A Sheepy and Bunny Are Friends Story
Sheepy bounded forward with his back hooves landing in the snow prints made by his front hooves. He bounded over and over going bouncie bouncie in the snow. He gleefully hopped from one set of hoof prints to another, bleating happy sounds and kicking up snow with his back hooves.
Bunny came hopping behind Sheepy, leaping from hole to hole that Sheepy made in the snow. The snow was deep enough so only Bunny’s head and ears stuck out above the snow line. Bunny crinkled his nose and sniffed at the fresh snow. From a distance, all one could see were the black spots on Bunny’s nose and ears.
“Sheepy Sheepy,” called Bunny. “Why is Sheepy so happy and doing bouncie bouncies in the snow?”
“It’s a beautiful sunny day, there’s a rainbow on the horizon,” sang out Sheepy, “and Uni is coming tonight!”
“I see,” said Bunny. “It’s almost Christmas Eve and Sheepy is excited.”
Bunny hopped into another hole; he held his ears up in the sunlight.
“Sheepy,” said Bunny. “Let me jump up on your back. I’m getting lost in the snow.”
Sheepy bounced over to where Bunny was sitting in a hoof print. “Hop on,” he said. “We will bouncie bouncie together.”
Bunny hopped up on Sheepy’s back and hugged him around the neck with his paws. “It’s cold out today, but being snuggled in your wool will keep me nice and warm,” said Bunny.
“Sheepy don’t want Bunny and get cold.”
Sheepy continued his bouncie bouncies in the snow with Bunny riding and giggling on his back. Bunny’s ears bounced up and down with each of Sheepy’s leaps.
“See the pretty rainbow on the horizon?” asked Bunny.
“It’s so pretty,” said Sheepy. “It means Uni is coming.”
“Some humans say there is gold at the end of the rainbow,” said Bunny.
“That’s because they are greedy,” said Sheepy. “At the end of the rainbow is Uni Candy.” Sheepy made some more bouncie bouncies, flicked his ears, and nodded his head. “I hope Uni brings lots of candy. Sheepy will share all his yummy rainbow candy with Bunny.”
“Sheepy is the most generous of all the sheep,” said Bunny, smuggling his nose into Sheepy’s wool.
“Maybe there is a golden bunny at the end of the rainbow? That glows in the dark like Bunny.”
“Sheepy is silly.”
“Sheepy loves his Bunny so much.” Sheepy giggled and did another bouncie bouncie.
“If there is a golden bunny at the end of the rainbow, then there is also a sheep with a golden fleece for Bunny to ride.”
“We can ask Uni when he arrives. He will know!” said Sheepy. “But don’t let me fall asleep. I don’t want to miss Uni when he comes.”
“Has Sheepy ever seen Uni before?’ Bunny asked.
“Uni comes late in the night, and Sheepy keeps falling asleep before he arrives and misses him, so Bunny has to promise to wake Sheepy if he falls asleep.”
“Has Bunny seen Uni before?”
“Just once, when I was a little kit,” said Bunny. “I was snuggled with my brothers and sisters in our mama’s fur down in our burrow. I woke up hungry and wanted to nurse. While I was trying to find one of mama’s nipples, I heard a sound. I climbed up on my mama’s back. She was sleeping and having a nice dream. I could tell because she was humming. I peeked out from our burrow and saw Uni. He was glowing in the moonlight and had a horn on his forehead that was ringed with a rainbow.
“Wow,” said Sheepy. “He sounds beautiful.”
“Then I woke, curled up on my mom’s back. That’s all I remember.”
Sheepy did some more bouncie bouncies in the snow and called out: “Sheepy is so excited to see Uni” in happy bleats.
“Let’s go inside and see the decorations,” said Bunny. “The sun will be setting soon and it’s cold out here.”
Sheepy turned and trotted toward the barn. Bunny had wrapped his paws around Sheepy’s neck. Sheepy felt so happy to have his special friend Bunny riding on his back. He did a few more bouncie bouncies before he slipped into the barn.
