he didn’t do something quick the robot would demolish the house. Bunny thought hard. He remembered a switch he’d seen on the back of the robot. He was certain it must be an off switch for FRED. If he could just throw that switch, the robot would probably stop dead in its tracks. If only he could just be certain that it really was an off switch.
While Bunny was thinking, the robot rolled past him headed into the family room again. Bunny tried to see the writing next to the switch as the robot went by, but the machine was moving too fast. Bunny thought about running upstairs to wake up Mugsy and getting him to stop the robot, but he remembered the big, brown dog’s warning not to play with the robot without reading the instructions. Mugsy would be angry at him.
Bunny remembered the instruction manual was still in the basement. If he could look up the meaning of the switch in the book then he would know for sure…
Just then the robot rolled past him carrying a left sneaker and a remote control for the TV. As they crashed to the bottom of the trash can Bunny decided he didn’t have time to look up the meaning of the switch in the manual. He hid behind the door and just as the robot came in, Bunny did a mighty rabbit jump after him, throwing the switch on the back of the robot.
The machine came to a sudden stop. Instead of sitting still, however, the robot began to shake harder and harder. Inside the machine there was a whirring sound that got louder and louder, like an engine revving up. Now that the robot wasn’t moving ,Bunny could read the words next to the switch he had thrown. The label read “SPEED”. With horror, Bunny realized that the switch had been set on “REGULAR” and he had turned it to “TURBO.” With a screech of his tracks the robot took off.
Moving much faster than he had been before, the robot circled the family room, picking stuff off the floor and piling it underneath his other arm. A shoe, an umbrella, a magazine, and a chess board all disappeared into the trash before Bunny could even move.
The robot decided it was done in the family room and headed up the steps to the bedrooms. Bunny ran after it shouting, “No! No! Stop! Stop, you nuts and bolts ninny! Stop, I say.”
The children must have not cleaned up their rooms before they left for school because the robot came back down the steps with its arms loaded with toys it had found on the floor. Books, tapes, cassette radios, clothes, even a toy rocket ship was in the robot’s clutches as he headed for the trash can in the basement. Bunny had just enough time to dodge out of its way and avoid being run over again.
“Oh, no!” thought Bunny to himself as he heard the objects hit the bottom of the can. “What am I going to do?”
The robot shot past Bunny and headed upstairs. It was going so fast now that Bunny couldn’t keep up. Bunny was halfway up the steps when the robot started down them again. Clutched in its right claw was Bunny’s best friend, Blue Penguin.
“Help, Bunny, help,” Blue Penguin called. “This thing has me and I don’t know where it is taking me!”
Bunny stood in the robot’s path and put up his paws. “Stop you-you supercilious, cybernetic short-circuit. Put my friend down!”
For a moment Bunny thought he was going to get run over again. But suddenly the robot’s other claw reached out and Bunny was caught in its grip. The machine carried both of them down to the basement and dropped them with a thud into the very full trash can.
“Bunny,” cried Blue Penguin as they climbed to the top of the can. “What is that thing and why did it throw us in the trash?”
“It’s a robot,” replied Bunny, “and it’s-”
They had reached the top of the can and when they looked over the rim they saw the robot approaching. It must have believed it had finished its task because in its claw it held the tightly-fitting lid of the trash can.
“Bunny, if it puts the lid on the trash can we won’t be able to get out. We’ll go out with the trash,” yelled the little penguin in a panic.
“Stop it! Stop it, you idiosyncratic, ill-bred, ignorant automaton,” Bunny shouted in vain. The robot, ignoring Bunny’s commands, raised the lid to slam it down on the can.
“Robot, PLEASE stop,” a familar voice said.
The robot came to an immediate stop and the red lights in its eyes winked out.
The voice belonged to Mugsy. He had arrived at the top of the stairs just in the nick of time. Mugsy came down the stairs and helped Blue and Bunny out of the can.
“Mugsy, am I glad you showed up,” said Bunny relieved. “I thought we were going for a ride in the garbage truck.”
“Bunny,” said Mugsy sternly, “did you start playing with the FRED-2000 without reading the instructions or waiting for me?”
“Well, just a little,” admitted Bunny.
“A little?” said Mugsy. “Look at this mess. If you read the instructions you would have known that you are always supposed to say ‘PLEASE’ when you give the robot a command and never call it mean names. Otherwise it may not do what you want.”
“You can say that again,” commented Blue looking at the trash can that was now stuffed with valuable items from all over the house.
“Now you take all that stuff out of the trash can and put it back where it belongs,” commanded Mugsy.
“Couldn’t we get the robot to do it?” asked Bunny. “After all, it was really his-”
“You managed to run the robot’s battery down to nothing, Bunny,” said the big, brown dog. “It needs a rest. Besides, I think it would be a good lesson for you if you had to make things right.”
“Come on,” said Blue Penguin, “I’ll help you put everything back.”
“Great,” replied Bunny walking to the trash can, “Let’s start over here.” After a couple of steps, Bunny turned around to look at the little blue penguin. Blue Penguin was just standing there and hadn’t moved an inch.
