A Sheepy and Bunny Are Friends Story
One day when all the sheep were frolicking in the meadow, munching on yummy spring grass and the wildflowers bloomed in radiant colors on vibrant green stems, the sheep flock smelled this wonderful sweet aroma coming from the direction of the farmhouse.
Sheepy sniffed the air, smelling that delicious scent and bleated, “what could that wonderful smell be?’
Nearby, Bunny hopped around in the grass and smelled the scent too.
“It smells like apples, yummy apples from an orchard,” said Bunny.
“Bad Farmer and his Housewife picked apples from the apple tree yesterday. What do you think they did with them?” said Sheepy.
“I’ll go over and look,” said Bunny.
“Sheepy will come too.”
“No, no,” said Bunny. “Remember what happened last time? When Bad Farmer went and got his gun? I don’t want my dear friend Sheepy to get hurt.”
Sheepy thought about it and said, “Okay, Sheepy will wait here.”
“Yeah,” said Bunny. “I’ll hop over real quiet and take a look.”
Bunny hopped real fast through the meadow without making a sound.
“My special friend Bunny is so quiet,” said Sheepy to himself. “He hardly makes any sound. Us sheep, we get so noisy.” Sheepy dropped some sheep poops out of his rump into the meadow grass. “And we poop a lot and get stinky too,” Sheepy giggled.
In the meantime, Bunny hopped without a sound through the kitchen garden, staying close to the edges, behind the tomatoes, to stay out of sight. He followed the delicious smell with his nose right to the kitchen window.
Bad Farmer’s Housewife had baked a fresh apple pie and set it on the window ledge to cool. Bunny stood up on his hind legs and sniffed all around. He even lifted up his floppy ears to waft the scent to his nose. The pie smelled so yummy that he wanted to take a bite but was too short to reach it. He didn’t dare jump up on the windowsill. He turned around and quickly hopped back through the garden and into the meadow to tell his friend Sheepy what he found.
“It’s a fresh baked apple pie!” he told Sheepy, while he flipped his ears and waggled his tail. “It smelled so good I wanted to take a bite, but it’s on the windowsill. I couldn’t reach it, and I didn’t dare jump up on the windowsill.”
“How can we get it? It smells so good, and I want a bite too,” said Sheepy.
“I know how to get it,” said Bunny. “I can jump up on your back, so I can reach it, slip it down real fast, and then we can run back to the meadow and eat the yummy apple pie!”
“Let’s do that!” Sheepy did his little sheep dance on his front hooves, waggling his head and rump, and dropping a few balls of sheep poop in the grass.
“We can’t just walk up and get it,” said Bunny. “They will see us coming. We need a distraction, like a decoy.”
“Oh, I see, but what can we use?” said Sheepy.
Sheepy thought for a long time, so did Bunny.
Then Sheepy started flicking his ears back and forth, waggling his tail, and doing the little sheep dance again.
“I got an idea! We can use a decoy, a rainbow lamb decoy!”
“What’s a rainbow lamb decoy?” asked Bunny.
“We take one of the little lambs,” said Sheepy, “and put lovely flowers all through her wool, and dye her fleece rainbow colors using the juice of flowers and grass, so the little lamb is all pretty, and then set the lamb loose for Bad Farmer and Housewife to chase out of the farmhouse, then we sneak up and grab the pie when they aren’t looking!”
“That’s a great plan!” said Bunny.
Sheepy lowered his head and blushed. Even though the inside of his ears turned red, he was still proud of his smart idea. Sheepy made a big grin to Bunny, and Bunny ran over and kissed Sheepy on the nose.
“I love my friend Bunny so much.”
“I love my friend Sheepy too.”
Sheepy called to the other sheep to find a lamb who could be the rainbow lamb decoy, and told them to start picking flowers and making dye.