Inside Mr. Squirrel and the chipmunks were busy hanging decorations. The Silkie chickens carried strings of popcorn in their beaks. Bessie the cow warned them not to eat the popcorn. They knew how fussy Bessie was and just ignored her. The Silkies carried the popcorn strings over to Mr. Squirrel and Chippy and Chilly, the little chipmunks, who were busy hanging them from the rafters. Mr. Squirrel and the chipmunks came to stay in the barn in the winter. When it was cold outside they snuggled into the sheep’s wool to stay warm.
One of the elder rams had asked Chippy and Chilly if the sheep could use some of their favorite stored nuts: like the chestnuts and walnuts they had hidden away for the winter, and other berries that they gathered from the meadow, to use as decorations for when Uni arrives. Some of the younger sheep wanted to bring a Christmas tree into the barn but they had no way to cut it down. They tried chewing the trunk of the tree, but it was too hard on their teeth, so they broke loose some pine branches instead.
The young sheep brought the pine branches inside to decorate and to keep the birds from eating the nuts and berries. The Silkies objected saying: “We are birds; we won’t eat them.” Bessie hushed them saying: “You don’t need them; you have your own feed to eat. The wild birds don’t.”
They shoved the broken ends of the pine branches into some stacked bales of hay to create a nice green backdrop. They wove strings of holly berries among the pine branches.
The barn decorations lifted the animal’s spirits while they excitedly waited for Uni’s arrival. As the animals finished their decorating, the sun set and the full moon came out bright. Mr. Squirrel opened the hayloft door to let the moonshine in. The sheep huddled together to stay warm and waited for the concert to start.
Bunny set up a small stage area in front of the bale of hay decorated with pine branches. Bunny, Mr. Squirrel, and Chippy and Chilly had been practicing their musical instruments for weeks now to get ready for the show. Mr. Squirrel took up a small saxophone and Bunny played the trombone. Chippy played the trumpet and Chilly a little clarinet. The Silkies had a tambourine and shook the cymbals along with the melody.
They started with some nice Christmas songs, such as: When Uni Comes, We are Happy Christmas is Coming, and Wishing Peace on Earth. Whenever Bunny hit a high note, he would lift his ears in the air and twirl them. Mr. Squirrel and the chipmunks would flutter their tails to the beat of the music. The sheep bobbed their heads along with the music letting out sympathetic bleats. Some of them taped their hooves in the straw and wagged their tails.
Near the end of the concert, Chippy changed over to a flute and performed a duet with Chilly, who sang a special Christmas song for the animals. In his little voice, he chirped the lyrics:
When Uni comes
There is love among the animals
Enjoying the company of family
With old and new friends
Joining together we eat yummy food
And sing happy songs hand in hand
As Chilly was finishing up his song, Kitty came rushing into the barn through a hole in the wall crying out: “They’re coming, they’re coming. Bad Farming and his Housewife are coming out to the barn!”
All the sheep jumped up and began running about bleating and fretting.
“Why are they coming?” They called out. “Why are they coming?”
“They must’ve heard the music. We should’ve been quieter,” bleated one scared ewe.
“Everyone be calm,” shouted one of the elder rams, “settle down and pretend nothing is happening.”
“And hide the instruments,” called Bessie.
Mr. Squirrel and the chipmunks quickly gathered the instruments and hid them under some hay in a corner of the barn.
“They are coming to hear the animals speak. That’s what they said,” Kitty told them.
“What do you mean? They are humans; they can’t understand what we say,” said one of the young rams.
“Oh my, oh my, is it midnight already!” exclaimed one of the elder rams. “Time has really gotten away from us. We must be quiet.”
“What do you mean?” cried Sheepy. He would get nervous whenever Bad Farmer was nearby. “You are making Sheepy afraid.”
“Oh, Sheepy,” said one of the older ewes, “at midnight the humans can understand what the animals say,” she bleated quickly. “Oh, after they leave we will explain to you.”