“What’s the matter, Blue?” asked Bunny.
“You forgot to say PLEASE.”
THE END
Lee Krystek, 1999.
BUNNY AND THE PIRATES
Bunny and the Pirates
unny woke up and stuck his ears out from under the warm covers of the big, soft bed. The people were downstairs eating breakfast. He could hear them banging dishes and talking. Bunny didn’t worry about missing breakfast. That was the best thing about being a stuffed animal. You could sleep as late as you wanted and since you didn’t eat real food you wouldn’t be hungry.
Bunny walked to the window in time to see the Mommy putting the two little boys into the car. They were going to school. The house would be quiet for the whole morning, only the stuffed animals, puppets and toys were at home.
Bunny looked for his old friend, Blue Penguin. Blue Penguin was made of terry-cloth. Though he had a yellow beak and feet, he was mostly sky blue. Bunny had always thought this was a funny color for a Penguin, but he’d never said anything about it. He didn’t want to embarrass his friend.
“Blue, all the people are gone. How about we go exploring?”
Blue Penguin was ready for an adventure. “Where do you want to go?”
“How about the back of the closet, behind those suitcases,” said the little rabbit. “I’ve never been there before.”
“Do you think it would be dangerous? Are there monsters back there?”
Bunny replied, “There are no such things as monsters! Don’t be silly!”
They started to walk to the closet and Bunny said, “We’ll only be at the back of the closet. If something goes wrong we can always call Mugsy for help. He’s sleeping up on the bed.”
Mugsy was a brown dog. He was the biggest and one of the oldest stuffed animals in the house. The others all listened to Mugsy. If they got into trouble it was Mugsy who got them out. Like the time Floppy fell into the heating vent. It was Mugsy who lowered his long tail down the vent so that the little rabbit could climb up.
Bunny and Blue walked across the floor and squeezed through the nearly closed closet doors. Above their heads was the first shelf. That was where the toys that were not being played with were stored. All the toys except the stuffed animals and puppets, of course, who got to live on the bed. Blue stared up uneasily at the shelf. It would not have been the first time a plastic hammer or toy car had come tumbling down on his head.
Bunny peered under the shelf at the row of suitcases piled there. The area was almost full, except for narrow places between the bags just big enough for a rabbit or penguin to slip through. It was very dark back there, like a cave, and Bunny wondered if he should have brought the flashlight. The flashlight was twice his size, though, and would never fit between the bags.
“Come, on. Let’s go,” said Bunny.
Blue looked at the narrow passage. “I don’t know. It’s awfully dark back there.” His voice trembled.
“Don’t worry. If anything happens Mugsy will get us out. I’ll go first,” said Bunny. They squeezed between a garment bag and a valise and were soon at the back of the closet. It was so dark Bunny could hardly see his paw in front of his eyes.
“You go that way, I’ll go this way,” Bunny told the penguin.
“You mean split up?” asked Blue.
“We can see more that way,” replied Bunny. “Yell if you see anything interesting.”
“It is so dark I can hardly see anything at all!” replied the little penguin.
They had not gone more than a few inches when the penguin screamed. Bunny ran to his side.
“What’s the matter?” Bunny asked. He was out of breath.
“I saw something,” said Blue.
“What?” asked Bunny.
“A monster. It was round with a lot of hair. Over there.”
Bunny peered into the darkness. He could see something. Was it a monster? A rabbit-eating monster? No, no it was…
“That’s just a dust bunny!” He told the nervous penguin. “You know they don’t clean back here too often.”
Blue was relieved, but still wanted to leave. “Come on, Bunny. We’ve seen enough. Let’s go back to the bed. It is too scary.”
“I told you,” insisted the little rabbit. “Mugsy will rescue us if we get into trouble.”
“How is he going to get back here?,” asked Blue. “He is too big to get by those bags. And they are too heavy for him to move. Only the Mommy or the Daddy would be able to do that. If we get stuck back here they might not find us for a long time. Maybe not forever!”
Bunny had not thought of that. “Okay. I guess we will go back.”
As they crawled out from in between the bags Bunny saw something. In the pocket of the garment bag was a piece of paper. Not wanting to return to the bed without a token of the adventure he pulled the square of paper out of the pocket. Then he carried it into the bedroom. There he unfolded it and took a look.
“What is it?” asked Blue. The paper had strange markings on it. Bunny did not understand any of them. “I don’t know,” said Bunny. “Maybe we should ask Mugsy.”
“He’s asleep,” said Blue. “How about asking the Parrot puppet? Maybe he would understand it.”
They dragged the paper over to where the Parrot puppet was perched near the window. Bunny thought the Parrot was too much of a know-it-all.
“It’s a map,” the Parrot told them. “I’ve seen plenty of them when I lived with the Pirates. They would draw them to show where they buried their treasure.”
“You mean this is a pirate map leading to a buried treasure?” asked Blue.
The Parrot took another look at the paper.
“Well, it does have an ‘X’ on it. Yes, I’d say this was a map drawn by pirates. The ‘X’ must be where they put the buried treasure.”
