Robyn and the Black Rabbit
By
Salome Byleveldt
Copyright Salome Byleveldt 2014
Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
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Table of Contents:
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End Notes
Other Books by Salome Byleveldt
Once upon a time there was a pretty little fairy that lived close to the woods. The little fairy’s name was Robyn. She had hair that looked like spun gold. She was dainty and her little wings were woven from silver threads. There was a little pearl dangling from the bottom tip of each of her wings.
Robyn was a happy little fairy and everyday she would go to the woods. She didn’t know how to fly, but she liked to dance through the woods and to play with all the little creatures that lived under the big trees. It was very dark under the big trees, but Robyn was not scared of the dark.
One day, Robyn found a small rabbit under a bush, deep in the forest where it was very dark. The little rabbit was shivering.
“What’s the problem, little bunny?” asked Robyn worriedly. “Why are you shivering?”
“I am s-scared of the d-dark, pretty little fairy,” stuttered the rabbit.
“Yes, deep in the woods it is very dark,” said Robyn. “Why don’t you come out to where the trees are not so tall and where the sun shines through the leaves? There are many creatures that you can play with.”
But the little rabbit did not want to go where the sunlight shined through the trees. He did not know this thing called sunlight, and that was even scarier than the dark. So the little rabbit stayed deep in the woods.
~~**~~
Robyn liked little creatures and she felt very sorry for the little rabbit that stayed deep in the dark wood.
“I will call you Romeo, little bunny,” she said. “I will come and play with you everyday.”
Everyday Robyn would go into the woods to play with Romeo. As she danced through the woods, she would pick up nuts and seeds and nice little things to eat, so that she could share it with Romeo. But sometimes it was difficult to find Romeo in the dark woods. The little rabbit’s fur was black all over, from the tip of his little nose, to the very end of his short tail. Robyn could not see the black rabbit in the dark of the woods.
“Romeo!” she’d call. “Romeo, where are you?” Then the little black rabbit would creep out from where he was hiding in the woods to play with Robyn and to share the food that she brought.
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Romeo grew into a big and strong rabbit. One day Robyn arrived in the woods and as was her habit, she called: “Romeo? Romeo where are you?” Romeo was dark as the woods in which he lived and she could not see him.
Then suddenly Romeo came charging out of the woods. Robyn did not see him coming and he gave her a big fright! Romeo was impatient to get to the food that Robyn brought. He jumped up and tried to grab it from her.
“Naughty! No, Romeo!” Robyn scolded and she turned around and ran away so that Romeo could not grab the food from her hand.
Romeo did not like to wait for his food and he ran after her. Robyn was a tiny little fairy and before she could run very far, Romeo had caught up from behind. He was nipping at her heels to make her stop.
Robyn tried to run faster, but Romeo again nipped at her heals. Robyn stumbled and almost fell. Romeo bumped into Robyn and one of his paws caught onto one of Robyn’s wings. It made a long tear in her little wing and the little pearl at the bottom almost broke off.
“Naughty Romeo!” she scolded again and threw all the food to the ground, so that he would not chase after her. Robyn was very angry with Romeo.
~~**~~
For two days Robyn did not go into the woods. She sat on a rock in the sunshine, and tried to repair her little wing. But she could not fix it, as she could not reach behind her back. So she went to her friend Tavvie, the little elf that lived in a hollow in the big tree.
“What happened to you, Robyn?” Tavvie asked. He could see that Robyn was very upset. So Robyn told him about how she had found the tiny little rabbit and how scared he was to come out of the woods. She also told him how she would take food for the rabbit and play with him everyday.
“But here is the problem,” she said. “He has grown so much that he is much bigger than me. He is impatient for his food, so he nips at my heels and tries to grab the food from my hand. He is naughty!”
“Yes, that is a naughty rabbit,” Tavvie agreed. “I will go with you into the woods.” Then he helped her to repair her little wings, so that they were again beautiful.
~~**~~
The next day Tavvie went with Robyn into the woods. Robyn was happy again and she collected some food so that she and Tavvie and Romeo could share it.
“Romeo? Romeo, where are you?” Robyn called when they were deep in the woods. They could not see Romeo in the dark woods.
