Hans And The Easter Bunny

One Easter, a long time ago, a little boy named Hans was daydreaming beneath the shade of a large oak tree by the side of a lake when, because he was daydreaming and because only daydreaming children can see magical things, he happened to catch sight of the Easter Bunny hopping by with an empty basket on its left arm.

 

It was hopping home after having delivered its brightly painted eggs to the houses of hundreds of little children.

 

And Hans, because he was a very inquisitive, some might say nosey, little boy, thought that he would follow the Easter bunny and find out where it lived.

 

And so, hopping just like a rabbit, Hans followed the Easter Bunny and the bunny led him to a magical cave deep in the forest that had a large egg shaped rock in front of it and when the bunny twitched its nose the rock rolled to one side and the bunny hopped into the cave.

 

Then, when the bunny had entered the cave and just as the rock was about to roll back in front of the cave entrance, Hans ran into the cave as well.

 

And, inside the cave, Hans saw that there was a big lake filled with glistening water and when the Easter Bunny, standing near to the edge of the lake, waggled both his long rabbit ears, large stepping stones rose up from under the lakes surface and the rabbit skipped over the stepping stones to the other side of the lake before hopping out of sight.

 

Now,  just as the stepping stones were about to sink back down below the surface of the lake, Hans quickly ran over them and after the bunny.

 

But then, in front of him, Hans saw a tall grass covered hill and, standing at the foot of it, the bunny was waggling his fluffy tail and when he did this, suddenly, in the side of the hill a tunnel opened up and the Easter Bunny hopped into it and through it to the other side of the hill.

 

Then, when the Easter bunny had exited the tunnel and just as its entrance was closing again, Hans quickly ran into and through it before coming out of the other side.

 

Now, on the other side of the hill, Hans saw that there was a large, fast flowing river and, over the river, arched a giant, bright, multi-coloured rainbow and then, to Hans’s amazement, he saw the Easter bunny hop over the rainbow, as if it were a bridge, to the bank on the other side of the river.

 

And, when the Easter Bunny had hopped out of sight, then Hans tried to hop over the rainbow bridge.

 

Unfortunately, unlike the Easter Bunny, when Hans tried to cross the rainbow bridge he only fell through it and landed, with a loud splash and a crash, deep in the river.

 

“Oh help!”, he cried out, panicking and waving his arms about as the river carried him up stream, “Help me some one, please!”.

 

Thankfully, Rabbits have exceptionally good hearing and the Easter Bunny, pricking up its tall, furry pink ears, heard Hans calling for help.

 

Then, hopping quickly back over to the river side, the Easter Bunny twitched his nose and made a long golden rope appear which he tied to the handle of his large Easter Egg basket  before throwing the basket into the river and telling Hans to climb into it.

 

And then, when Hans was in the basket, the Easter bunny tugged hard upon the long rope until he had pulled it and Hans safely out of the river and on to the grassy bank.

 

“Oh thank you”, said Hans, wet and shivering but relieved to be safe, “You saved my life!”.

 

“You’re welcome little boy”, said the Easter Bunny, “But what were you doing in the river in the first place?”.

 

Embarrassed, Hans then confessed to the Easter Bunny how he had followed him into the magic cave, across the magic stepping stones and through the magic tunnel.

 

“And then I tried to cross over the rainbow bridge like you”, he said, “But instead I fell in the river”.

 

“Ahh, well”, said the Easter Bunny, chuckling; seeing the funny side, “That’s because only magical beings can cross over a rainbow… but why did you follow me?”.

 

Hans told the Easter Bunny that he had wanted to see where he lived.

 

“Oh”, said the Bunny, smiling a broad smile and thumping one of its large rabbit feet against the ground, “Well I live right here”.

 

And then, suddenly, in the ground in front of them a large rabbit hole magically opened up.

 

“Would you like to join me for lunch”, he asked, “Perhaps have some cream of carrot soup?”.

 

“Oh, yes please!”, said Hans, happily.

 

So then, the Easter Bunny took hold of Hans with its large, furry rabbit paws and, shouting Geronimo, it leapt down the rabbit hole and they slid down a long tunnel until, coming out of the other end, the rabbit landed on a trampoline before bouncing high into the air, somersaulting and landing safely on the floor of its underground house.

 

“Welcome to the Easter Burrow!”, said the Bunny, putting Hans down safely in a large pink arm chair.

 

“Is this where you make all your easter Eggs?”, asked Hans looking round about him excitedly.

 

“Oh no”, said the Rabbit, “I pick them from the trees in my Easter Egg orchard; this is just where I live”.

 

But then the Easter Bunny went into his kitchen and returned, soon after, with two steaming bowls of cream of carrot soup, one of which he gave to Hans.

 

And, after they had had their Soup, the Easter Bunny told Hans all about his work delivering Easter Eggs to all the children of the world and he showed him his Easter Egg orchard and the magic pink carrots that he ate which gave him the ability to jump high over tall mountains and across seas and oceans.

But then, when the sun had started to set and the sky was turning as pink as the Easter Bunny’s own fur, Hans said that he should be getting home.

 

“My Mother will be worrying about me”, he said, “Wondering where I am”.

 

“Oh, but Hans, you’re already home”, said the Rabbit, “Just look around you”.

 

Hans gave a loud gasp of amazement as, looking round about him, he saw that they were no longer in the Easter Bunny’s underground house but in his bedroom at home.

 

“Wow”, he said, “How did you do that”.

 

“The same way that I do everything”, replied the Bunny, “Easter Magic”.

 

But then the Easter Bunny, conjuring up a basket piled high with chocolate Easter Eggs, gave it to Hans, saying, “These are for you and your mother with my compliments”.

 

And then, waving goodbye with one of his tall pink rabbit ears, the Easter Bunny made a rabbit hole open up, magically, in the floor of Hans’s bedroom and, leaping into it, both he and the hole disappeared.

 

Now years passed and that little boy grew up and, though he looked very hard, he never again saw the Easter bunny and though he searched every inch of the forest near to the lake he never again found that magic cave with the egg shaped rock in front of it but he kept hold of the basket that the Bunny gave him and every Easter, before he goes to bed, he leaves it out and, when he wakes up in the morning, he finds an egg in it and a note that says, “Have a very, very, Happy Easter”  and is signed "The Easter Bunny".