PART 2
The Story Of The Easter Bunny
One December evening, around Christmastime, a group of rabbits huddled under the elm tree. The winter had been worse than usual, and the rabbits had only a few old bits of potato to eat. They were all feeling cold and bad-tempered.
Suddenly Acorn hopped up with a cry. "A stranger is coming up the hill!"
As the stranger came closer they all could see that he was a very old rabbit. He was perfectly white, and his fur shone against the snow with a silver glow.
"Good evening," the stranger said in a deep voice.
The rabbits of the grassy hill looked at him.
"I'm wondering if you could give me a meal and a bed for the night," he said.
Now the rabbits could see that he was shabbily dressed. His blue jacket had seen better days. His ears flopped over, as though he were very, very tired.
"Who are you and where do you come from?" Quicksilver asked rather sternly.
The stranger shrugged. "I'm a stranger," he replied. "I mean no harm, and I've been travelling a long way."
"That's no business of ours," Acorn said in his most grown-up tone of voice. "I'm afraid we cannot help you. We barely have enough food for ourselves."
The other rabbits nodded in agreement.
"And as for a bed," Acorn continued, "why should we take in a stranger who won't even tell us who he is?"
The other rabbits nodded again. They all felt there must be something odd about a stranger who appeared from nowhere. They all moved closer together in their circle, turning their backs on the strange visitor---all of them except Early.
He had been quietly watching the stranger. There was something in the stranger's eyes that made Early want to speak to him. Early had never before seen a rabbit with eyes like that. They were as blue as the sky.
"Excuse me," Early began, hopping forward a step or two. "We have room in---"
But at that moment Clover reached forward and cuffed him on the ears, knocking him backward.
"What do you think you're doing?" Acorn whispered crossly.
"Do you always have to be different?" Quicksilver hissed.
And they stepped in front of Early and glared at the stranger, who turned and hopped away into the icy night.
As soon as the stranger left, it began to snow. The rabbits gathered together, forming a tight circle against the sharp wind. The snowflakes fell more and more heavily.
Slowly the rabbits turned and hopped off to their warm rabbit holes. None of them spared a thought for the stranger left out alone in the storm---none of them except Early.
"It's terrible," he murmured to himself, "for an old rabbit like that to be outside when it's cold."
Early peered through the darkness and the falling snow. He felt he could not bear to go back home while the stranger was out all alone in the storm.
He set off slowly down the hill. He was going to find the stranger and bring him home. He didn't care what the others thought.
The wind whipped the snow into white clouds around him. The branches of the trees creaked and groaned. Early struggled down the hillside.
The woods at the bottom of the hill were silent except for the moan of the wind. All the animals had taken shelter from the storm.
Early hopped along as quickly as he could. The snow was falling so hard that he began to wonder how he would ever find the stranger.
He kept going. He had never been so far from home before. Not alone. He looked around, but none of the trees looked familiar. He was sure he was lost in the terrible storm.
He stopped by a fallen tree branch. He was shivering and his fur was stiff and icy.
"I'll never find the stranger," he murmured to himself. "And how will I ever find my way home?"
Just then, he thought he saw something move across the snow. "Hello!" he cried. "Hello---hello!"
He thought he could hear an answering cry. Then he saw a pair of eyes moving toward him. The eyes drew closer. Early ran forward as fast as he could. It was the old rabbit---the stranger---and he was shaking with cold!
"It's you!" Early cried."I've been looking for you everywhere."
Early was not certain that he would be able to find his home again. But with the stranger beside him, he just seemed to know the way. They went slowly through the storm to the warmth and safety of Early's rabbit hole.
Early slept near the door and let the stranger have his bed.
When he woke up the next morning, Early ran to his bedroom to see if the stranger was still there, but he had gone. Early asked his brothers about the stranger, but they just stared at him.
"You know he left last night," they told him. "Why would he have come back again?" They did not know that Early had brought the stranger back to the rabbit hole.
Early did not understand why the stranger had left without saying good-bye. Sorrowfully he went back to his room. He pushed open the door.
There, on the freshly made bed, he saw a small package wrapped in brown paper. "To Early," he read on the card, "from a friend."
He tore the paper off the package. Inside was a small egg made of green stone. The color was deep and fresh, like the first spring grass. The green egg glinted in the light.
Early did not want to tell anyone about the stranger's gift. The egg gave him a special feeling that was his alone.
Carefully he wrapped it up again and hid it under his mattress. Sometimes, when no one was around, he would take it out and look at it. It reminded him of spring and summer and days when the world was green and bright.
This page last modified on: 05/29/2000 12:12 PM