One of the ewes volunteered her little Lambkins to be the rainbow lamb decoy. All the sheep got busy picking flowers and decorating Lambkin’s wool. The sheep made dye from grass and flowers and painted a rainbow pattern of green and red and yellow and blue and orange and purple on Lambkin’s fleece. When they were all done, Lambkins was so beautiful. She pranced around showing off her pretty fleece and waggled her tail. She preened and strutted, proud to be the rainbow lamb decoy.
“We have to hurry now,” said Bunny. “The pie will be getting cold, and all the sheep are hungry for their bite.”
The little flock of sheep nodded and bleated in unison.
“All the sheep stay in the meadow,” said Sheepy. “Me and Bunny and Lambkins will go get the yummy apple pie.”
The sheep followed Sheepy, with Bunny riding on his back, and Lambkins to the edge of the meadow. The little flock waited there dreaming about their bite of the yummy apple pie, doing little dances on their front hooves, and dropping occasional poop balls in the grass.
“Ok, Lambkins,” Sheepy said, “you go up on the porch and start making lots of bleating noises and prance around, and when the door opens you run inside the house and make them chase you, but don’t let them catch you.”
“What about Sheepdog on the back stoop?” asked Bunny. “Will he hurt Lambkins?”
Sheepy thought for a moment. “Sheepdog is supposed to protect us sheep, but he just lies around now and does nothing.” Sheepy smiled to his friend. “It’s a good thing we got Bunny to look after us.”
Sheepy and Bunny hid behind a blackberry bush. Lambkins the rainbow lamb decoy hopped over some smashed chicken wire fence, and ran into the garden and up the back stoop bleating up a storm.
Sheepdog just lifted his head, gave Lambkins a glance, then rested his head on his paws again. Sheepy and Bunny got ready to nab the yummy apple pie.
Housewife opened the door. She had a big straw broom to shoo Lambkins away, but when she saw all the flowers in Lambkins wool, and the rainbow pattern dyed on her fleece, Housewife was startled and didn’t know what to do.
Lambkins took the opportunity and ran between Housewife’s legs into the kitchen. Housewife screamed and ran back inside with her broom.
Sheepy and Bunny sneaked from behind the blackberry bush, darted past a row of tomatoes, to under the kitchen window where the now cooled apple pie sat.
Bunny shushed Sheepy’s urge to let out a happy bleat and do a little dance on his front hooves. Sheepy grinned and nodded. Sheepy scooted up next to the house below the window with Bunny riding on his back. Bunny stood on his back legs and peaked over the windowsill.
Inside Lambkins caused quite a commotion. Lambkins happily bleated away, prancing around the kitchen while Housewife swatted at her with a broom. Lambkins easily dodged each swipe and ducked under the table. Housewife tumbled over chairs to get to her, but Lambkins merrily skipped away down the hallway toward the living room.
From outside, Sheepy and Bunny heard objects crashing to the floor and loud thumps on the hardwood. Housewife yelled at her husband Bad Farmer to get the crazy rainbow lamb out of her house. He yelled all kinds of bad words that Sheepy and Bunny didn’t like to hear.
This was their chance. Bunny grabbed the yummy apple pie with his front paws, and carefully using his strong ears, balanced the pie on his ear tips, nose and bunny paws, lowering it gently onto Sheepy’s back. The pie had cooled enough to rest on Sheepy’s soft wool. With Bunny holding the pie tight, Sheepy ran past the staked tomatoes, behind the blackberry bush, and back to the meadow where the other sheep were waiting.
Moments later, the back screen door opened and Lambkins came running out shooed by Housewife’s broom. All of her flowers had fallen off and were now scattered through the house as a reminder of her visit, but her rainbow coloring still glowed on her soft fleece.
All the sheep bleated in unison, happy for Lambkin’s safe return and the yummy apple pie Sheepy and Bunny brought. Housewife saw the group of bleating sheep watching her, so she quickly retreated back into the house and slammed the back door shut.
