5 Storie di Henry

Wednesday

Henry, the bees and the fox

"Do you need strawberries ,mommy?I Have just finished doing my homework and I would like to go out a little.I'll take the basket and I guarantee you a bowl of delicious ,meaty strawberries ".

" Be careful ! Don't wait until dark and don't stop to talk to strangers and aboveall don't eat too many strawberries:last year you scratched yourself for a month because of the rash you got after stuffing yourself with strwabewrries",said Mother Rabbit trying to hold back Henry's impulsiveness , knowing what a sweet tooth he had.

"Don't worry , at all!"said the little rabbit squirting out of the house like lightening , afraid that his mommy would change her mind.

In a few minutes he was in the thick wood :he needed to go towards the stream because he knew he could gather more where it was damp .Furthermore he had planned to pick a bouquet of velvet violets ,peeping daisies and yellow primroses: a little surprise for Mother Rabbit . Here at last: little strawberries were hiding behind those big green leaves .Some of them ended up straight in Henry's tummy. He thought it was his duty to taste them to see if they were perfectly ripe, and besides, he deserved a little prize for all his hard work. He started to pick: one strawberry in the basket and one in his tummy :after two hours both the basket and his tummy were really full." Gosh, I think I overdid it; my ears are already starting to itch! It's too late now .It's useless to cry over spilt milk .I'll lie down and rest for a few minutes, hoping that my tummy will soon mash all those strawberries.

He made a pillow of tender grass on which he leaned to nap . While he was falling asleep and enjoying a pleasant rest, he suddenly heard a strange buzzing sound . At first that noise almost bothered him because it distracted him and prevented him from taking a restful nap but it soon began to arouse his curiousity .

Feeling no longer tired , he got up and with his large ears he started listening , trying to understand where the sound was coming from . It was impossible: that noise was getting closer and closer.Henry was frightened .He tried peeking over the underbrush to see if danger was approaching but it was useless . His tummy was so swollen that the only thing he could barely do was lift his head.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy what trouble I'm in ! I must stay still if it's the fox .It must have sniffed me and I'll soon become its next meal. Poor me . My mommy had told me that too many strawberries can be bad for me but I didn't think I would end up this badly for being a little disobedient .I hope that somehow the friendly wood will help me out. Help ! I hear the fox getting closer .My end is near!".

But as usual the wood was watching over our unlucky Henry and it thought that the time had come to intervene.So from the hollow of the oak tree where the bees had gathered their honey, a ray of sun melted it a little :the honey started to run and ended up on the fox's soft tail when it was just a few feet from its shaking but tasty meal .Quick as a wink Mrs Fox understood that her troubles were about to begin too: in fact bees love the honey they work so hard to gather and do not tollerate anyone touching it.

As a hunter the fox understood that she had now became the prey.She could already hear the bees buzzing as if going to war and then she could see them threateningly approaching in wedge formation .The only way she could save herself was to throw herself into the swamp : the fox hated getting wet but now, that was her only chance . The only thing she could do, was run like the wind , immerse herself completely in the water and breathe through a bamboo shoot waiting for her enemies to get tired of looking for her and go away.

Henry couldn' t believe his eyes: it's a miracle ! The danger was gone! He would never , ever disobey again . But he couldn't move and he still felt a victim of circumstance. Luckily Scotty , the curious squirrel who never minded his own business , saw him and ran to tell Bat who was comfortably sleeping in a nook of his cave.

"Still in trouble! That rabbit is truly incorregible. Sooner or later I'm going to give up on him!", he said and went to wake up his buddies and together they flew the unfortunate rabbit to edge of the wood.

Even this time , it all went well and Henry had learned another lesson. As the saying goes , all is well that ends well!