“What, that can’t be true?” bleated some of the young sheep. Chippy and Chilly were shocked as well. The Silkies were dumbfounded. They shook their little heads in disbelief. They just couldn’t understand.
“They’ve never come before to listen, we forgot to prepare the young animals for this,” one jittery ewe said.
“They’re coming, they’re coming,” cried Kitty who was sitting on a window ledge watching for them.
“Only make your animal sounds, but don’t say anything they could understand,” instructed an elder ram. “Settle down, settle down, and be quiet. Go to your beds and pretend you were sleeping.”
Moments later the barn door was thrown open and Bad farmer came staggering in.
“Well, you could’ve held the door for me,” the Housewife muttered following behind him.
Bad Farmer pulled out a flashlight. He swept the beam over the faces of the animals who looked back at him with blank expressions. Some of the animals turned away from the light beam. Their eyes had adjusted to the moonlight in the barn, and the flash of light caused pain in their eyes.
“See,” said the Housewife. “They are just dumb animals.”
“How do you explain the music,” Bad Farmer shot back. “I know I heard it.”
“It’s because you’re drunk.”
Sheepdog crept in behind them and sat near the door. He wasn’t going to get anywhere near a drunken Bad Farmer.
“It’s cold out here,” said the Housewife. “I’m freezing.” She pulled her long coat tighter around her large breasts and rubbed her bare hands. Her head was uncovered making her limp gray curls into a ghostly smudge in the moonlight from the hayloft door. Her uncovered legs stuck out of old work boots and shivered in the cold.
None of the animals were cold. They wore their winter coats and could snuggle with each other if they got chilly especially in the sheep’s warm fluffy wool.
Bad Farmer didn’t seem to be feeling the cold so much. He was warm inside from a half bottle of whiskey and had a nice buzz. Only his red and green flannel shirt kept him warm: his Christmas shirt. The black ball cap he wore put his eyes into darkness. His worn working jeans and boots were familiar to the animals.
“Well, are they going to talk or not?” said the Housewife.
“Come on you stupid animals: talk,” yelled Bad Farmer.
He shined his light on different animals, but they only made animal sounds. In their nervousness, some of the lambs and ewes let out nervous bleats.
Other sheep “Bahhhed” back to remind them not to speak.
Bessie let out a “Moooo” to distract Bad Farmer. The Silkies uttered scared clucks. Bunny and the chipmunks snuggled into the sheep’s wool to stay quiet and hidden. Bunny kept a close watch on Bad Farmer in case he needed to suddenly jump out and defend the animals. Mr. Squirrel hid in the rafters.
Bad Farmer swept his light over the decorations. “What the hell is this,” he said. “I knew they were up to something.” He pointed the beam at the pine branches decorated with berries and nuts.
“I don’t know what is going on here, but it’s making me nervous,” said the Housewife. “Let’s go back to the house.”
Bad Farmer let out a stream of expletives that made the animals feel deep shame in their spirits and humiliate their good-natured love and respect for each other that can’t be reported here. This violent spew of invectives made Bunny want to leap on Bad Farmer’s face and rip his tongue out with Bunny’s sharp incisors. Bunny cocked his ears just in case. He felt a sense of shame for the indecency that the other animals had to hear. Several animals were hiding their faces and shaking their heads in disbelief. Kitty started to cry and covered her face with her paws.
“You are such a jerk,” Sheepdog said, forgetting Bad Farmer could understand him.
“Who called me a jerk?” Bad Farmer raged. “I heard that.”
“I don’t know who said that, but let’s go. We should be in church right now.” The Housewife’s voice shook.
One of the elder rams got mad. He stood up and let out an angry bleat: “Bahhhhh.”
Other sheep joined in, letting out loud “Bahhhs.” Bessie bellowed: “Moooo,” and the Silkies clucked in despair. Sheepdog barked: “Woof, woof,” making sure he didn’t say anything. Kitty joined in with hisses.