Then suddenly Romeo came charging out of the dark and again he tried to grab the food from Robyn. Tavvie was fast and brave and just in time, just before Romeo could grab the food from Robyn’s hand, he pulled her away and they ran from the woods.
~~**~~
“Here is the real problem.” Tavvie said as they sat on the rock in the sunshine. He was a wise elf so Robyn listened to him.
“The real problem is that you cannot see the rabbit in the dark, because he is as black as the woods. So every time he surprises you.”
Robyn thought about this.
“Yes,” she agreed. “If I could see Romeo, he would not be able to surprise me. Then I can give him his share of the food before he gets impatient.”
Tavvie nodded his head. “That’s right,” he said.
“But I have no light, and Romeo is as black as the woods,” said Robyn. “What can we do about that?” Tavvie did not have an answer.
~~**~~
Early the next morning Tavvie came knocking on Robyn’s door.
“I know who we can ask,” Tavvie said when Robyn opened the door. “Come along.”
Together they walked to the edge of the wood where a young boy lived. They were lucky to find him outside, playing under a large tree in the garden. Jayden, the young boy, was lying on his tummy, playing with the little creatures that lived under the tree.
“Everyone says that he is a clever young boy,” Tavvie whispered in Robyn’s ear. “He would be able to think of a plan.” They were sitting in a tree close to Jayden.
At first Jayden did not see them, they were very small and he was getting to be a big boy. Then the silver thread in Robyn’s wings reflected in the sunlight, and it caught Jayden’s eye.
He sat upright to look closer and then he saw Robyn and Tavvie in the tree.
“Who are you?” exclaimed Jayden. “I have not seen you before, have I?”
“I am Tavvie, and this here is Robyn,” Tavvie introduced them to Jayden. “We live close by.”
“I always play with the creatures of the woods, why have I not met you before?” asked Jayden.
“We are not always visible to children,” Tavvie said. “But we need your help, please Jayden.”
Jayden was a clever young boy, and he liked to help the creatures of the woods. “How can I help you, Tavvie?”
So Tavvie and Robyn told him about Romeo. They told him how they cannot see Romeo as he is as dark as the woods. They told him about Romeo surprising them and chasing after them to get to the food.
“That is a naughty rabbit!” Jayden said. “That is not very nice of him to scare you like that!”
Then Jayden thought for a little while. “I know!” he said. “I know what
you can do!” Jayden searched around in his special backpack that he always carried with him. At the bottom he found what he was looking for. He took it out gently and put the little tin in front of Tavvie and Robyn.
“What’s that?” asked Tavvie. “How will this solve the problem?”
Jayden bent down to whisper into Tavvie’s ear.
“Aha,” said Tavvie. “This can work! Thank you Jayden!”
“Come Robyn!” Tavvie called and together they went back into the woods, carrying the little tin between them.
Deep in the woods, where it was dark, they put the tin down on the ground. Tavvie carefully removed the lid from the tin. Robyn looked closer to see what was inside.
“This can work!” she whispered. “Let’s call Romeo.” They hid behind the trees.
“Romeo! Romeo, where are you?” Robyn called. And out of the woods Romeo came storming. Tavvie and Robyn watched from behind the tree.
Romeo looked around, he could hear Robyn calling, but he could not see her. He sniffed around a bit and then he found the open tin that Tavvie and Robyn had put on the ground.
“Ah! Food!” he thought and he pushed his nose into the little tin. But it was not food.
“Achoo..!” Romeo sneezed. He pulled his nose out of the tin. “Achoo…!”
“It worked! It worked!” cried Tavvie and Robyn from where they were standing behind the tree.
There, on the tip of his nose, Romeo had a big blob of very white paint. The paint was very bright and you could see it from very far, even in the dark of the woods.
“Romeo cannot scare me anymore!” Robyn exclaimed happily.
From then on Robyn could again run and dance through the woods to play with all the little creatures that lived there. Once again she could pick up nuts and seeds and nice things to eat, to share with Romeo. But Romeo could not scare her anymore.
The End
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Other Books by Salome Byleveldt
African Fable Series:
How Giraffe came to be at the Pyramids
How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro
How Hyena came to cross the Namib
What’s the matter with Elephant?
How Hippo helped the tides
Smartykidz Series:
Olivia and the Giant
Robyn and the Black Rabbit
Author’s Page