The missing bunny Haseputz, engl.

 

The missing bunny Haseputz

By Joana Angelides

The forest sprite leaned on his spade, with which he was digging a deep hole. He wanted to make a rain shelter in front of his home, at the foot of the big oak tree. Whenever it rained and the water ran down the trunk, his living room was under water.  He had to put up two stands and the spider Arachne had promised him to spin a very tight web that would then be stretched over it to let the water run off.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a fern leaf. It was hard work.

Then the little vole Polly came along and looked into the hole that had already been dug.

"Shall I help you?" She asked.

 

"Yes, can you help me?"

"Yes, go away."

 

She turned around so that she was facing her little bottom towards the goblin and began to dig a hole very quickly with her front paws. This was done very quickly, but the earth threw her behind and unfortunately, when she opened up between the roots, all the earth flew into the little goblin's living room without him being able to notice.

He watched quite fascinated how fast it went. But only until he heard his wife's shrill voice from the living room.

 

"Help, stop, what's that?" She rushed out of the root hole, blowing the earth away from her robe and hair, wringing her hands.

"Oh," said the vole, "I'm so sorry, I wanted to help."

Mrs Goblin took the little broom that was leaning against the door and ran after Polly the vole. But she was much faster than her and disappeared under the leaves and was gone.

 

Mrs. Kobold now began to sweep the living room with the broom, scolding terribly.

But what was that? She stopped and listened outside.

 

Outside stood Mrs. and Mr. Hare. Mrs Rabbit was crying terribly and Mr Rabbit had his left spoon, that's what rabbits' ears are called, leaning against hers.

"Our Haseputz, our youngest is nowhere to be found." Sobs Mrs Hare.

"When did you last see him?" Asked Mrs Owl, drawn in by Mrs Rabbit's sobs.

"This morning, he was going to forest school, wasn't he?"

"Well, he wasn't at school today, I put it in the class register." Said Mrs Owl very firmly and put on her glasses and eyed the bunny parents.

 

"Something must have happened to him." Said Birr the snake then, dropping from his branch to the ground.

"Ohweh!" Cried the squirrel, quite startled, and once again dropped a hazelnut.

The wailing also drew in some fairies and the two elves Mo and Feno, the gatekeeper from the castle, who was off duty today.

"What happened?" Asked Mo

He listened to the wailing of the mother hare and then asked:

"So does Haseputz always go the same way to school? Or does he go a different way some of the time?"

"No, he always goes the same way, that's what we taught him." Said the rabbit's father firmly.

 

"So come on, we have to look for him, all of you follow me!" Mo turned and made a motion with his left hand, they were to follow him.

Now they all walked single file, one behind the other, to the Hare family's hole in the ground. Here Mo stood and said to Mr Hare:

"So now show me the way to school from Haseputz."

The father went first and everyone followed him. Mo went first, then Feno the gatekeeper, behind him the fairies Fari and Silja, Mr. and Mrs. Kobold, the squirrel, the frog from the lake, the snake Birr and even the little vole Polly dared to come out of her hiding place again. Her little nose went back and forth restlessly with curiosity.

The magpie also flew from tree to tree behind the caravan, always on the lookout for something glittering. The woodpecker had already flown ahead, hoping to find Haseputz and then to let him know with a loud knock.

Everyone shouted: "Haseputz! Haseputz!"

Then they listened again to see if they heard anything. But nothing.

They had been walking for a while, they were almost at the school when Mo made a commanding gesture with his hand. He had heard something. It was coming from the stream below them, flowing between the rocks to the lake.

He ran quickly to the sloping bank and there he saw Haseputz.

He had apparently fallen down or slipped and got stuck on a large tree root. He was holding on with his front legs and hanging down with his hind legs. He must have been hanging like that for a long time, because only a very soft whimpering sound could be heard. Mr and Mrs Hare breathed a sigh of relief when they saw their youngest down there again. They ran excitedly up and down the slope.

 

"Hello Haseputz, we are already there. Hold on tight, we'll get you up there!" Mo called down to the little bunny. But he didn't know if Haseputz could hear him.

 

"How are you going to do that?" asked the fairy Fari.

 

Mo propped his head up in both hands and thought.

"Where is the big brown bear?"

"In his cave!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Go get him, he has to help us there. Only he can get down there and bring up the bunny."

"I'll get him," cried the magpie, and flew back into the forest.

The little bunny's whimpering became quieter and quieter and his parents became frightened.

Then the forest fairy Fari flew down to him. From above, we could see her talking to Haseputz and encouraging him to hold out a little longer. She also flew all the way down to the water and scooped up some water with her little hands and dripped it between his lips.

"Where is Haseputz?" The big bear could be heard trudging through the forest from afar and his call echoed all the way to those waiting.

"Here, here!" Shouted everyone again.

"Aha" said the bear and came closer. He looked down at the bunny and the forest fairy.

Then he held on to the tree at the edge of the precipice with one paw and with the other paw he reached down to the root and brought up the little rabbit and laid it carefully on a little moss cushion.

 

Everyone clapped their hands and rushed over immediately. But Mrs Hare chased them all away and sniffed at Hareputz from all sides to make sure nothing had happened to him. Mr Rabbit kept the curious forest dwellers away.

Apparently nothing had happened to Haseputz, except that he was exhausted and tired. He sobbed loudly and snuggled up to the mother hare.

 

"Go away," said the bear, bending down and picking up the little hare again, "I'll carry him to the cave and lay him down there, because he can't hop any more today."

 

And now the whole caravan went back the way they had come to the hare family's cave. There the other brothers and sisters of the little rabbit were already waiting and were very happy.

The bear put the little hare down, cleaned his belly and went back into the forest. At the clearing, he turned around and said:

"Well, if you need a strong bear again, just call me!"  And he disappeared into the forest.

Now everyone was happy again and slowly peace returned to the fairytale forest.