The frightened housewife retreated outside into the snow at the sudden show of anger and outrage among the animals. Bad Farmer fled behind her as the young rams threatened to head-butt him on his rear-end.
It took the animals a while to settle down and regain their usually placid composure especially the excitable sheep.
Bunny leaped up on Sheepy’s back to calm him, petting Sheepy’s cheeks and neck with his paws.
“Bunny, Bunny,” said Sheepy. “I felt like I wanted to hurt him. I never felt like that before. That feeling scares me.”
Bunny continued to stroke Sheepy’s cheeks. “I know, Sheepy, Bunny is upset too. Be calm now and be a sweet loving Sheepy again.”
“I’m so glad Bunny is my friend. Sheepy wouldn’t know what to do without his special Bunny.”
The timid chipmunks: Chippy and Chilly remained hidden away in the barn, while Bessie tried to be a calming voice to settle the other animals down.
“They are gone now. Settle down, settle down.”
“How can they understand what we say?” asked Kitty. “Me and Sheepdog talk all the time in the house and they never understood us before.”
“It’s because of the baby Jesus,” said one of the older mama ewes. “Because Uni gave the baby Jesus a kiss when he was born.”
“I don’t understand,” said Kitty.
“We don’t either,” said the Silkies.
“On Christmas Eve, a long time ago, the baby Jesus,” said the mama ewe, “was born in a barn surrounded by animals.”
“Why not in a house? Like the other humans,” said Sheepdog.
“Because the humans were selfish and wouldn’t make room for his mother and father, so she could have her baby inside,” said the mama ewe. “So, they made them sleep in a barn, and that’s where he was born.”
“I think it was nice he was born in a barn, like us,” said one of the elder rams.
“So the baby Jesus’ mom, her name was Mary, had to lie in straw and have her baby,” continued the mama ewe.
“I love having lambs,” said one of the other ewes. “Feeling them grow inside me.”
“After she had the baby Jesus, his daddy, named Joseph, wrapped the baby in some cloth and put him in an animal food trough, because he didn’t have a crib.
“Why can’t Mary just hold the baby and suckle it?’ said another ewe.
“The humans are so strange about that. I guess,” said one of the elder rams.
“I love when my lambs suckle on my utters when they are babies,” said the mama ewe. Several of the other mama ewes bleated in agreement.
The mama ewe continued her story. “There were some shepherds out with their sheep flocks. An angel appeared in the meadow and told them the baby Jesus was born. So, they went to visit the baby Jesus.”
“What about the Sheep? They can’t just leave them out in the dark,” said Sheepdog.
“The sheep all came along with them into the barn, and they crowed around the food trough to see the little baby,” said the mama ewe. “And the sheep bleated to the baby Jesus and made funny faces, and the baby Jesus cooed and giggled at the silly sheep.”
“Were the sheep happy to see the baby Jesus? Did they dance on their front hooves, and drop poopy balls in the barn?” asked Sheepy. Sheepy giggled and flicked his ears when he said that.
By this time all the animals were settled down and snuggled into their hay beds to wait for Uni to come. The chipmunks came out of hiding and snuggled into the sheep’s fleece. They were all getting sleepy but were spellbound by the mama ewe’s story.
“So, then what happened?” asked Bunny.
“Other animals started showing up to see the baby Jesus,” said the mama ewe. “There were goats, and horses, and donkeys, and cows, even cats and dogs, and other animals.”
“And Silkies too!” cried the Silkies.
“Yes,” said the mama ewe. “There were all kinds of chickens. There were even pigs that came, but they wouldn’t let the pigs visit, because they said they were too dirty.”
“That’s not fair,” said Bessie.
“Humans get picky like that sometimes,” said an elder ram.
“Tell them about how the humans got to understand what animals say on Christmas Eve,” said Bessie.
“All the animals were making such a commotion trying to see the baby Jesus, and Mary and Joseph were getting frightened. So, the baby Jesus worked a miracle so the humans could understand what the animals were saying.
