BITSY'S PROMISE

It was a bright, sunny morning in Magical Wood and Bitsy Bunny was fast asleep. Her mama was in the kitchen baking carrot cookies and the wonderful smell of the warm cookies woke Bitsy. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and wiggled her nose. Something smelled good! She wiggled her nose again. Something smelled very good! She jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen.

"Mama, Mama," said Bitsy, "those cookies smell so good that they woke me up! May I have some? Please?"

"I'm baking these cookies for Granny Bunny," Mama replied. "She's not feeling well and I think some homemade cookies might help her feel better."

"May I take the cookies to Granny?" asked little Bitsy.

Mama thought for a moment. Magical Wood could be a dangerous place for a little bunny all by herself. There was still so much for Bitsy to learn about the Wood. But, Granny did not live far, and Mama and Bitsy had gone to Granny's house together lots of times.

"Bitsy, you have never visited Granny by yourself before. There are all kinds of dangers, so many things can happen. You must promise me that you will not stop along the way, you will not go near the clearing to pick flowers, you will not go to the creek to watch the fish and you will stay on the trail all the way to Granny's. Do you promise?"

"Oh, yes Mama, I promise! I will not stop along the way, I will not go to the clearing to pick wildflowers, I will not watch the fish swimming in the creek and I will stay on the trail all the way to Granny's. And I will call you as soon as I get to Granny's, so you won't worry!"

"Okay, then you may go to Granny's and bring her the cookies," said Mama.

"Yipee!!" shouted Bitsy as she ran down the hall to get dressed.

After breakfast, Mama gave Bitsy a pretty yellow basket filled with the warm carrot cookies. Bitsy gave Mama a big hug and started off to Granny's house.

"Now remember, Bitsy, go straight to Granny's house," Mama called to Bitsy.

Little Bitsy was so excited! Mama had never let her walk by herself to Granny's before.

"Mama doesn't think I'm a baby anymore," thought Bitsy as she walked along the path to Granny's house. Bitsy was so happy that she began to skip along the path.

Well, Bitsy hadn't skipped very far when she saw the most beautiful wildflowers in an open field.

"Oh, those flowers would make Granny feel better," Bitsy said to herself.

"I shall bring Granny a beautiful bouquet." Then, as Bitsy started toward the field, she stopped and remembered what Mama had said: Don't pick flowers in the clearing and stay on the trail! Well, thought Bitsy, I don't want to break my promise to Mama. She trusts me and even though I don't understand why she won't let me pick flowers by myself, I must remember my promise, I just must!

Just then, as she was standing on the path and looking at the flowers, a huge hawk swooped down into the very flowers Bitsy had wanted to pick and flew away with a mouse!!

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" Bitsy exclaimed, "That poor mouse!" Then, Bitsy realized something very important: if she had not kept her promise to Mama, the hawk might have grabbed her instead of the mouse! This made Bitsy feel scared, but she continued to Granny's house, staying on the path, just as she had promised.

After a little while, Bitsy was no longer scared and she was again skipping down the path with her basket of cookies. Soon, she was able to hear the bubbling and gurgling of the creek. And that made Bitsy suddenly feel very thirsty!

Soon, Bitsy was able to see the creek! As she was about to race off the path, she again remembered her promise to Mama. "Well, the creek is closer to the path than the field was, and there are certainly no hawks this deep in the Wood," thought Bitsy. She was watching a frog by the creek as she was trying to decide what to do.

"A promise is a very important thing," thought Bitsy. "Mama will be so proud of me for keeping my promises and staying on the trial. But, maybe I could just run over for a quick sip, say hello to the frog and run right back to the trail."

When Bitsy looked back at the frog, it was gone! In its place was a great big snake! "Oh, no!" said Bitsy. "I hope that little frog got away!" Then Bitsy thought of something else: if she had broken her promise and gone over to the frog, the snake might have grabbed her! Bitsy began to tremble! As she stared at the snake, it slowly crawled away into the dense forest.

Bitsy took a deep breath and continued to Granny's house.

Bitsy was quite close to Granny's now. She couldn't wait to tell Granny everything that had happened on this adventure over a big glass of milk and some of Mama's cookies.

As she was hopping along, Bitsy noticed something unusual. There, near the trail, in the middle of a pile of old brown vines and brambles, was a clump of bright green grass and flowers! Why would someone pick grass and wildflowers and then just dump them in the old brambles, Bitsy wondered. Maybe someone new is moving in and they're building a house!

"Hello! Hello!" Bitsy called to the pile of grass, but no one answered. "Maybe I should go find the door and knock." Bitsy started to leave the trail and head for the brambles, when she remembered a promise she made to Mama a long time ago: Never talk to strangers!

As Bitsy turned to hop back onto the trail, she tripped and a twig bounced up and landed by the clump of grass and flowers. SNAP!! It had been a trap! The top of the trap had been covered with the grass and when the twig landed on it, the trap closed tight! If Bitsy had been caught in the trap, would Mama have been able to find her? Bitsy's heart raced as she dashed the rest of the way to Granny's. She hopped up the steps and knocked very hard. Granny opened the door and Bitsy leaped into her arms!

"Bitsy! Your Mama told me you were coming! My, you're getting to be such a big bunny that now you can visit all by yourself!" Granny exclaimed.

Bitsy gave Granny a big kiss and the yellow basket filled with cookies.

"Granny, may I call Mama?" Bitsy asked. "I promised her I would call as soon as I got here so she wouldn't worry. I've kept all my other promises to Mama on my way here and I wouldn't want to break this one. I also want to ask Mama to come and have cookies with us so she and I can walk home together. Even though I'm big enough to come and visit by myself, I would rather have Mama with me."

Granny smiled. "You are a very smart bunny, Bitsy. Let's go call Mama right now."