A Children’s Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, there were three little Elves. Each Elf had a funny name that fit them perfectly. Miss Cookie was in charge of the kitchen and all the meals. Veggie was in charge of the vegetable garden, he did all the planting and watering and eventually the harvesting of all the vegetables. And then there was Bossy, who ran the whole show. If anyone needed to know something they went directly to Bossy. They would say, “Hey Bossy, or Hey Boss!” Bossy would always know how to solve the problem. If he didn’t know, he would say, “I’ll get back to you on that one later.”
Their little community ran like a top, until one day something strange happened. It seemed that the vegetable garden was overrun by rabbits. And boy was Veggie fit to be tied. He went screaming to Bossy. “Bossy what are we going to do to stop those mangy rabbits from eating all our vegetables?” They had eaten at least a bushel of lettuce and dozens of carrots too. Bossy thought for a moment and then decided that they would take turns watching the garden and chasing the rabbits away when they showed up. They were going to put a stop to this vegetable robbery before those shifty rabbits ate the whole vegetable garden.
Cookie had the first shift right after breakfast. She had finished the dishes, and everyone was off to their jobs. As soon as she arrived at the garden, she saw two rabbits strolling in for their morning meal as casually as you can imagine. Cookie screamed at them, “You rabbits better get out of here and stop eating the vegetables in our garden!” The rabbits just stood there with the saddest faces and said, “We are hungry, if we don’t eat your vegetables what will we eat?” “I don’t know!” said Cookie, “Can’t you find another garden for your meals?” The rabbits just stared at Cookie with their big eyes and said, “Please Miss Cookie, you have so much can’t we just have enough for the two of us? We won’t eat too much. You won’t even know there was anything is missing.”
Cookie didn’t know what to say or do about the situation. The three Elves agreed to stop the rabbits from eating their garden vegetables, how was she going to allow them to have some vegetables now? She thought for a moment and agreed to let them have just a little meal so that no one would notice. The rabbits hurried in took a little lettuce and two carrots and left. They thanked Cookie as they hopped back into the forest.
At four o’clock Veggie came to relieve Cookie and take over the garden watch. “Did anything happen today, Cookie?” Veggie asked. “Nothing, I guess they saw me and didn’t try to take anything. It was quiet all day.” “That’s good!” Said Veggie and took his post near the garden gate. About an hour went by and three rabbits came by for their daily meal in the garden. “Not so fast!” Veggie said. You rabbits can’t eat in my garden anymore. You have to find another garden for your meals!” “But Mr. Veggie, there aren’t any gardens around here, except for yours.” “I don’t care, this is our garden, and you can’t eat here any longer!”
The rabbits stood there surprised over the situation, what were they to do. With the saddest look on their faces, they said, “We are small rabbits, and we won’t eat too much Mr. Veggie. We are hungry and have no place else to eat. Can we just take a few carrots and maybe one lettuce? You won’t even notice they are gone. You have so much in your big garden.” Veggie thought for a minute. How could he say no, the poor rabbits had no other place to get food. Veggie gave in and said, “Okay! But hurry and don’t tell anyone that I let you have the vegetables.” They agreed and jumped in, took exactly what they said, and hopped off into the forest.
At eight o’clock Bossy showed up to take his shift guarding the garden. He asked Veggie if any rabbits had come around. Not wanting to admit to Bossy that he had allowed the rabbits to take some vegetables, he said, “Not a single rabbit came around, they must have seen me and decided not to take the chance with me standing there.” “That’s great said Bossy! It looks like we found the way to stop those mangy rabbits from eating all our vegetables.” Veggie agreed and went off to the house to prepare the next meal.
A couple of hours went by and it was getting dark. Bossy decided to sit down and relax. Just then four rabbits showed up. “Wait a minute my fine fluffy friends! No one eats our vegetables from our garden anymore. This is our garden, and we don’t want any rabbits coming in for their dinner, so skedaddle.” But Mr. Bossy, one of the rabbits said with the saddest face. “We are so hungry and we haven’t eaten all day. It’s so late and so dark what are we to do? Can’t we take just a few carrots and one lettuce? No one will notice they are gone.” Bossy was a pretty tough guy but how was he going to say no to these poor little rabbits that are so hungry. He understood that it was late, and they have no other place to get food. Just like Cookie and Veggie he gave in. “Okay, but just this once. Hurry up and take the carrots and the lettuce and don’t tell anyone that I let you have them.” They agreed and jumped into the garden grabbed what they said and hopped off into the forest.
The next morning at breakfast all three Elves were especially quiet. Cookie was the first to say, “I can’t tell a lie, I gave two rabbits some carrots and lettuce yesterday. I’m sorry I just couldn’t let them go hungry.” Veggie couldn’t believe what he heard and started to laugh. “I gave three rabbits the same thing. The look in their eyes almost made me cry. I had to give them some carrots and one lettuce.”
Bossy walked around with a stern face to cover up what he did. Cookie and Veggie were mortified at what Bossy was going to do. And then Bossy smiled the biggest grin and said, “I guess we have to make a bigger garden.”
(A Children’s Story from the Wolrad collection #105)
