This is the story of a tiny rabbit who overcame himself with courage and a heart of gold! How?
I'll tell you about that, children!
Let's see, where do I start?!
Perhaps at the beginning, let's start there ...
Chapter 1
Once upon a time, beyond the Ocean, there was a fairy-tale round forest. In the middle of it, in his home at the base of a huge old pine tree, lived a tiny little rabbit called Dabbit. He had a warm, light brown silky coat, long pointed ears that looked at everything and huge hopping feet.
The little rabbit lived in eternal friendship, peace and happiness with all the little inhabitants of the forest. He loved to talk with the big Mr Brumi, the bear, who always gave him golden honey for his morning bread; with Tusi, the hedgehog with the spiky coat, who always gave him lots of smiling red apples in autumn. He was also very friendly with Mogyi, the little squirrel in the light brown coat, who was always jolly and merry, and Uhu, the wise old owl.
The forest was full of life and joy. At Easter, Tappancs had the important task of dyeing eggs, and in the autumn, under the guidance of Tüsi, of apple picking; the hazelnut and walnut picking was done under the direction of Mogyi. At this time, the good friends danced and sang a lot.
One fine day, Uhu had a great idea:
- What if we had a running race in the forest?- the wise owl wondered to himself. He even ruffled his beautiful, shiny brown feathers in excitement and nearly spilled his morning tea.
- I'm going to talk to Tüsi!" he shouted and quickly ran out of the house. He flew and flew merrily to the big old walnut tree, to the little hedgehog's hole.
- Knock, knock!" knocked Eagle Owl.
- Who is it?" asked Spike shyly.
- Only me, your good friend, Uhu!" said the great owl loudly.
- Oh, how nice! Are you my old friend?! Wait a minute, please, I'll open the door! - said the little hedgehog happily.
Everyone knew that Spike, although a little shy, had a huge heart of gold and was a very good friend of Uhu. He always listened to the wise owl and gave him advice.
That's what happened this time...
- Can I offer you some delicious apple pie? I just baked it! - Spike asked.
- Yes, thank you, but first I have something important to tell you, my little friend! - said Uhu excitedly.
- "Okay, I'm all ears," said the little hedgehog calmly, scratching his little black nose inquiringly.
- What if, before the Lord of Winter returns, we had a running race? - cried the owl, flapping his huge wings so hard that he almost knocked his little friend's sweet parents' picture off the wall.
- A running race? - the always calm Spike asked in amazement.
- Yes!- said Uhu quickly.
- We're all very enthusiastic, happy residents and we love your ideas, Uhu," the little hedgehog said to himself, half aloud and half quietly.
- Do you think it's a good idea? - asked Eagle Owl.
- "Yes, why not!" said Spike, and immediately brought his warm and tickling pie from the hot oven.
Uhu happily ate his little friend's delicious cake and they had a nice chat about the details of the competition.
And so an important day in the life of the fairytale round forest passed.
Chapter Two
It was autumn, when the girl Autumn painted the leaves of every tree in the forest with her brush in a thousand colours. So the maple tree turned reddish, shaking its reddish head proudly; and the oak tree's crown turned yellow and reddish-brown. Each one was a different beautiful colour, except the old pine tree, whose crown was green all year round.
Not only did the woods burst into magical colours, but they also gave the little inhabitants a variety of harvests. The old pine tree gave Hazel a pine cone; the oak tree gave little acorns to Turtle, the wild boar with its clever nose picked mushrooms and the little apple tree near the forest gave sweet red apples to Tüsi.
The next day, in the early autumn dawn, when the smiling sun shone its golden rays through Spike's window, he searched in vain with his shining hands for the little hedgehog in his bed, but could not find it. For long ago Spike had run and run to the middle of the fairy round forest to tell the great news: the first hedgehog had come to the first round forest in the fairy tale.
RUN!
Then in the big clearing he found himself a big log, stood on it, took his mouthpiece in his hand and shouted:
-Friends, my friends! Come quickly! I have big news to tell you! Yesterday Eagle Owl, the wise owl, decided to organize a running race! The winner will receive a wreath and golden running shoes in recognition of all the forest's inhabitants, and we'll have a big celebration in his honour!
- Yay! Yay!" everyone shouted happily.
- When will the race be held? - Mr Brumi asked curiously.
- In a month's time, before the Lord of Winter arrives, but everyone should still have time to prepare," said Spike, shaking his spiked coat in excitement.
- Who can enter? - asked Turcsi, the shy boar.
- "Anyone who would like to take part in this remarkable event," said Spike kindly.
- Who would like to apply? - asked the little hedgehog.
Then everyone started shaking, moaning, groaning, sighing, shaking and purring in excitement.
- Me!" shouted Peanut bravely.
- Me too! - Tappancs raised his paws.
- Me!" growled Mr Brumi firmly.
- "And so do I", Spike interjected.
And so the little group came together, happy and loud.
Chapter Three
A day has passed, two days have passed. The days went by slowly, like the grains of sand in Father Time's hourglass, each little forest dweller feverishly preparing for the big day.