“What were they saying?” asked Kitty.
“They were praising the baby Jesus and singing songs to him,” said the mama ewe.
“Tell the end of the story,” said Bessie.
“When all the animals were singing, Uni arrived to visit the baby Jesus. All the animals fell into silence when he walked in,” said the mama ewe. “They were so in awe of him. Uni flashed rainbows out of his horn to amuse the baby Jesus who laughed and cooed. Then Uni kissed the baby Jesus on the forehead, and the baby went to sleep.”
“Because Uni kissed the baby Jesus, the baby Jesus gave all the animals the gift of letting the humans understand them on every Christmas Eve from then on.” The mama ewe finished her story.
“That’s not much of a gift to the animals. I always thought he could have done more,” said Bessie. “He could have given the animals something more useful, like hands.” She held up one of her hooves, “or a better tail to shoo flies away.”
“When Uni comes, he will bring good things!” bleated Sheepy.
It was getting really late and the animals were all sleepy. They snuggled in their hay beds, and one by one dozed off to sleep.
“Remember,” Sheepy told Bunny, who was snuggled under Sheepy’s chin, “to wake me if I fall asleep when Uni comes.” Sheepy tried to stay awake, but his eyelids were so heavy that soon he slipped into sleep and started dreaming of Uni.
Sheepy dreamed he was doing bouncie bouncies in the warm meadow and all around him was colorful Uni candy glittering in the sun. The candy lay scattered in the green grass, resting on the flower petals, and dangling from tree branches. Sheepy bounced from one flower to another gobbling up the candies from the petals of flowers. On his back rode Bunny, who scooped up the candies with his floppy ears and nibbled them while wiggling his pink nose. Sheepy was in Candy Land. The more he looked around the more he saw rainbow lollipops sprouting from the ground, candy canes hanging from trees, and bowls of Christmas treats under blooming bushes, just waiting to be enjoyed by little scuttling creatures and birds alighting on the ground to dip their beaks into Christmas delights.
Bunny said, “Look at the Barn, Sheepy!”
The whole barn had turned into a gingerbread house decorated with Uni candy and sweet frosting. Outside the barn were gingerbread men with silly smiles painted on their faces. Sheep laughed and bleated happy sounds when he saw Bessie bite off one of their heads and happily chew it while swishing her tail.
Sheepy found bowls of banana and chocolate pudding, cherry and apple pies, fresh pineapples, and pieces of all kinds of yummy fruit. Sheep and Bunny feasted on the bounty filling their bellies full of yummy treats.
“I’m getting so full,” said Sheepy. “I need to lie down and take a nap.”
“You can’t lie down and nap,” said Bunny. “Not now, Uni is coming!”
Bunny put his paws around Sheepy’s neck and bopped Sheepy on the top of his head with Bunny’s long ears.
“Wake up, wake up, Uni is coming,” called Bunny.
Sheepy woke up from his dream.
The other sheep heard Bunny calling out and roused from their slumbers as well. The Silkies and the chipmunks awoke as well.
“He’s coming, he’s coming,” Mr. Squirrel called from the hayloft. “I see his wings!”
The sheep flock ran out of the barn to watch Uni approach. In the moonlight, the barn did resemble a gingerbread house, but in their excitement, the sheep didn’t notice.
They saw Uni flying across the sky. Uni was magnificent! He shimmered with a white light that reflected colorful flashes off his rainbow wings. He galloped on a rainbow with sparks flying from his hooves and glitter from his tail. His horn glowed with the colors of the rainbow. The sheep danced and bleated and pooped as they watched Uni fly and land in the glowing meadow. Even the moon lit up with Uni’s rainbows, and the sheep’s white wool was colored with soft pastel illuminations.
All the sheep kneeled to Uni. The other animals hopped onto their backs, just like Bunny rode on Sheepy’s back. The sheep flocked around Uni to be near his warmth and hugged by his wings. Each animal received their own kiss from Uni on their foreheads. The sheep couldn’t contain their bleats of happiness.