Bunny scratched his head. He did not know if he really believed the Parrot had ever lived with real pirates. He liked the idea of a treasure hunt, though. “Well, how do we read the map?” Bunny asked.
“It’s easy,” replied Parrot. “Follow that trail of dots. See it starts in the bedroom here. Then they go down the hall to the stairs. Then on through the living room to the kitchen. Down the other stairs to the family room. Finally across the floor to the toy box. It looks to me the ocean shown on the map must be the floor of the family room. The toy box is the island. The treasure is buried in the bottom of the downstairs toy box.”
Bunny nodded. He understood the map now.
“That’s a long way to go,” said Blue.
He was right. The stuffed animals in the bedroom might be carried all over the house by the children or the Mommy or the Daddy. On their own they rarely wandered out of the bedroom. Maybe they might go down the hall to visit the toys in the nursery, but never further alone. Still, the idea of a trip to find pirate treasure excited Bunny. He was determined to give it a try.
“How about going with us?” asked Bunny to the parrot. “You know so much about pirates.”
“No thanks,” the parrot replied. “I’ve been on enough treasure hunts in my day. If you want to learn more about pirates, though, I think there’s a book on the desk shelf.”
Bunny and the blue penguin found the book. Bunny couldn’t read very well, but he did make out the words Treasure Island on the cover. The picture on the front showed a boy standing on an island. Behind the boy, floating in the water, was a pirate ship. They looked through the book at the rest of the pictures. They saw a man with an eye patch and a sword. From the mast of the ship fluttered a skull and crossbones flag.
“He must be a pirate,” said Blue.
“I guess if we are going to look for pirate treasure,” said Bunny, “we’ll need to dress like pirates.”
They found some plastic swords, just their size, that had been rescued by one of the boys from a sandwich buffet. With a bit of black paper Bunny made an eye patch for Blue and a pirate hat for himself. On the front of the hat he used a piece of chalk to draw a skull and crossbones.
“Now we are set,” said Bunny. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” said Blue, “what about the shark?”
The shark was another puppet. He lived downstairs next to the toy box. He was a bit ill-tempered and gruff. He enjoyed chasing the other, smaller stuffed animals around threatening to eat them as if he were a real shark. This was impossible since his teeth were only made of cloth, but still nobody liked the idea of being gummed in his wide jaws.
“The family room floor is supposed to be an ocean. That makes sense because that’s where the shark lives. To cross it and get to the toy box island we’ll need a ship.”
“A pirate ship!” exclaimed Blue. “But where do we get one? There are no pirate ship toys in the closet.”
“Well,” said Bunny, “we’ll have to make one. Let’s take another look at that book.”
After looking at the book, Bunny and Blue began searching for stuff to build their ship. Bunny found an old shoe box while Blue dragged some unsharpened pencils out of a desk drawer. One pencil made a mast for the boat. By putting the other two pencils through the holes poked in the side of the box a pair of oars was made. With some black construction paper they added a flag. With some white paper they added a sail. The sail was just for looks, of course, since there was no wind inside the house. Finally, they stuck a red crayon on the bow to serve as the spar. Just below it they taped a small, rubber Teddy Bear finger puppet as a figure head.
Their pirate ship was complete. They began dragging it through the bedroom and down the hall. At the end of the hall they had a problem. Between the upstairs and the living room was a flight of nine steps. Blue went down one step. With Bunny holding the ship from above and Blue holding it at the bottom they managed, with great difficulty, to get the boat down the first step.
“If we have to carry this ship down the steps one at a time it will take forever!” exclaimed Blue. “We’ll never get to the treasure.”
“I have an idea,” said Bunny. “Remember seeing the kids outside in the snow with sleds? I bet we could use the ship as a sled to go down the steps. We’ll just climb in and use the oars to push ourselves over the edge. Then we can ride all the way to the bottom!”
“These steps are steep!”, remarked Blue, looking over the edge. “Are you sure this will work?”
“Don’t worry,” said Bunny, confidently.
They climbed into the boat. With a push of the pencil oars, they tipped the ship over the edge. Bunny hadn’t taken into consideration that the hills had been smooth and the steps would be bumpy. With each step the ship hit hard and bounced. Then it flew into the air, hit hard and bounced again.
“I think I’m getting seasick!” cried Blue, several steps into the ride.
“I don’t think it’s seasick,” replied Bunny. “I think it would have to be called stepsick!”
With a final bounce the shoe box ship hit the living room floor. As it did it tipped over on its side sending the two stuffed animals rolling across the carpet.
“Next time I think I’ll climb down by myself and let you ride,” said Blue.
The ship had lost its oars and mast in the final crash. After taking a few minutes to repair their boat Bunny and Blue dragged it through the kitchen. They decided to carry it down the final three steps to the family room instead of risking another sled ride. At the bottom they put their boat into the blue ‘sea’ that was really the family room floor. On the other side of the room was the toy box ‘island.’
“I don’t see the shark anywhere,” said Blue.
“Good. Let’s get going,” said Bunny. “I’ll be the lookout, and you row.”
