23. The Holy Branch 冬青礼物

23- the Holy Branch 冬青礼物

It was very, very, very early on a crisp Winter’s morning… Little Nutbrown Hare and his father were both sound asleep…but someone was up.

“What’s that sound? “

“Tee, tee, tee, dee, dee… wake up, Little Nutbrown Hare!”

“Ooh…isn’t is beautiful?”

“Very. But, what is it?”

“Ooh, it’s called holly.”

“I’m going to put it somewhere special. There!”

“Now you can look at it all winter.”

“Thank you for thinking of me, Little Field Mouse. it’s lovely to wake up to a gift.”

“But I didn’t give it to you.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. it was already there when I arrived. That’s why I woke you up.”

“I didn’t put it there either.”

 “Then who did? Ooh… Look. Tracks!”

“Do you know whose they belong to? They could be baby deer tracks.”

“Little Spotty Deer!”

“Is she back?”

“Let’s find out. This is where the tracks stop.”

“And this is where the holly came from.”

“But there’s no one here.”

“I see you, Little Spotty Deer! “

“Hello, Little Spotty Deer!”

“How nice to see you! I’ve come to play with you today.”

“Hooray! In that case, you will be an extra special, doubly, triply fun day.”

“Thank you for the holly, Little Spotty Deer. It was a lovely gift.”

“You’re welcome.”

“It was such a surprise to wake up to.”

“Yes. Little Nutbrown Hare was so surprised, his ears went like this!”

“What if we give some holly to all our friends – as a surprise gift?”

“Good idea! Then they could wake up to it just like you did.”

“That sounds doubly, triply fun to me.”

“Let’s hurry before they all wake up. Oh, Lucky Little Grey Squirrel is always sleepy in the wintertime.”

“How will we get the holly way up there?”

“We can leave it here for him to find when he wakes up. I wonder if Otter is asleep inside.”

“He’s in there alright.”

“And he’s asleep.”

“But I’m puffed from all this hopping and prancing.”

“I’ll take you for a ride. Jump on.”

“Aaahh… now where did I leave breakfast? Yes! What’s that? This is very special. Aww… and a bit prickly. That’s good. But who gave it to me. Somebody tricky… I know! It must be Little Redwood Fox. And I se her tracks all mixed up. Little Redwood Fox! Come out! I know it was you!”

“Hello Little Grey Squirrel.”

“Look!”

“Oh! What a lovely gift. Thank you.”

“I didn’t give it to you.”

 “Then who did?”

“I got some too. I thought you gave me the holly. Hmmm…”

“But that would be very tricky.”

“it looks like someone is surprising us with these beautiful gifts. But who? Look at these tracks.”

“Who ever could they belong to?”

“Let’s follow them and find out. There’re too big to be Little Field Mouse’s.”

“And there’s too many of them to be just Little Nutbrown Hare’s.”

“The tracks are following the river.”

“Of course. It’s Otter!”

“Oh, how beautiful. Oh, I know what that is. It’s a… it’s a… let me think… it’s …”

“It’s holly!”

“No, don’t tell me… oh, you just did. Oh, yes, it’s holly. Ooh… thank you. What a lovely gift.”

“It wasn’t Otter!”

“What wasn’t me?”

“Someone is surprising us with holly.”

“Look. More Tracks. Bye Otter.”

“Bye.”

“Ooh, the tracks stop here. And this is where the holly came from.”

“But there’s no one here.”

“Boo! Surprise!”

“So it was you who gave us the holly! Very tricky!”

“Thank you. Your gifts are very lovely.”

“You’re welcome!”

“And… you’re it!”

“I will get you.”

As the friends continued their fun day playing around the holly bush, the sun soon began to sink in the sky as is does on short winter days.

“You can’t catch me. It’s time for me to go now. thank you for this doubly triply fun day.”

“Goodbye/see you next time/Bye.”

It was also the time for everyone else to go home. But Little Nutbrown Hare had one last thing to do.

“Oh, before you go… this is for you.”

“Oh, thank you. I’ll put it in a special place. Goodbye.”

“Bye. It all started when Little Spotty Deer gave me holly. And then we gave holly to everyone as a surprise gift.”

“Oh, was that fun?”

“Oh, yes. It still feels good. It feels warm inside but not like the warm you feel when you have a full tummy. A bit like you feel when you run through the meadow.”

“Could that feeling be joy? Yes, that’s it. Joy!”

“And you spread that joy today by giving those gifts.”

“Yes. I like spreading joy, Big Nutbrown Hare. Oh no!”

“What’s it?”

“I forgot to bring back some holly for you. I didn’t give you a gift!”

“But you did give me a gift.”

“I did?”

“Because you are my greatest gift. Can you guess how much I love you?”

“As much as spreading joy?”

“Yes. And you give me joy every single day.”