All the competitors took the competition very seriously:
Peanut was picking the fruit from the big walnut tree, catching all the nuts almost in a volley. He even jumped up and down on the branches and did somersaults and leg lifts on the ground.
Spike took a break from apple picking to do big arm swings and jogged in place.
Every day, Tappancs would simply put on his rabbit boots and run around the big, fairytale round forest.
Mr Brumi was the only one not preparing for the race, as he always wisely says:
"The golden honey always gives strength to everyone, that's where my strength is!" or something like that:
"He who eats honey never gets sick!"
He did nothing but eat lots of honey all day long and waited excitedly for the big day.
You know, little children, I confess to you frankly that Mr. Brumi is absolutely right that honey is a healthy food, but an idle life is unhealthy, it is not good for anyone, mark my words.
Now back to the preparations for the competition:
For days, Uhu wrote his very important keynote speech day and night. Each time he wrote a little, then corrected it, wrote it, then corrected it, and finally finished it after three days.
Turcsi spent days gathering the most beautiful acorns from the forest, then strung them up and decorated the trees along the route in the last days before the race.
In the hearts of all the forest dwellers, preparations for the big day were feverish. In the fairytale round forest, every little home was decorated and delicious cakes were baked.
And so passed the very important days of preparation in the lives of the little inhabitants of the fairytale round forest.
Chapter Four
Finally, the long-awaited big day arrived - the day of the race. The weather was beautiful. The smiling golden sun was shining, looking down on the fairy-tale round forest with warm love; the birds were chirping and all the little inhabitants of the forest were very happy and excited.
Everything was ready for the competition:
The trees on both sides of the track were already beautifully decorated with acorns by squirrels and small birds led by Turcsi. The hedgehogs baked delicious scones.
They all gathered in the middle of the round forest in the clearing. There were the grey wolves, the red-tailed foxes, the big brown bears and many others. They began to study among themselves:
- Where are the riders? - asked a big wolf.
- Yes, where are they? - wondered a bear.
- 'Maybe they've got the nerve!' a fox shouted loudly.
- No, it can't be! They're probably just getting ready," said Turcsi, finally, shyly.
- Here they come! There they are at the edge of the forest, they're almost here! - a little squirrel in a grey coat called loudly from the top of the big old pine tree.
Finally, the four brave little competitors have arrived:
Mr. Brumi, Peanut, Spike and Flounder.
- Welcome, inhabitants of the fairytale round forest! - Eagle Owl began his festive speech.
- I am very happy to see you all here! - he looked at me with wide pope's eyes.
- Today is the big day of the race we have been waiting for! We've been living here for many, many years. Our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents and grandparents lived here. All of them in true peace, great friendship and happiness," said the owl with emotion.
- Yes, that's right, it did! - everyone shouted.
- You all know that for many years we have had a long tradition of dyeing eggs, apple picking and nut picking. But now a new tradition is starting, and it's the fabulous Round Forest Run! - "And I humbly remind you that I invented it," she said softly, in a low voice, but no one could hear her anymore.
- Now warm up," the owl said to the competitors. - First do a couple of arm swings up and back - this was done by the competitors. - Now do a mill round back and forth, then a leg lift and a standing run - this was also done. - Now stand at the START, the task is to run through the round forest and return to the GOAL, said Uhu emphatically.
- Does everyone understand? - he asked kindly.
- Yes!" shouted the competitors at the same time.
- Listen up! When I say 'Go', you can start running," said Uhu with great seriousness.
- Watch out! Ready! Go! - he shouted, and they all started to run.
At first they all ran the same way. They lifted their legs nice and steady.
Then a little later, Mr Brumi and Spike started to get tired. Sometimes they even stopped, so they were left behind. Slowly they jogged sadly after the others.
Peanut lasted a long time. However, squirrels can only run fast for short distances, so he was slowly falling behind.
Tappancs was now running alone, and as he hadn't turned back to see what was happening to the others, he couldn't know that he was the only one running. The little rabbit ran and ran, until suddenly he saw the sign in the distance that said GOAL.
But suddenly he began to feel that he might be running alone, so he slowed his pace and stopped for a moment. He looked back and what did he see, dear children? Nothing. Yes, he saw no one running, no companions. He was saddened, even though the others at the finish were shouting:
- Tappancs, Tappancs, come on! You're about to win!
But Tappancs didn't move, he just stood there, as if waiting for something. And suddenly he realised why he was sad: dear children, it's because he's alone, he has no companions and it's no good winning alone! It's not good to do anything alone, it's always best to do it with friends, together. This is what the little rabbit in his heart realised and he knew what he had to do: he waited for the others and together they reached the finish line.
There, the four winners were placed on the podium in a huge ceremony. Tappancs, having valiantly relinquished first place, was awarded the wreath of victory to all four good friends and the golden rabbit slipper was given to the little rabbit for his skill. Afterwards, the scones were eaten with great glee, not a crumb was left; a bonfire was lit and the little heroes celebrated until dawn.
So ended the first running race in the fairytale round forest.
The lesson is that selfishness leads nowhere, only love is important.