“That’s not fair!” said Blue.
“Okay, we’ll reverse it,” said Bunny. “You row and I’ll be the lookout.”
“That’s better! I think…” replied Blue.
The little penguin started rowing. Bunny stood in the front of the ship giving him directions. They made it halfway across the sea. Then Bunny saw a gray shape slide around the edge of the island.
“Here comes the shark!” exclaimed Bunny.
The gray shape slid across the sea toward the boat. As it came closer they could see a fin sticking up into the air. Below the fin were little black eyes. Below those were a wide mouth filled with pointed triangular teeth.
“Lunch time!” yelled the shark.
The shark was twice as long as the boat and just as wide. He bumped the ship with his nose, spinning it around.
“I’m getting dizzy!” cried Blue.
The shark pushed the ship up knocking it on its side. This broke the pencil mast in two and sent Bunny and Blue tumbling out into the ‘water.’ The little penguin turned to see the large open jaws of the shark’s mouth approaching him.
“Look out, Blue!” yelled Bunny.
The penguin tried to get away, but the shark came closer. Quickly Bunny picked up a piece of the broken mast. He shoved it into the shark’s mouth propping it open.
“Aghhhhhh,” said the shark. He tried to shake his head to get the wooden stick free, but it was stuck.
Bunny and Blue got back aboard ship. With the oars they got it upright again. Then they turned their attention to the shark.
“That wasn’t very nice, shark,” said Bunny, leaning over the rail to look at him. “You nearly wrecked our ship.”
“Aghhhhhhh,” said shark.
“What did he say?” asked Bunny.
“I think he wants you to remove the pencil,” said Blue.
“Shark,” said Bunny, “If I remove the pencil from your mouth do you promise to be nice?”
The shark nodded his head.
“And tow our ship to the island?” continued Bunny.
The shark nodded again.
Bunny grabbed the pencil and pulled it from the shark’s mouth.
“Thanks,” said the shark.
Blue found an old shoe lace in the bottom of the ship. Bunny tied it to the bow. The shark grabbed the other end in his mouth and began to pull. A minute later they were at the shore of the toy box island.
They climbed up the side of the box and took a rest on the rim. Down below them was a valley made up of a jumble of toys of every shape and size. Bunny took out the map and looked at it. “According to the map the pirate treasure should be buried at the bottom of the box in the back corner,” Bunny said.
They carefully climbed down the steep slope of toys until they were at the very back of the toy box. In the left corner they found a mound of miniature cars and trucks.
“It must be under these,” said Blue.
Slowly they began to dig through the pile of tiny cars. A shape began to appear. Under the mound was a box. Excitedly Bunny and Blue cleared off the top so they could open it.
“This is it!” exclaimed Bunny. “The pirate treasure! This chest must be filled with gold and diamonds!”
“And all kinds of shiny stuff!” added Blue.
“We’ll be the richest stuffed animals in the world!” exclaimed Bunny.
They pried the lid open and stared into the box. Instead of gold or diamonds, the chest was filled with a large, plastic, toy bone.
“Oh, you found it!” exclaimed Mugsy, looking over the edge of the toy box at them. “I thought I’d lost it when I lost the map.”
“This is your bone?” asked Bunny.
“Yes, I buried it and drew a map so I’d know where I’d put it. Then I lost the map.”
“I guess it wasn’t a pirate treasure map after all,” said Bunny, sadly. “I guess we made this long trip for nothing.”
“That’s all right,” Blue told him. “We had a great adventure. We also helped Mugsy find his lost bone!”
Bunny smiled. “You know-you are right! Even if we didn’t find a real treasure we had a good time. We should ask Mugsy to hide his bone tomorrow so we can hunt for it again!”
And they did.
The End
Lee Krystek 1997
BUNNY AND THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Bunny and the Christmas Present
ll the stuffed animals and puppets were sitting in the living room one afternoon late in December watching the people decorate the Christmas tree. As they sat on the sofa under a warm blanket, they talked quietly so that the people wouldn’t notice.
“Christmas is my favorite time of year,” remarked the terri-cloth bear. “Mine too,” agreed Blue Penguin.
“I can’t wait for Christmas Eve to come.”
“I wonder what Santa will bring us this year,” said Truble, a white, fluffy stuffed dog.
“I’d like us to get a toy bulldozer, ” said Bear.
“I hope one of the kids gets a toy boat,” remarked Blue Penguin, “Then I could sail it.”
There was a commotion in the room as one of the children opened up a big bag filled with Christmas decorations. Inside the bag was a large stuffed bear with a red stocking cap. Across the cap was the name ‘Rudi’ in bright green letters. One of the little boys placed the bear on the sofa next to the animals. Next, out of the bag he pulled a black and white Penguin wearing antlers and a dinosaur wearing a Santa cap and a scarf. These also were placed on the sofa. When the children walked out of earshot the animals and puppets greeted the newcomers.
“It’s nice to see you again, Rudi,” said Bunny addressing the white bear.