As each animal received their kiss, Uni spoke a personal message to each one. When it was Sheepy’s turn to get his kiss, Uni said to him, “Yes, Sheepy, there is a golden Bunny at the end of the rainbow. Your special friend, who you will always be with.” Sheepy cried for happiness.
After all the animals got their kiss and message, Uni told them: “I left you all special gifts in the barn.”
Then Uni flapped his great wings and rose into the air. Then in a flash of light, that sent rainbows streaking across the sky, he vanished.
At that moment, Sheepy woke up from his dream. Sheepy was cuddled with his bunny in his hay bed. Bunny had fallen asleep too and woke at the same time. All the other sheep woke from their dreams as well.
Sheepy hopped up from his hay bed. “I had a dream about Uni! Did Uni come and I missed him?” said Sheepy.
“I had a dream about Uni also,” said one of the other sheep.
“Me too. So did I,” said other sheep.
“I had a dream about Uni too,” said Bunny. He hopped up on Sheepy’s back and gave him a hug around the neck. “It was a really beautiful dream.”
“I dreamed Uni came flying on a rainbow and landed in the meadow. He gave all the sheep, and other animals, a kiss, and gave each one a message.”
“I dreamed the same thing,” said one of the elder rams.
“So did I,” said a momma ewe.
“We all dreamed the same thing,” said Bessie from the back of the barn. “I dreamed I bit the head off of a gingerbread man.” She laughed.
“We dreamed that too,” said the Silkies all together.
“And there was candy all through the meadow,” chirped Chippy and Chilly.
“Did we all fall asleep and miss Uni?” said Sheepy.
“Uni said he left gifts in the barn,” said Bunny.
The sheep looked for gifts. They found them all through the barn. They found yummy treats and fresh fruits behind hay bales. Candy scatted in the hay. Nuts and berries for the chipmunks and Mr. Squirrel. With each new gift they found, the sheep were startled with joy and danced on their front hooves, and happy bleated, and dropped poopy balls. In the back of the barn, they found fresh new hay to eat, not the old tasteless hay that Bad Farmer gave them in the winter. Chippy and chilly went to check the musical instruments and found they were all new and sparking and didn’t sound all tinny like they did before.
Under the decorated pine branches they found brushes to untangle the sheep’s winter fleece, sweet-smelling shampoo, and hats and scarves for the sheep to dress up in and keep their ears warm on cold nights.
Some of the mama ewes realized their hay was clean. The elder rams felt their itches and sore knees and hooves were gone.
The Silkies in their roost found the most precious gift of all: a rainbow feather from Uni’s wings that they would always treasure.
“Uni is real; we love Uni,” the Silkies called out over and over, as they admired and stroked the feather with their own wings. They debated where to hide the feather so Bad Farmer wouldn’t find and steal it.
The feather was just like Uni’s feathers in Sheepy’s dream. When Sheepy saw the feather he called out to Bunny: “He did come; he really did come! We saw him; we all saw him!”
Bunny snuggled deeper into Sheepy’s soft wool. “Uni made Bunny very happy tonight,” said Bunny.
“Sheepy is happy too,” said Sheepy and let out a happy bleat.
“What did Uni tell Sheepy?” asked Bunny.
Sheepy flicked his ears and waggled his tail. “Uni said, there is a golden Bunny at the end of the rainbow, and we will always be together,” said Sheepy. “What did he tell you?”
“Uni said, there is the sweetest Sheep with a golden fleece at the end of the rainbow, who will always be my special friend.”
Sheepy was so happy that he did a bouncie bouncie with Bunny on his back and dropped some poopy out his butt.
Note: This is the original version of the story.
A revised and illustrated edition will replace it soon.
Meadow Whisper:
Journeys do not wander lost.
The Meadow keeps them,
and hush rests in laughter and care.