The Rabbit Who Made Something

Rosa was a rabbit with nimble paws and a basket full of interesting things: smooth stones from the path, long dry reeds from the pond, scraps of ribbon in three different colours.

One morning she decided to spend the whole day making something for someone else.

She thought about each of her neighbours one at a time.

Hedgehog always sat outside with her tea. She would like something soft to rest her cup on. Rosa took her dried reeds and wove them in and out and over and under, round and round, pulling each row tight until she had a small, firm mat, just the right size.

Mole had a birthday soon, and he couldn't see very well. Rosa chose the smoothest stone from her basket and painted a bumpy pattern on it in white chalk — little waves and spirals that he could feel with the tip of his paw. Something to touch instead of to look at.

The Robin family was very busy with new chicks and had things everywhere. Rosa braided three lengths of ribbon together into a neat little tie so they could bundle things up and keep them tidy.

It took all of the morning and most of the afternoon.

When the light went golden and the lane was quiet, Rosa tucked each gift into a leaf and went out. She placed the mat on Hedgehog's step. She left the stone just outside Mole's door. She pressed the ribbon tie into the fork of the tree where the Robins lived.

She didn't knock on a single door.

She went home and ate her supper and went to bed.

In the morning, she watched from her window. Hedgehog set out her tea things on the mat, very carefully, as though it had always been there.

Rosa ate her breakfast slowly and thought about what she might make next.