“Yes, we’re glad you could come for Christmas,” added Mugsy. “All of you.”
“It’s certainly good to get out of the bag and wake up from hibernation,” replied Rudi. “Eleven months is a long time to sleep.”
The Christmas decorations spent most of their time sleeping in a warm cozy bag in the basement. Once a year, during the Christmas season, they came out to celebrate Christmas and visit the stuffed animals and puppets that lived in the children’s rooms.
The animals and decorations sat on the couch happily watching the tree being trimmed as they talked about Christmas plans and presents. As they were sitting, there Blue noticed that Bunny seemed unnaturally quiet. So he asked, “Bunny, what would you like for Christmas?”
The little rabbit rested his chin on his paws and thought for a moment. “I don’t know. We seem to have a lot of toys to play with here already. I want something special. But I don’t know what it is!”
“Well, Santa will know,” remarked Mugsy, the big brown dog. “Santa is very wise.”
The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn’t sleep. He still couldn’t think of what he wanted his special Christmas present to be. He wondered how Santa would know what to bring him if he didn’t know himself.
As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a thumping on the roof and a noise downstairs. It was Santa Claus, he realized.Bunny hopped out of bed and raced down the hall to the stairs hoping to catch a glimpse of the jolly old elf before Santa departed for his next stop.
By the time Bunny reached the bottom of the stairs, though, everything was again silent. Brightly wrapped presents were piled under the Christmas tree, but Santa was gone. A little disappointed Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a groan.
“Hello,” said Bunny, “Is somebody there?”
He was answered by another groan. Bunny peeked around the a big pile of presents to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and mournful eyes. Bunny might have mistaken the creature for a dog, if it hadn’t been for the antlers on his head.
“Are you a reindeer?” asked Bunny. The creature replied with another groan. It was obvious it wasn’t feeling very well.
“Does your tummy hurt?” asked Bunny.
The reindeer nodded. Bunny went off to find a bottle of fizzy soda to quiet the reindeer’s stomach.
“So you’re a reindeer?” asked Truble.
By now all the excitement of Christmas morning was over. The children had gone with their parents to their Aunt’s house for Christmas dinner and the stuffed animals had the place to themselves.
“Yes, replied the brown creature with antlers, “my name is Ralph.”
“And you were pulling Santa’s sleigh?, ” asked Rudi Bear.
“I was until I got air-sick,” replied Ralph, “Santa had to leave me here and go on with the other seven reindeer.”
“Isn’t it a bit unusual for a reindeer to get air-sick,” asked the Velocirapter puppet. “I mean, isn’t flying what reindeer are famous for?”
“I’m afraid that I’ve always had a sensitive stomach when it comes to flying,” replied Ralph. “But everyone expected me to pull Santa’s sleigh, so when it was my turn I gave it a try. I’m afraid I just wasn’t cut out for the job. Now I’m stranded here and I don’t know how to get back to the North Pole.”
“I guess flying your way home is out, ” said Velocirapter.
Ralph shook his head. “No, I couldn’t. Thanks to my friend, Bunny, here, I’m feeling much better-”
Bunny smiled. He had stayed up all night nursing the reindeer back to health with fizzy soda and a warm bed made of sofa cushions and blankets.
“-but,” continued Ralph, “I’ll never be able to make that flight all alone.”
“I have an idea,” said Bunny. “You need to go by ground. How about a train?”
“A train would work,” replied Ralph. “Do you know where I can find one?”
“Yes!” replied Bunny. Bunny, Ralph the Reindeer and a couple of other stuffed animals went down to the basement. On the floor, parked neatly at a station, was a toy train. Bunny found a place for Ralph to sit on a flatcar located behind the shiny steam locomotive.
All the animals waved goodbye.
“Nice meeting you, Ralph,” said Blue.
“Have a smooth trip back to the North Pole.”
“Say hello to Santa for us,” added Rudi Bear.
“All aboard,” announced Bunny. Bunny found the power pack that controlled the engine and switched it on. The train pulled out of the station. As it disappeared around a curve, Bunny ran after it and waved to the reindeer. “Wish you could have stayed longer, Ralph. Goodbye.”
When the train was gone, Bunny felt a little sad. “I’m going to miss Ralph,” he told Blue. Before Bunny could say more the train rounded the track and pulled back into the station. Sitting on the flatcar was Ralph. His eyes looked more mournful than ever.
“Bunny,” remarked the Velocirapter. “I think this toy train track just goes around in an oval. You can’t get to the North Pole on it.”
“Oh,” replied Bunny, “I forgot.”
“Ralph, don’t be sad,” said Bunny as they sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate, “We just need to find some vehicle that doesn’t run on tracks. Then you can take it whatever direction you’d like. Even to the North Pole.”
“Like a car?” asked Rudi Bear.
“That’s it!” exclaimed Bunny. “Last year one of the boys got a radio-controlled car for Christmas. We can use that!”
Ten minutes later the animals had managed to get the car down from the closet shelf and out of its box. Bunny stood with the remote control in his paws. “Let me see. I think if I push this lever forward it will make the car go. Watch out everyone!”
