The Adventures of Benjamin Rabbit and Friends

One

One warm summer’s afternoon, Benjamin Buck sat looking into the clear stream that flowed gently around the bottom of Farmer Jones’s field. He liked going there on days like this. It was his favourite spot, as he could see for miles around. He and his friends enjoyed playing there, and they had spent many happy afternoons wading along the stream, building camps and dams in the gently flowing water.

As Benjamin sat there, he noticed a family of fish swimming energetically upstream. Benjamin wondered why they were in such a hurry. Perhaps they had to get home urgently to do something. He felt far too lazy to rush around. It was such a lovely day! He was happy to sit and watch the world go by and dream of the many adventures he and his friends were having this summer.

Benjamin was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice his friends slowly creeping up behind him. Sally and Tom had been fishing further down the stream and were now on their way home with the fish they had caught. They were looking forward to having their catch for their dinner tonight. As they walked up the field they could see Benjamin in the distance, but he had not seen them. Whispering, they decided to play a trick on him. Putting down their fish and rods, they slowly began to creep up to Benjamin.

‘Shall we jump on him and push him in the water?’ asked Tom.

‘No, that’s not very nice,’ Sally breathed. ‘Let’s just surprise him instead.’

‘All right,’ agreed Tom, quietly but reluctantly. He liked his idea better. Benjamin had done the same thing to him last week, when Sally was away staying with her grandmother.

‘Let’s throw some acorns at him and hide,’ said Sally in the softest voice she could.

‘Yes, what a good idea, Sally!’ said Tom. ‘Then I will go around the back of that big oak tree and jump out on him.’

‘Good! Let’s do it!’ agreed Sally. She loved to play games like this with her friends. It’s what summers were for—long hot days on which to play with nothing to worry about.

The first acorn hit Benjamin on his side.

‘Hey! That hurt. What was that?’ shouted Benjamin. He jumped up and ran around to see who was there. He could not see anyone, so he sat back down again on the grass.

‘Now, Sally, let’s jump out and surprise him. He won’t expect that,’ Tom whispered. So they both jumped out from behind the tree where they had been hiding and ran over to him.

‘What are you two doing?’ asked Benjamin.

‘Surprise!’ shouted Sally and Tom together. They ended up rolling around on the grass, laughing at how they had made Benjamin jump. They were such happy rabbits! Benjamin felt very lucky to have such good friends.

Meanwhile, in another part of the field, Benjamin’s mum was busy getting the evening meal ready. Mr Buck would be home from work soon, and he would be hungry. She was cooking the family’s favourite dinner. It was vegetable stew with boiled potatoes, and the wonderful smell of it was already filling the house. As she cooked, she looked around her home and thought how lovely it looked at this time of the year. She had picked some fresh flowers earlier in the afternoon and placed them in a bowl of water on the kitchen table. She was going to arrange them properly later that evening after dinner.

They lived in the hollow of an old oak tree. Sometimes, when the wind moaned mournfully outside, it would creek and groan a little bit. But it was always very warm in winter, especially when they had a nice fire roaring in the stove. There were wonderful wood carvings hanging on the walls that Mr Buck made during the winter. Everywhere was nicely decorated. It was a very happy home.