9.The Collection 小收藏

09- The collection

It was a crisp, Autumn morning, and Little Nutbrown Hare was foraging for tasty treats with his father.

“Mmmm… these are good. What have you found Little Nutbrown Hare? Little Nutbrown Hare? Little Nutbrown Hare?”

“Here I am.”

“Have you collected anything?”

“What are we looking for again?”

“Fresh dandelions, er remember?”

“Oh. That’s right. None in here, Big Nutbrown Hare!”

“Look out beloooowww… Weee…”

“Oh, it’s Little Field Mouse!”

“Greetings Nutbrown Hares! Look at my newest most treasured leaf.”

“Oh, it’s beautiful.”

“It’s from a chestnut tree. I’m going to add it to my collection of Autumn leaves. Would you like to see it?”

“Oh, I’d like to see it. Goodbye Big Nutbrown Hare!”

“See you soon.”

“Are you ready yet?”

“Almost. This is a maple leaf… Here’s an oak leaf. And this is a Hornbeam leaf. Feel its edges.”

“Ooh! It’s prickly.”

“And this is a tulip tree leaf.”

“That’s a funny shape.”

“And of course, the chestnut leaf.”

“Your autumn leaf collection is amazing. So many shapes and colours.”

“Thank you. Oh! I forgot about the most amazing one of all!”

“Really? Oh. That’s the most amazing leaf?”

“it may not look like much but listen to this.”

“It’s so crackly!”

“Oops! I think I’ll have to collect another one of those.”

“Little Grey Squirrel!”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gathering acorns to add to my collection.”

“Oh? Can we see it?”

“Of course, come with me.”

“That’s a lot of acorns!”

“I’ve been collecting them all Autumn. There are some very special ones in there.”

“Which ones is the most special ones? They all look the same to me.”

“oh, each one is very different. Look. This one is goof for breakfast. And this one … this one is perfect for nibbles.”

“Oh yes! It’s a very good collection, Little Grey Squirrel!”

“You both have wonderful collections – autumn leaf and acorns. Maybe I can have a collection too! I can show it to Big Nutbrown Hare.”

“Yes! So what will you collect?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then we will find something.”

“There’s all sorts of things to collect in the meadow.”

“To the meadow. Why don’t you collect flowers?”

“That’s a great idea. Oh! Hello Little Blue Butterfly. Maybe I won’t collect flowers after all. I’ll leave them for the butterflies and bees.”

“Good idea. After all, autumn leaves and acorns just fall off – when they’re ready.”

“But what will I collect?”

“I know! Sticks! Sticks will make an excellent collection.”

“Yes!”

“Hmmm… it’s not very … sticky around here.”

“Then let’s go to the river.”

“To the river!”

“Hello there!”

“Hello Otter! We’re collecting sticks.”

“Oh, look! There’s one.”

“It’s so smooth. Here’s a twisty one.”

“And there’s a mossy one!”

“Ooh… what a wonderful stick collection! Big Nutbrown Hare will love to see this.”

“Just one more! Oops!”

“Oh dear!”

“I’ll get them!”

“Look at Otter go!”

“He’s got one!”

“Hooray!”

“He’s going for another one!”

“Ooh-hoo… He dropped it again! Watch out! Oohh, there goes my stick collection.”

“Ooh… I’m sorry. It was my fault.”

“That’s okay! it was fun watching Otter try to catch them. Thank you for helping Otter. But I’d still like a collection.”

“Hmmm…. Let me think … something special … Ooh! How about rocks? I know a place where there are some lovely ones.”

“Great idea.”

“To the rocks we!”

“Goodbye.”

“See? Aren’t they lovely?”

“Well, they sure are … big.”

“You can sure see a long way from up here.”

“And aren’t these the most wonderful rocks ever?”

“Definitely.”

“But you can’t collect these rocks, Little Grey Squirrel. They’re too big.”

“Oh … I forgot it was for a collection.”

“We’ve been trying to find a collection for Little Nutbrown Hare all day!”

“Ooh, that’s okay. we got to see this lovely view at least.”

“We can look for a collection tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

That night, even after the crescent moon had risen high into the sky, Little Nutbrown Hare couldn’t drop off to sleep, no matter how hard he tried.

“What is it, my Little Nutbrown Hare?”

“I wanted to show my collection today. But, I don’t have one. I don’t have anything to show you at all.”

“Oh? Are you sure don’t have a collection?”

“Oh yes, I’m sure alright. We spent all day trying to find one.”

“Maybe you do have one. But of something that you can’t see.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what you did today?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Then tell me about it.”

“Well, Little Field Mouse showed me her leaf collection. It had lots of different shapes and colours. Then there was an acorn collection. In a line … this long! And then we collected sticks and Otter tried to catch them. That was so funny. And then we went to the woods and sat on a huge rock. We could see all over the valley and there was a very beautiful sunset.”

“Wow. You have a lot of memories. That’s almost like having a lot of autumn leaves or a lot of acorns.”

“Do you mean … I have a collection of memories?”

“That’s right. And you’ve just shared your collection with me.”

“I did. I showed you my collection after all! Guess how much I love.”

“As much as all your wonderful memories from today?”

“As much as my wonderful memories ever …”

“And the best thing about collection memories is that the collection just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”