Wait and See!

This past Saturday morning, I was lying in bed and glancing over various book titles on my bedside bookshelf.  I came across a book entitled The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward, first published in 1939.  I remembered the book being read to me as a child ~ back when I was first introduced to the Easter Bunny.  (I actually thought there were five!)  I leaned up on the side of the bed and pulled the book off the shelf to read it again.  After I finished the book, I reached up a second time to place it back on the shelf.  I tried to shelve the book near the spot where I had found it; however, the book would not go back into place.  After several attempts, I realized that another book was jammed in the same spot ~ hidden from view. So I quit being lazy and got completely out of bed to retrieve the hidden book and re-shelve the book I had just read.

And this is when you know that the universe is trying to get your attention...the book that was shoved in the back of the bookshelf was the same book ~ The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes!  I had no idea that I owned two copies of the same children's book with two different covers.  Even more random was the chance that I would shelve the same exact book in the same exact spot! Immediately, I knew that this children's book had something to teach me.

I began my search for that 'something' on the internet. I read hundreds (literally) of reviews for the book, and I also learned that it has never been out of print.  The book was illustrated by Marjorie Flack who heard it narrated by DuBose Heyward at the McDowell Writing Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire during the summer of 1938. Heyward had first told the bedtime story to his daughter Jenifer, and only one change was made to the original story.  Heyward's editor insisted that the country bunny have a husband, even though he never makes an appearance throughout the story.

The story begins with a bit of background information on those five bunnies who deliver Easter baskets between sunset on Easter Eve and dawn on Easter morning. They must be the five kindest, and swiftest, and wisest bunnies in the whole wide world. When one of the Easter Bunnies grows old and can no longer run fast, the old, wise, and kind Grandfather Bunny who lives at the Palace of Easter Eggs calls the bunnies together from the whole world to select the very best one to take the place.

Of course, every bunny wants to grow up to be an Easter bunny.  That's when the little brown-skinned country cottontail makes a grand declaration:  Some day I shall grow up to be an Easter bunny ~ you wait and see! 

She is snubbed by the rich white bunnies, and she is mocked by the athletic jack rabbits.  Many online book reviews call attention to Heyward's subtle treatment of social issues such as class, race, and gender; however, I had a more personal lesson to learn from this story.

 

I just love this illustration with her little arms folded and her nose in the air.  The Jack Rabbits tell her to go back to the country and eat a carrot. The story states that she had a husband, and then one day, much to her surprise there were twenty-one Cottontail babies to take care of.  She is ridiculed again by the great big men bunnies. Only a country rabbit would go and have all those babies.  

What child wouldn't love a book with all those baby bunnies right at Easter!  The story continues that Cottontail stops thinking about being an Easter bunny.  Instead, she trains her twenty-one bunnies to be helpful, happy, industrious, and well-mannered, which is quite evident by their appearance at the Easter Bunny try-outs.  Without re-telling the entire story, Cottontail is ultimately chosen by the Grandfather Bunny to be one of the five Easter bunnies!  After a long night of delivering eggs, she has to complete her final and most difficult delivery ~ a beautiful egg must be carried to the top of a snow and ice-covered mountain and given to a bedridden child.

  

As she nears the top of the mountain, she slips and tumbles all the way back down to the bottom.  She manages to protect the beautiful egg; however, she is hurt and unable to hop. 

 I just love this next excerpt:  She tried to rise again, because she saw a lovely pink light in the sky and she knew that in a few minutes more it would be day, and the little boy would be sad if she did not get his egg to him.  But the pain was so bad she fell down.  Then she felt something touch her shoulder, and she looked up, and there right before her, way off there in that distant land, was old, wise, kind Grandfather Bunny.

I absolutely relish that moment in the story!  Grandfather Bunny is holding a pair of little gold shoes behind his back.  He bends over and places the shoes on her feet, and suddenly the pain is gone!  She makes a single jump that sends her flying in the air, and she delivers the beautiful Easter egg to the sleeping child.

After her mission is complete, she heads back to her own home and finds everything in perfect order.  In the end, the little house of Mother Cottontail can always be told now from the homes of all other bunnies.  Because in a special place on the wall, on a very special hook, hangs a pair of very tiny little gold shoes.

WOW!  What a bedtime story!  I am so grateful for the serendipitous shelving incident that caused me to take a second look at this charming Easter book...but the tale doesn't end here!  Wait and see!

Dianne ; )