Bunny pushed the lever, but nothing happened.
“Hmmmm. There must be something wrong…” Bunny walked over in front of the car, pushing the lever forward as he peered under the front bumper. Meanwhile Blue Penguin spotted a switch on the back of the car and flipped it to the “ON” position.
“Does this help?” he asked.
Bunny was still looking under the bumper and holding the lever all the way up. Suddenly the car shot forward and ran straight over Bunny. When Bunny opened his eyes he found himself peering up at Blue.
“Opps-Sorry” the little penguin said.
They got the car downstairs and Bunny gave Ralph a quick driving lesson. Then, with the reindeer perched on top of the car holding the control, everyone repeated their goodbyes.
“Nice meeting you, Ralph,” said Blue.
“Have a smooth trip back to the North Pole.”
“Say hello to Santa for us,” added Rudi Bear.
“Remember, go out to the end of the street, turn North and just keep on going,” said Bunny. Then he turned to yell toward the front of the house. “Open the door for him!”
Several stuffed animals pushed open the front door of the house. The car shot forward, but then suddenly lost speed. It came to rest just inside the front door on the welcome mat.
“What’s the matter?” asked Ralph.
“Oh, I guess the batteries are dead,” said Bunny. “But we can fix that. All we need to do is take them out and hook them up to the recharger for a few hours-”
“Bunny, that won’t work,” said Mugsy, coming down from the bedroom where he’d been sleeping. “The North Pole is very far away. Even if you charged the batteries all the way up it wouldn’t be enough to get Ralph there.”
Bunny frowned.
“There is only one sure way of getting Ralph to the North Pole,” declared Mugsy.
“What’s that?” asked Bear.
“Well, you should know, Bear. You sent something to the North Pole last week.”
“My letter to Santa?” Bear replied.
“That’s it!” shouted Bunny with glee, “We’ll mail Ralph to the North Pole!”
The stuffed animals found a box big enough for Ralph to be comfortable in during the trip. They cut some slits in the sides so he could see and lined the box with blankets to keep him warm. Bunny found a paper and pen and addressed the box to ‘Santa Claus, North Pole Place.’ Then they put as many stamps on it as they could find around the house.
“Well, this is it, Ralph,” said Bunny, “this time you’re really on your way. I’m going to miss you. Have a nice trip.”
Then tears began rolling down the reindeer’s cheeks.
“What is it?” asked Mugsy. “Why are you crying, Ralph?”
“Well,” explained the reindeer, “Being a reindeer that gets air-sick I always feel out of place at the North Pole. Here I felt right at home and everyone was so nice to me. Now I have to leave.”
“No you don’t,” said Bunny, “you can stay with us as long as you want.”
“But who wants a reindeer around the house in the summer?” asked Ralph. “I’d be out of place again.”
“I have an idea,” said Rudi Bear, “You could be a Christmas decoration like us! Then you could come out at Christmas time and hibernate the rest of the year.”
“Really? Could I?” asked Ralph.
“Of course,” said Bunny. “Then you could be our friend all the time and visit us every Christmas.”
The animals were so happy about Ralph’s decision to stay that they decided to have a Christmas party. They got milk from the refrigerator and broke into the tins containing the Christmas cookies.
“Won’t the Mommy notice some of the cookies are missing?” asked Blue.
“Don’t worry,” replied Bunny, “She’ll just blame it on the Daddy.”
As they sat together eating cookies, Bear said, “Well, Bunny, did you ever figure out what special present you wanted from Santa?”
Bunny thought about this for a moment and then broke into a smile. “Yes, I did.” Putting his paw around Ralph he added, “The special present was a new friend!”
The End
Lee Krystek 1998.
THE DAY IT SNOWED “TORTILLAS”
by Joe Hayes
Here is a story about a poor woodcutter. He was very good at his work. He could swing his ax powerfully and cut down big trees. He would split them up into firewood to sell in the village. He made a good living.
But the poor man was not well educated. He couldn’t read or write. He wasn’t very bright either. He was always doing foolish things and getting himself into trouble. But he was lucky. He had a very clever wife, and she would get him out of the trouble his foolishness got him into.
One day he worked far off in the mountains, and when he started home at the end of the day, he saw three leather bags by the side of the trail. He picked up the first bag and discovered that it was full of gold coins! He looked into the second. It was full of gold too. And so was the third.
He loaded the bags onto his donkey and took them home to show to his wife. She was aghast. “Don’t tell anyone you found this gold!” she warned him. “It must belong to some robbers who have hidden it out in the mountains. If they find out we have it, they’ll kill us to get it back!” But then she thought, My husband can never keep a secret. What shall I do?
She came up with a plan. She told her husband, “Before you do anything else, go into the village and get me a sack of flour. I need a big sack. Bring me a hundred pounds of flour.”
The man went off to the village grumbling to himself, “All day I work in the mountains, and now I have to drag home a hundred pounds of flour. I’m tired of all this work.” But he bought the flour and brought it home to his wife.
“Thank you,” she told him. “You’ve been working awfully hard. Why don’t you go lie down for a while?”
