A Sheepy and Bunny Are Friends Story
Sheepy climbed on top of the big rock that sat at the base of the sycamore tree where the bees kept their hive. That big piece of limestone had sat there as long as any of the sheep could remember. It was the same rock that Bad Farmer climbed up when he stole the bees’ honey. If the bees could’ve removed it at the Queen’s order, they would, but their collective wings couldn’t move it, so there it stayed.
Sheepy stood on the rock and bleated to the bees, “I need some honey.”
“We gave you some honey a while back; did you eat it already?” the bees buzzed to Sheepy.
“Honey is so yummy tasting,” insisted Sheepy, “and Bunny likes to take little licks of honey too, and now I’m all out.”
“We can’t spare any honey now,” buzzed the bees. “The Queen is laying many eggs now, and we need the honey to feed the baby larvae.”
“Please,” bleated Sheepy, “just a little bit of honey to put behind my ear? I try to keep some honey behind my ear for my special friend Bunny to lick when he rides on my back. I felt behind my ear this morning with my hooves and found the honey was all gone.”
“We can’t spare any. We’re working as fast as we can to make honey to feed the new babies, but Bad Farmer comes along with his mask and gloves and steals our honey. We just don’t have enough.”
“None at all?” Sheepy whined. “Not even a little bit? Bunny will be sad with no yummy honey to lick.”
“None at all, Sheepy. You have to go now. We need to work collecting more nectar to make honey.”
Sheepy was sad. He wanted a little taste of honey for himself too. He stood there on top of the rock all long-faced.
“Sheepy, please, if you don’t go you will make the Queen all annoyed, and we will have to start buzzing you to make you go away.”
Sheepy didn’t know what to do. How to get some honey for Bunny to lick from behind his ear? He lay down on the rock to think about it. The bees swarmed around him, buzzing him in his face and on his rump, beneath his chin and under his tail, and all along his back. The bees couldn’t sting him through his thick wool. All they could do was annoy him.
“Ok, Ok,” said Sheepy. “I will go, but tell me when you have some extra honey that I can put behind my ear for my friend Bunny to lick.”
The bees said they would let him know. Sheepy went to hop off the rock.
This tree, where the bees kept their hive, is a big sycamore tree, and it stands at the top of a hill. This is why it’s so weird that there’s a large limestone rock at the top of the hill. When Sheepy jumped down from that rock, he slipped and fell.
Usually, sheep are light on their feet, but he slipped on the new spring grass. It grew lush and green and yummy and chewy like grass does in the spring. There was a little dew on the grass, and it was slippery, so Sheepy lost his footing and tumbled to the bottom of the hill.
Sheepy wasn’t hurt by the tumble. He still had his winter wool on, and was fluffy and bouncy, and rolled down the hill like a big ball of wool. Tumbling made him a little dizzy. The only problem was when he came to a stop, he was stuck on his back with his hooves sticking straight up in the air, waving back and forth.
Every good shepherd knows if a sheep gets stuck on his back and can’t roll himself back over, the poor sheep will lie there until the shepherd or sheepdog comes and puts him back on his feet. If no one comes, the wolves or the foxes might… Oh, we don’t want to think about that!
Bad Farmer doesn’t come into the meadow often, and Sheepdog sits on the back stoop of the farmhouse facing the garden under the shade of the porch roof. Sheepdog rarely ventures out into the meadow anymore to guard the sheep, leaving them to look after themselves. Luckily, the sheep have Bunny to look after them.
Sheepy bleated to the sheep flock in the meadow. “Sheepy tumbled down the hill and can’t get up.”
All the other sheep came running to his call: the little flock that called the meadow home.
Sheepy waved his hooves in the air and shook his head back and forth and waggled his rump but couldn’t get up.
The other sheep tried to roll him over. Some of the sheep tried to push Sheepy over with their hooves. Other sheep tried to wedge their noses under him and flip him over, but they didn’t have enough leverage. Some sheep pushed from one side while other sheep pushed from the other side. One of the baby lambs grabbed Sheepy’s tail with his new teeth and pulled.
“Ouch!” said Sheepy. “This isn’t working. I could get up if I was not so woolly. I still have my winter wool on, and I can’t roll over. Go get my special friend Bunny; he will know what to do.”
Several of the sheep ran off at the same time, racing each other to see who could get to the barn first. They knew Bunny liked to take naps while he nibbled fresh hay.
“Oh, Bunnnnny, Bunny Bunny,” they called.
“Here I am!” Bunny called out. “I hear sheep calling for me.”
Bunny hopped out of a big pile of hay lying on the floor of the barn right where Bad Farmer dropped it. He chewed a nice green piece of hay in his mouth.
“Your dear friend Sheepy has rolled over on his back and can’t get up. He tumbled down the hill where the big rock is. He still has his winter wool on and is big and fluffy. Now he is stuck on his back with his hooves sticking up in the air, waving back and forth.”
Bunny dropped the hay from his mouth.