Sheepy and Bunny took the pie further into the meadow so they couldn’t be seen from the farmhouse, and laid the yummy pie on the ground for all the sheep to see. The sheep smelled the aroma and licked their lips in anticipation.
“How are we going to divide it up?” asked Sheepy.
“I’ll cut it into slices using my ears,” said Bunny.
“What?” said Sheepy. “How will you do that?”
“Like this,” said Bunny. “With a big smile on his face, Bunny lifted his floppy ears and cocked them, bending his ear tips down, and cut the pie into long thin slices so each sheep could have a bite. Then Bunny slid an ear tip under a slice and lifted it out.
“The first piece goes to Lambkins for being such a great Rainbow Lamb Decoy,” said Sheepy.
All the sheep bleated in approval, and Bunny gave the first slice to Lambkins. She happily chewed her bite wagging her tail and head.
Bunny scooped out slices for each of the sheep, including his best friend Sheepy, and using his ears, he lifted each piece to a waiting sheep mouth. Each sheep stuck out their tongues, both the ewes and the rams, and the little lambs too, and Bunny laid a slice of yummy apple pie on their tongues. The sheep sucked the pie carefully into their mouths so not to bite Bunny’s ears. Bunny saved one last piece for himself, which he nibbled on right out of the pan, carefully chewing each bite while waggling his tail. Sheepy licked the sticky filling off Bunny’s ears while Bunny finished his yummy slice.
“Yum yum,” said Sheepy. “That pie was so yummy. I wish we had some more.”
The other sheep bleated in agreement.
“What are we going to do with the empty pan?” asked one of the ewes. “We don’t want Bad Farmer to find it in the meadow.”
“We can hide it somewhere,” said Sheepy, “maybe in the barn?”
“We could toss it into the pond,” said an elder ram.
“I know what to do!” said Lambkins. She had been licking little globs of pie filling left in the pan.
“What’s that?” asked Sheepy.
“I’ll show you!” said Lambkins.
She grabbed the empty pie pan in her teeth and took off running toward the farmhouse.
“No, Lambkins, No,” the mama ewe cried out.
The whole flock started to follow her, but Bunny stopped them.
“Wait here, I’ll go after her,” Bunny told them.
Bunny hopped after Lambkins with his ears cocked and ready to fight Bad Farmer if he needed too. Lambkins was fast on her little hooves. She made it all the way to the blackberry bush before Bunny caught up.
“What are you doing Lambkins?” Bunny whispered to her from behind the bush.
Lambkins giggled and said, “give me cover and you will see.” She took the empty pie pan, sneaked behind the row of tomatoes, and quietly onto the back stoop.
Bunny crouched behind the blackberry bush ready to come out firing. From where he was hiding, he could hear Bad Farmer and his Housewife arguing about the disorder in the house and the missing apple pie.
Lambkins slid the empty pie pan next to Sheepdog, still laying there on the back stoop. Sheepdog, as usual just lifted his head, looked at Lambkins, and put his head back on his paws.
Bunny realized what Lambkins was doing, and said to himself: “What a cunning little lamb.”
She then she turned around and ran back to Bunny behind the blackberry bush.
And just in time too, a moment later the back screen door flew open and Bad Farmer stepped out. He looked down and saw the empty pie pan lying next to the dog. He grunted something to his Housewife and pointed at Sheepdog. The Housewife came to the door behind him and threw up her hands making a loud shrieking noise, and retreated back into the farmhouse.
Bad Farmer turned to go back into the house, but then stopped, and lifted his foot to give Sheepdog a hard kick in the ribs. Before Bad Farmer could deliver the blow, Sheepdog rose up on all four paws and let out a low growl, showing all of his teeth. Bad Farmer backed away, turned and reentered the house, banging the screen door shut.
Bunny and Lambkins watched from behind the blackberry bush, giggling to each other.
“What a smart little lamb you are,” said Bunny, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
Lambkins smiled and preened, and then together they ran back to the waiting sheep flock. They all bleated in joy at their return.
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.