He liked that idea. He lay down on the bed and soon fell fast asleep. As soon as he began to snore, the his wife went to work. She began to make tortillas. She made batch after batch of tortillas. She made them until the stack reached clear up to the ceiling in the kitchen. She turned that whole hundred pounds of flour into tortillas. Then she took them outside and threw them all over the ground.
The woodcutter was so tired he slept all that evening and on through the night. He didn’t wake up until morning. When he awoke, he stepped outside and saw that the ground was covered with tortillas. He called to his wife. “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked.
His wife joined him at the door. “Oh, my goodness!” she said. “It must have snowed tortillas last night!”
“Snowed tortillas? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“What? You’ve never heard of it snowing tortillas? Well! You’re not very well educated. You’d better go to school and learn something.”
She packed him a lunch and dressed him up in his Sunday suit and made him go off to school.
He didn’t know how to read or write, so they put him in the first grade. He had to squeeze into one of the little chairs the children sat in. The teacher asked questions and the children raised their hands enthusiastically. He didn’t know the answers to any of those questions. He grew more and more embarrassed.
Finallly, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He stomped out of the school and hurried home. He picked up his ax and said to his wife, “I’ve had enough education. I’m going to go cut firewood.”
“Fine,” she called after him. “You go do your work.”
About a week later, just as the woman had suspected, the robbers showed up at the house one day. “Where is that gold your husband found?” they demanded.
The wife acted innocent. “Gold?” she said and shook her head. “I don’t know anything about any gold.”
“Come on!” the robbers said. “Your husband’s been telling everyone in the village he found three sacks of gold. They belong to us. You’d better give them back.”
She looked disgusted. “Did my husband say that? Oh, that man! He says the strangest things! I don’t know anything about your gold.”
“We’ll find out,” the robbers said. “We’ll wait here until he comes home.” And they stayed around the house all day long—sharpening their knives and cleaning their pistols.
Toward evening the woodcutter came up the trail with his donkey. The robbers ran out and grabbed him roughly and demanded, “Where’s that gold you found?”
The woodcutter scratched his head. “Gold?” he mumbled. “Oh, yes, now I remember. My wife hid it.” He called out, “Wife, what did you do with that gold?” His wife sounded puzzled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything about any gold.”
“Sure you do. Don’t you remember? It was just the day before it snowed tortillas. I came home with three bags of gold. And in the morning you sent me to school.”
The robbers looked at one another. “Did he say, ‘snowed tortillas’?” they whispered. “And that his wife makes him go to school?” They shook their heads in dismay. “Why did we waste our time with this numbskull? He’s out of his head!”
And the robbers went away thinking the woodcutter was crazy and that everything he said was nonsense.
From that day on, he was a rich man! He and his wife had three sacks of gold all to themselves. And the robbers never came back.
The End
Little Red Riding Hood
Once upon a time in the middle of a thick forest stood a small cottage, the home of a pretty little girl known to everyone as Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her Mummy waved her goodbye at the garden gate, saying: “Grandma is ill. Take her this basket of cakes, but be very careful. Keep to the path through the wood and don’t ever stop. That way, you will come to no harm.”
Little Red Riding Hood kissed her mother and ran off. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I’ll run all the way to Grandma’s without stopping.”
Full of good intentions, the little girl made her way through the wood, but she was soon to forget her mother’s wise words. “What lovely strawberries! And so red.”
Laying her basket on the ground, Little Red Riding Hood bent over the strawberry plants. “They’re nice and ripe, and so big! Yummy! Delicious! Just another one. And one more. This is the last. Well, this one Mmmm.”
The red fruit peeped invitingly through the leaves in the grassy glade, and Little Red Riding Hood ran back and forth popping strawberries into her mouth. Suddenly she remembered her mother, her promise, Grandma and the basket and hurried back towards the path. The basket was still in the grass and, humming to herself, Little Red Riding Hood walked on.
The wood became thicker and thicker. Suddenly a yellow butterfly fluttered down through the trees. Little Red Riding Hood started to chase the butterfly.
“I’ll catch you! I’ll catch you!” she called. Suddenly she saw some large daisies in the grass.
“Oh, how sweet!” she exclaimed and, thinking of Grandma, she picked a large bunch of flowers.
In the meantime, two wicked eyes were spying on her from behind a tree. A strange rustling in the woods made Little Red Riding Hood’s heart thump.
Now quite afraid she said to herself. “I must find the path and run away from here!”
At last she reached the path again but her heart leapt into her mouth at the sound of a gruff voice which said: “Where are you going, my pretty girl, all alone in the woods?”
“I’m taking Grandma some cakes. She lives at the end of the path,” said Little Riding Hood in a faint voice.
When he heard this, the wolf (for it was the big bad wolf himself) politely asked: “Does Grandma live by herself?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Little Red Riding Hood, “and she never opens the door to strangers!”
“Goodbye. Perhaps we’ll meet again,” replied the wolf. Then he loped away thinking to himself “I’ll gobble the grandmother first, then lie in wait for the grandchild!” At last, the cottage came in sight. Knock! Knock! The wolf rapped on the door. 
