Four little rabbits

Four little rabbits

  Copyright 2013 Z. Teun Spaans

  ISBN 9781310956829

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Story 1: The rabbit hole

  Story 2: Outside

  Story 3: Playing outside

  Story 4: The Friends and the slope

  Story 5: The rain

  Bonus Story: The fox

  Story reading and telling tips

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank our four children, Piet-Jan, Margreet, Klaas and Joella for their attention and support while I made valiant attempts to think up original stories.

  Prologue

  When our kids were small, I used to read them bedtime stories from books. Except on holidays, when I had no book with me. During our holidays I told them bedtime stories about 4 little rabbits, stories which I invented usually on the spot, though the germs were often in the events that had occurred during that day. To my surprise our kids loved these stories much better than the stories in the books.

  I never wrote those stories down. In fact, only one or two of the stories in this book resemble the stories I told during our holidays. I do hope that your children will enjoy these stories too. But even if they don’t like these stories, I do hope that you will take time to find other stories and read them to your children.

  In fact, I hope that it will encourage you in time to come up with your own stories. Most children are not very demanding as to the quality of the stories that you make up: they will love it if they can recognize themselves in the story, and they will love it that you take time for them and are interested in them.

  These stories are not written with a moral lesson in mind. The only aims are to put the mind of the children at rest (routine helps to get asleep), to provide a pleasant time and perhaps exercise the brain of the children. It is also a period of quality time: time for the relation between you and your child. And there is nothing more precious in your life than your children. (So switch off that cell phone when you are reading!). At the end of the book I provide some tips on both the reading of stories and the thinking up of stories.

  At the end of some of every story you will find a question. These questions are there to ask your children. It provides a moment of interaction. It will also exercise the brains of your children by training their brains to recognize familiar objects from descriptions, or talking about emotions from the day.

  Story 1: The rabbit hole

  Once upon a time there were 4 little rabbits. They were very, very small when they were born. The oldest was called Peter, the second Merry, the third Charles and the youngest Joy.

  Did I already tell you that they were very small? They were so small that they all fitted under Mama’s belly. Their mother had made a nice warm nest for them, made from hairs which she had pulled from her own fur. Under their mother’s belly they could drink milk and grow and sleep and drink more till their own bellies were full of lovely milk again.

  After a few days their mother left them alone. Now it was not so warm so the four of them cuddled together. That way they still remained warm. When their mother returned, they hurried to drink milk and went to sleep again.

  Again a few days later they could see. Up till that day they had been blind, but now they could see each other, and…. They could see their mother! How big Mommy was! Much bigger than they were!

  They could also see the room they were in. It was round and long. They could not see very far yet. They all looked around and found that the floor, the walls and the ceiling of their little room were made up of small white yellow grains or very, very small pebbles. When Charles crawled out of their nest, the small grains went into his fur and his mother had to wash it out of his fur with her tongue.

  What do we call those small grains?

  (Answer: sand)

  When Mommy told them what it was called, they all went to sleep again.

  Story 2: Outside

  The 4 young rabbits (Peter, Merry, Charles and Joy) were growing rapidly. They had a lot of fun while they rolled around and over each other and frolicked and laughed and had great fun all day. All the time they remained in the nest that their mother had made from her own fur.

  The day came that Pete, who was the oldest, crawled out of the nest. He could now clearly see the sand which made up the floor and roof and walls of the rabbit hole that their mother had dug. It was still warm here, though not as warm as in the nest. There was also another rabbit, and it was even bigger than Mommy! Can you guess who it is? Right, it is their Daddy.

  At one side of the hole there was a bend in the corridor. Curiously he walked that way, and Merry and Charles and Joy followed him. Their mother called them back: “Not yet, children” she warned them.

  Merry was curious: What is there, Mommy? Mommy replied: That is called “outside”, my dear. Sometimes it is dangerous there.

  “Oh Mommy, can we see Dangerous there?” yelled one of them, excited by the prospect of seeing something new. “Yes, Mommy” added another, “We want to see both Outside and Dangerous!”

  Daddy, who was also around, explained: There are several things to be seen outside, but Dangerous is not something you can see. Dangerous means that you may feel pain, or worse, or get hurt. But if you help your mother, tonight, before its get dark and before you go to bed, we will go to the entrance of our hole and you can see something of Outside. All four of them declared that they would help Mommy.

  That evening Daddy took them to the entrance of the rabbit hole in which they lived. He told them that they had to stay within the rabbit hole and run back to Mommy’s nest the second he said so. They promised to do that. Before them was a great green area. When Pete asked what it was, Daddy told them that that was grass. He told them that the grass could be eaten. Above it was a great blue area. That, explained Daddy, was called the sky. In the sky was a yellow disk which hurt their young and sensitive eyes.

  Merry asked what that yellow disk was called.

  Do you know that?

  (Answer: the sun)

  Charles had understood what Daddy meant and walked towards the grass to taste it. Daddy quickly grabbed him and put him back into their hole: I had told you to stay inside. And now you all have seen outside and it is time go to bed and to get asleep!

  Story 3: Playing outside

  Our 4 little rabbits (do you still know their names?) were allowed to go outside for the very first time. Their mother instructed them that they had to remain close to her, as the world is much more dangerous for small rabbits than it is for us humans. She also warned them that, when she called them, they immediately had to rush to their rabbit hole home. They followed Daddy and Mommy as they ventured outside the rabbit hole. It was beautiful! There was a bright yellow sun, a blue sky and green grass.

  Charles tried to eat some of the grass and found it tasted delicious. Joy jumped over him as Charles tried another blade of grass. And another. And one more. Mommy looked back and saw hat Charles was not following her as the others did. She called him and when he realized that he had remained behind, he quickly rushed up.

  When they came upon a secluded spot, Daddy sniffed the air and then declared that they could play here. Charles started to eat some more blades of grass, and the others followed his example. When they had their bellies full, they frolicked in the sand and on the grass. They rested for a short while, until Merry saw some dark blue berries on thorny bushes. She tasted a berry and found it tasted very sweet. But those thorns pricked!

  He asked: What are those berries called?

  (Answer: Brambles. This is not an easy one for young children, unless they are acquainted with them. Help your child to gu
ess it to improve self confidence).

  When they were tired of playing, Daddy and Mommy brought them back to their nest where they went right to sleep.

  Story 4: The friends and the slope

  Our four little rabbits, Pete, Merry, Charles and Joy were playing outside again, under the watchful eye of Mommy and Daddy. This time they were playing on a grass field which was much bigger than where they played yesterday. At three edges there were bushes, and at one edge there was a steep slope. Daddy took them to the slope and said: look! You see that this slope goes down here and is several rabbits high. Don’t fall down!

  They promised to be careful and went back to the center of the grass. There they frolicked and tumbled over each other, they ate the green leaves of a plant and