Hoppity's Adventure

Hoppity was a little rabbit. He lived in the Big Green Forest. Hoppity was rather curious by nature, and very clever too.

One fine summer day, after he finished his homework, Hoppity decided to go for a hop in the woods, all the way to his friend Beaver’s Big House. He hummed a little tune to himself as he skipped along. He stopped now and then to chase the yellow butterflies sipping honey from the daisies. He even caught a dragonfly, but it beat its wings hard till he let go. Hoppity soon reached the Big Oak and stopped in his tracks. “What’s this?”, he thought. The door to Beaver’s Big House was closed. Someone had even taken off Beaver’s name from the door. But, hey – there was smoke rising from the chimney! Hoppity called out to Beaver a couple of times but no one answered. He heard a shrill voice calling his name and looked up to see Spiffy Sparrow calling him.

“Where’s Beaver, Mr. Sparrow?” asked Hoppity.

“Oh, haven’t you seen him? I was going to ask you the same thing,” said Spiffy Sparrow.

“No, I haven’t. Where could he have gone to, I wonder. If Beaver’s not in, who can possibly be cooking in his kitchen?” wondered Hoppity.

“That’s probably the new family that’s moved in, Hoppity. I’ve been hearing all kinds of nasty things about them from the folks in the forest. You’d best stay away from the likes of them, I tell ya,” advised Spiffy Sparrow.

Now we all know that Hoppity was a curious rabbit. Spiffy Sparrow’s advice only made him more curious. So he pretended to walk off and waited in the lavender bush nearby till Spiffy Sparrow flew off to look for worms. Then he walked slowly up to the Big House. Before he could even raise his hand to knock, the door flew open.

“Oh! Hello, Mrs. Fox. I’m Hoppity and I live around here”, said Hoppity, in a small, scared voice.

“Hello dear”, said Mrs. Fox, looking down her spectacles and smiling sweetly at Hoppity.

“Ha..ha..have you seen Bee..Beaver?” asked Hoppity.

“No dear, I haven’t. We just moved in yesterday, and he was already gone by then. Oh dear, you’ve come to play with him, have you? Why don’t you come in and play with my children? I’m sure they’re eager to make new friends,” said Mrs. Fox, all motherly now.

Hoppity knew he shouldn’t really go into a fox’s home, but his curiosity got the better of him. He was also a polite rabbit and didn’t want to decline the invitation. So he decided to visit for just a little while. Mrs. Fox’s smile grew wider as she guided Hoppity into the drawing room. She quickly closed the door and clapped her hands loudly to get her cubs’ attention. “Roxy, Poxy, Doxy, Coxy, Toxy, and Moxy…stop that noise and look who’s here! This is Hoppity, and he’s here to play with you.” The little foxes looked at Hoppity curiously. Roxy, the littlest cub, came up to Hoppity and held his hand. “Hi,” she said shyly. Hoppity smiled and said hello. Soon, they all gathered around him and started talking.

Mrs. Fox clapped her hands again and said “Children, I’m off to make some lovely dinner for you. Hoppity, please do stay for dinner.” Hoppity hesitated, but Roxy said, “Do stay, Hoppity. It isn’t often that we get lovely dinners. Why, we only got dinner yesterday after so many…” But Mrs. Fox shut her up and said “Roxy, I’m sure Hoppity doesn’t want to listen to your stories…he’s here to play with you and be friends. Get along now.”

Soon, everyone was climbing up the ladder to get into the attic midway up the Big Oak. Hoppity was the first up. As he entered the attic, he smelled something strange. As he went deeper in, it grew darker and he stumbled. “Noooo! It can’t be,” he thought, examining the object he’d picked up. “This is the lucky charm I gave Beaver on his birthday last month. He wouldn’t have left it behind…”

At that very moment, a delicious smell started wafting up from the kitchen below. Hoppity thought he could smell his favorite food - carrots. He began to feel hungry and glad that he’d decided to stay for dinner.

“Wow! That smell’s making me hungry,” said one cub.

“Me too,” said another.

Little Roxy called out, “Mama, what’s for dinner tonight?”

“Just wait, my little darlings. I have a real treat in store for you,” came the reply, followed by a cackle.

Hoppity started trembling in the dark. He felt sure the foxes had had Beaver for dinner yesterday. He didn’t want to end up on the dining table tonight but he couldn’t think of a way to escape. Luckily for him, the little foxes got tired of sitting in the dark, so they climbed down and came back into the house. They decided to play hide-and-seek and Moxy started counting to 10. All the foxes scattered into various corners of the house, but Roxy looked lost. Hoppity took little Roxy’s hand and whispered in her ear, “How about hiding in the garden? No one would ever think of looking for us there.” Little Roxy’s eyes lit up and she nodded happily. Roxy and Hoppity crept toward the door and soon Roxy was opening it.

Mrs. Fox heard the door being opened and called ‘Who’s that at the door?” “Shhhh, mama, it’s only me. We’re playing hide-and-seek. Don’t shout or Moxy’ll find me,” said Roxy. Mrs. Fox smiled indulgently and went on stirring the pot. Luckily for Hoppity, she was so busy glancing at her recipe book (which lay open at “Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Rabbit Stew”), that she didn’t notice him. As he crept on, he saw her adding a carrot and a sprig of herbs to the pot.

Hoppity shuddered, but he got ahold of himself long enough to slide out the door. As soon as he was out in the open, he turned to Roxy and said, “I’m sorry, little one”, and shot off like a bullet. “I told you to keep away from there,” scolded a familiar shrill voice. Hoppity’s heart almost stopped before he realized that it was Spiffy Sparrow. “I know, Mr. Sparrow. I should have listened to you. I’ll keep to other paths now on,” said Hoppity and skipped away home.