a story by Granny Vee

(See the end for Word Tips)

Of Bunnies and Blueberries

This is the story of a little bunny who loved to nibble on cabbage and munch on carrots. True, most bunnies love to eat their veggies. But this little bunny’s very, very favorite treat happened to be berries. And her very, very favorite berries were plump, juicy blueberries. When in season, she ate blueberries with every meal!

She ate blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

She put blueberries in her salad for lunch.

She ate fresh blueberries for an afternoon snack.

For dinner, she made a blueberry sauce and put it over her asparagus.

And on very, very special occasions, including her birthday, she celebrated with blueberry pie a la mode! Of course, the ice cream was blueberry!

Now, don’t you know that blueberries stain? You might think that blueberries would color things blue. But blueberries are only blue on the outside. Squeeze them and they ooze a purplish red! So blueberries stain things a berry-red!

Redness and Rudeness

As you can imagine our little bunny often had red fur all around her mouth and on her paws. About this, rude rabbits often teased her.

“Hey, there goes little red riding hood!” one called after her.

“Can’t you put your lipstick on straight?” mocked another.

The little bunny explained, “I’ve just been eating blueberries. I can’t help it if they stain my fur.”

“If you had been eating blueberries, why aren’t you blue?” taunted a rude rabbit.

“You’re making me very blue!” pouted the little bunny. “Inside my heart is blue.”

“Silly bunny, your heart is red!” shouted the rudest rabbit.

“I mean I’m blue, as in sad,” the little bunny explained.

“Aw. The red bunny is blue. So sad,” teased the rude rabbit.

So the blue berry-red bunny sulked off to be alone. But she was only sad for a short while. Soon she was nibbling more blueberries and she forgot all her blues.

Serendipity Strikes!

One day the little bunny, while out hippity-hopping through a farm, serendipitously stumbled on a big, big bushel filled to the brim with plump, juicy blueberries. Excitedly, she leaped in with all four of her tiny paws into the big bushel! She was in berry heaven! She ate and ate until her little belly was filled to the brim! She hopped home, one very happy hare.

But the little bunny was not only very, very happy – she was also very, very berry-red! Not only did she have a red mouth and a red tongue, but also red paws, a red tummy, and a red everything! Even her cottontail, which had once been white as snow, was very, very berry-red!

Those rude rabbits began to tease her again. Their rude remarks made this very, very red bunny feel very, very blue. With head hung low, she left the company of bunnies to be alone. She meandered her way back to the farm. In a snug little corner, she lay down to sleep.

Soon, along came the farmer and sat down beside her. “Why, it’s a little red bunny!”

The little bunny awoke. “Yep,” she yawned. “I’m all red! I jumped in your bushel of blueberries and it turned me red!”

“Well, blueberries will do that! But you also look blue. You know… the sad kind of blue? Are you that blue?

“Am I blue? Yes, I am blue,” whimpered the bunny.

“So that makes you red, white and blue! At least you’re patriotic!” joked the farmer.

The little bunny laughed. “So I am!”

“See, no need to stay sad,” advised the farmer.

“But those rabbits were teasing me!” insisted the bunny.

“So? Are you going to pay any mind to the taunts of a few rude rabbits?” asked the farmer. “You don’t have to be blue and you don’t have to be red. We’ll just give you a shampoo and wash that red right out of your hair! And besides, there’s always a silver lining to stormy clouds.”

“What does that mean?” asked the bunny.

“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.

So the farmer took the bunny and shampooed her until she was all snowy white again! Well, the little bunny was tickled pink! (That is to say, she was overjoyed. She was not, of course, pink in color having just been washed white.)

The little bunny was so, so happy that she began to hop all around. She hopped and hopped and hopped right back into the bushel of blueberries! And what do you think “hoppened”? She turned very, very berry-red again!

“Oh, no!” said the farmer. “You’re stained again!”

“Sure am!” the bunny smiled.

Singing a New Song

The little bunny shrugged her shoulders. “You know, Mr. Farmer, I did a lot of thinking while I was hopping. Yes, thinking… and I even wrote a song! From now on, I’ll be singing a new song!”

So what if I’m red from eating blueberries?
I just refuse to be blue.
So what if I’m red? Red can be merry!
I choose not to be blue.

This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song. Let me give you the news:
This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song and it’s not the blues

So what if I’m teased? Their words, they are truthless.
I just refuse to be sad!
So what if I’m mocked by those who are couthless?
I choose to be really glad!

This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song. Let me give you the news:
This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song and it’s not the blues

So what if they call me names that aren’t true?
I just refuse to take heed
So who cares what they think? I know what I’ll do…
I choose my mood. Yes, indeed!

This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song. Let me give you the news:
This berry-red bunny is no longer blue
I’m singing a song and it’s not the blues
“That a girl!” said the farmer. “Don’t let any rude remarks dampen your spirits! Personally, I think you’re cute with red fur. But you’re really, really cute when you’re smiling.”

So from that day forward, the little bunny decided not to be gloomy blue over thoughtless, rude remarks.

The Silver Lining

Do you remember the “silver lining” to which the farmer referred? The bunny did find out what he meant. A “silver lining” is the good that comes even from a bad situation. And much good did come about through this bunny’s experience!

You see, the farmer thought that the little bunny looked so cute with red blueberry stains around her mouth, that he photographed her for his berry promotion ads. In return, he offered her all the blueberries she could eat for the rest of her life! So the little bunny never lacked blueberries to eat. Even when they were out of season, the farmer had frozen berries and blueberry jam! She was one very happy hare!

It wasn’t long before she became known far and wide through the ad campaign as the Berry-Red Bunny. Her berry-stained face was everywhere!

Her song This Berry-Red Bunny Is No Longer Blue was being sung by bunnies all over the forests, the fields and the farms! There was not a blue bunny around!

Eating berries, which are very nutritious, became very popular. There were, consequently, many, many happy, healthy hares hopping around. Knowing that she had helped many bunnies become healthier made the Berry-Red Bunny even happier!

The farmer was happy, too, because, he was selling bushels and bushels of plump blueberries.

And the once-rude rabbits finally learned not to tease others and apologized to the little bunny. They all became “true blue” friends and snacked on healthful blueberries together. They all got berry-red mouths, but they all lived hoppily ever after.

The Hippity-Hoppity-Happity End

 

A la mode = (French) literally, “according to the fashion”
but in relation to dessert = topped with ice cream

patriotic = faithful to one’s country

serendipitously = unexpectedly coming across something good

Discussion Board: (send a comment)
Can you think of a bad situation you experienced that had a “silver lining”?

Challenge: (answers on page 2)
How many expressions can you find that mean “happy”?
How many expressions can you find that mean “sad”?
Colorful Expressions
blue = sad
tickled pink = super happy
true blue = faithful, dependable
white as snow = pure, clean, bright white

Expressions for “sad”
blue
down and out
gloomy
dampen one’s spirits = to make one sad

Expressions for “happy”
glad
in heaven (“in berry heaven”)
joyful
joyous
merry
overjoyed
tickled pink

Proverb
Every cloud has a silver lining.

Granny-isms
“Don’t be a rude rabbit!”

Note:  There are some blueberries that are not red on the inside but a light, light almost clear color on the inside.   But this bunny prefers the red insides even though they stain!