“Who’s there?” cried Grandma from her bed.
“It’s me, Little Red Riding Hood. I’ve brought you some cakes because you’re ill,” replied the wolf, trying hard to hide his gruff voice.
“Lift the latch and come in,” said Grandma, unaware of anything amiss, till a horrible shadow appeared on the wall. Poor Grandma! For in one bound, the wolf leapt across the room and, in a single mouthful, swallowed the old lady. Soon after, Little Red Riding Hood tapped on the door.
“Grandma, can I come in?” she called.
Now, the wolf had put on the old lady’s shawl and cap and slipped into the bed. Trying to imitate Grandma’s quavering little voice, he replied: “Open the latch and come in!
“What a deep voice you have,” said the little girl in surprise.
“The better to greet you with,” said the wolf.
“Goodness, what big eyes you have.”
“The better to see you with.”
“And what big hands you have!” exclaimed Little Red Riding Hood, stepping over to the bed.
“The better to hug you with,” said the wolf.
“What a big mouth you have,” the little girl murmured in a weak voice.
“The better to eat you with!” growled the wolf, and jumping out of bed, he swallowed her up too. Then, with a fat full tummy, he fell fast asleep.
In the meantime, a hunter had emerged from the wood, and on noticing the cottage, he decided to stop and ask for a drink. He had spent a lot of time trying to catch a large wolf that had been terrorizing the neighborhood, but had lost its tracks. The hunter could hear a strange whistling sound; it seemed to be coming from inside the cottage. He peered through the window and saw the large wolf himself, with a fat full tummy, snoring away in Grandma’s bed.
“The wolf! He won’t get away this time!”
Without making a sound, the hunter carefully loaded his gun and gently opened the window. He pointed the barrel straight at the wolf’s head and BANG! The wolf was dead.
“Got you at last!” shouted the hunter in glee. “You’ll never frighten anyone again.
He cut open the wolf’s stomach and to his amazement, out popped Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood, safe and unharmed.
“You arrived just in time,” murmured the old lady, quite overcome by all the excitement.
“It’s safe to go home now,” the hunter told Little Red Riding Hood. “The big bad wolf is dead and gone, and there is no danger on the path.
Still scared, the little girl hugged her grandmother.
Much later, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother arrived, all out of breath, worried because her little girl had not come home. And when she saw Little Red Riding Hood, safe and sound, she burst into tears of joy.
After thanking the hunter again, Little Red Riding Hood and her mother set off towards the wood. As they walked quickly through the trees, the little girl told her mother: “We must always keep to the path and never stop. That way, we come to no harm!”
Sleeping beauty
A long time ago there were a king and queen who were unhappy because they were childless. But it happened that once when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water on to the land, and said to her, “Your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter.”
What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the wise women, in order that they might be kind and well disposed towards the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home.
The feast was held with all manner of splendor and when it came to an end the wise women bestowed their magic gifts upon the baby – one gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, and so on wi
th everything in the world that one can wish for.
When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting, or even looking at anyone, she cried with a loud voice, “The king’s daughter shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead.” And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room.
They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken, came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it, she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall.
The king, who would fain keep his dear child from the misfortune, gave orders that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burnt. Meanwhile the gifts of the wise women were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, good-natured, and wise, that everyone who saw her was bound to love her.
It happened that on the very day when she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home, and the maiden was left in the palace quite alone. So she went round into all sorts of places, looked into rooms and bed-chambers just as she liked, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow winding staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty key was in the lock, and when she turned it the door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.
“Good day, old mother,” said the king’s daughter, “what are you doing there?”
“I am spinning,” said the old woman, and nodded her head.
“What sort of thing is that, that rattles round so merrily,” said the girl, and she took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it.
And, in the very moment when she felt the prick, she fell down upon the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep extended over the whole palace, the king and queen who had just come home, and had entered the great hall, began to go to sleep, and the whole of the court with them. The horses, too, went to sleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the roof, the flies on the wall, even the fire that was flaming on the hearth became quiet and slept, the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook, who was just going to pull the hair of the scullery boy, because he had forgotten something, let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind fell, and on the trees before the castle not a leaf moved again.
But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every year became higher, and at last grew close up round the castle and all over it, so that there was nothing of it to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose, for so the princess was named, went about the country, so that from time to time kings’ sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge into the castle. But they found it impossible, for the thorns held fast together, as if they had hands, and the youths were caught in them, could not get loose again, and died a miserable death.
After long, long years a king’s son came again to that country, and heard an old man talking about the thorn hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named Briar Rose, had been asleep for a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death.
Then the youth said, “I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar Rose.” The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his words.
But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar Rose was to awake again. When the king’s son came near to the thorn hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when he entered the house, the flies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck.
He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where Briar Rose was sleeping.
There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar Rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly.
Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again, the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl.
And then the marriage of the king’s son with Briar Rose was celebrated with all splendor, and they lived contented to the end of their days.