“What!” Bunny cried out. “My friend Sheepy was right here with me. He has wandered away and got stuck on his back. I have to help my dear friend Sheepy!”
Bunny ran out of the barn. He hopped to the meadow lickidy split in giant bounds on his powerful rabbit hind legs. As he ran, he called out: “Sheepy, Sheepy, Sheepy, I’m coming. I love my Sheepy and won’t let him get hurt!”
Sheepy heard Bunny calling to him and bleated back, “Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, I knew you would come and save Sheepy. Sheepy loves his Bunny so much!”
Bunny, seeing his Sheepy lying on his back with his hooves sticking up in the air waving back and forth, said: “Why did you sneak away and leave me in the barn? I promised to always look after my Sheepy and protect him from Bad Farmer. I can’t do that if Sheepy slips away.”
“Sheepy wanted to surprise Bunny, but wasn’t able too.” Sheepy made a sad face.
“Don’t be sad, Sheepy. Bunny will make you laugh.” Bunny hopped next to Sheepy, tickled Sheepy’s belly with his paws and ears.
“I’ll rub your belly just like Bunny does when it’s all full of yummy fruits and veggies to help Sheepy digest,” said Bunny.
Sheepy giggled, waving his hooves back and forth because Sheepy was ticklish on his belly.
“Stop tickling me,” cried Sheepy. “You’ll make me laugh too much, and I might pee.”
“Bunny loves it when Sheepy laughs,” said Bunny.
Bunny stopped tickling Sheepy’s belly.
“Stand back, everyone. Bunny will roll Sheepy over!”
Bunny jumped to one side of Sheepy and pressed his front paws into Sheepy’s thick wool coat, and using his powerful haunches, Bunny pushed Sheepy onto his side, so Sheepy’s hooves touched the ground. Bunny had no trouble rolling him over, even though Sheepy was several times larger than Bunny. Sheepy then pulled his legs tight to his belly, and Bunny pushed him upright so Sheepy could get his legs underneath him. All Sheepy needed to do was stand up.
When Sheepy was back on his feet, Sheepy and all the other sheep did a little sheep dance. They all bleated in unison, making happy sounds and waggled their heads and rumps back and forth. They did a dance on their front hooves while dropping little round poop balls into the thick meadow grass.
While the sheep did their dance, Bunny jumped up into the air doing binkie after binkie, kicking his hind legs out behind him and flipping his ears back and forth to show his happiness. Then Bunny hopped on Sheepy’s back to hug his neck with his paws.
When the sheep finished dancing, Bunny asked Sheepy what happened. Why did he tumble down the hill and land on his back with his hooves sticking up into the air, waggling back and forth?
“I wanted to surprise Bunny with some fresh honey behind my ear for Bunny to lick,” said Sheepy. “Sheepy sneaked away from Bunny while Bunny was nibbling and napping, so Bunny wouldn’t know Sheepy was gone.”
Bunny looked behind Sheepy’s ear and saw the honey was all gone.
Sheepy told Bunny all about the bees and how they were out of honey so he couldn’t put any behind his ear for Bunny to lick, and how they buzzed him, and how he leaped off the rock and slipped and tumbled down the hill.
Bunny was upset to hear Sheepy’s story and said: “I will get some honey to put behind Sheepy’s ear for Bunny to lick.” Then Bunny took a running start and made a big leap all the way to the top of the hill using his strong legs that let him jump high into the air.
He hopped onto the rock that sat under the sycamore tree, and said to the bees, “I need some honey.”
“We don’t have any honey to spare,” the bees buzzed. They told Bunny about the Queen laying her eggs and how Bad Farmer would come and steal their honey.
“I want a little bit of honey to put behind my dear friend Sheepy’s ear,” Bunny told the bees. “He took a tumble down the hill and landed on his back with his hooves sticking up in the air, waving back and forth. I rolled him over on his feet, and the sheep did a happy dance. Now a little honey behind his ear will make him completely happy.” Bunny reached into the beehive and pulled out a little piece of honeycomb.
The bees tried to buzz Bunny’s face, but Bunny gently swatted them away with his floppy rabbit ears since he didn’t want to hurt them.
He took a little lick of the honey.
“This honey tastes so good. Sheepy will be so happy to have this honey behind his ear,” Bunny told the bees.
Bunny was about to hop away but then turned back to the bees and said: “if Bad Farmer comes back and tries to steal any more of your honey, you come and get me, and I will run him away!”
Then Bunny leaped off the rock and bounded down the hill with the little piece of honeycomb in his mouth.
“I got a little piece of honeycomb to put behind your ear,” Bunny told Sheepy. “Here, have a little taste.”
Sheepy gave the honeycomb a few licks and said, “Mummmm, such good honey!”
Bunny jumped onto Sheepy’s back and tucked the honeycomb behind Sheepy’s left ear, where he could take little licks and feed some to Sheepy with his paw.
Sheepy was so happy to have some honey behind his ear for Bunny, and his friend riding on his back, that Sheepy ran and jumped in the meadow, making happy bleating sounds and singing sheep songs with the sheep flock.
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.