Stories for Grand Children

Rum Tum Tuddly was trying to fasten his little green jacket and couldn’t. “Oh Dear”, he said “It must have shrunk again when Mrs Bumble washed it”. But it hadn’t. Rum Tum Tuddly was just getting fatter and fatter, and do you know why? Well, he loved to eat and his favorite snack was chocolate. He was one of the many little elves who help the Easter Bunnies to make those lovely Easter Eggs and he would often have a little nibble if he found a broken one. “After all, you can’t wrap broken ones”, he would mumble with a mouthful of yummy chocolate “and I must make sure they taste nice”. Then he would go on with his job of wrapping the eggs in beautiful shiny paper.

One morning, Mother Easter Bunny was counting the eggs and popping them into the different sized baskets for the different size Easter Bunnies to deliver on Easter morning. As she came around a corner, there was Rum Tum Tuddly sitting down, having another snack. “Ah ther you are, come with me please, I have a special job for you”, said Mother Easter Bunny. So Rum Tum Tuddly followed along behind Mother Bunny, down a long hall they went, around a few corners, and then down some steps. They arrived in a large kitchen that Rum Tum Tuddly had never seen before, and it looked like there was a party happening.

“Sit down and have something nice to eat and then we will talk about a special favor I would like you to do for me. You certainly are the right shape for this job”, Mother Bunny said with a small smile sneaking onto her face.

All the other little bunnies around the table stopped munching on goodies to nod at him and have a little chuckle between themselves.

“Thank you for the party but…..am I in big trouble?” asked Rum Tum Tuddly.

“Goodness no, but I do have a job for you, a very important job. Grandfather Bunny has hurt his foot and can’t help with the eggs this year so I would like you to take his place. He usually carries a large basket and I think you are about the only one who could carry it”, said Mother Easter Bunny.

Garndfather Bunny was a bit grouchy as he heard about his job being given away to someone else, and not even an Easter Bunny at that. He said “It’s not my fault that I fell down a hole”, and he frowned at the little bunnies who were giggling and teasing about a rabbit falling down a rabbit hole. “I forgot I was on the roof and when I found the football Baby Bunny had lost, I just kicked it and overbalanced”. Grandfather Bunny realized how funny it was and started to chuckle as he said ” anyway I’m waiting to see Rum Tum Tuddly in my Easter costume”.

Rum Tum Tuddly gasped in surprise, “Not an Easter Bunny costume!”

Mother Bunny smiled and said “It’s not so bad to be an Easter Bunny, It really is quite fun and you are the right size and shape for it. Come along and try it on, we don’t want you to frighten the children, should they accidentally see you, so wear the costume you will”.

Rum Tum Tuddly said anxiously, “Aren’t you a bit worried about my tasting all the eggs until there are none left?”

Cuddly Mother Bunny stood up on a chair and reached into the very top of the cupboard and brought down a little tin that was very dusty. “Goodness, it’s a long time since I had to use this”, she said as she dusted off the top and lifted the lid. “Come over here, dear, and close your eyes for a moment”.

“Oh dear, I’ll be good. I won’t do it again”, babbled Rum Tum Tuddly, “Will this hurt?”

Mother Easter Bunny smiled kindly and said, “We don’t hurt people, now close your eyes”. She took a sprinkle of shiny Magic Dust and it made a slight tinkling noise as it drifted down over the nose of Rum Tum Tuddly. He sneezed and giggled at the same time and said, “That was nice, it sort of tickled. Could you do it again?”

Mother Bunny smiled and said, “No need, you won’t even think of a snack now. Okay then, hurry and get into your costume because the others are nearly ready to get started”.

Rum Tum Tuddly had been thinking very hard about this over the last few minutes and he had decided that it did seem rather like fun, so he willingly put on the costume and the special hat that Mother Bunny had sewn with two long furry ears, and there he was. He twisted and turned in front of the big mirror with all the other little bunnies. Some were polishing their little pink noses and some were brushing their fluffy little tails, everyone trying to look their best for the Big Delivery. “My word”, he said proudly, “I do look rather grand”.

Grandfather Bunny came over and smiled kindly at him. He said “The way to get started on the Fun Day, is to stand in line over there with all the others, and when it is your turn you must step up to the Magic Stump, stamp your feet twice and say ‘Diddly Hi, Diddly Lo – and off we go’, and don’t forget to twitch your nose . Oh, and don’t drop your basket”.

Rum Tum Tuddly was looking a little worried and said, “That’s an awful lot to remember, and how do I get back? Perhaps I had better not go after all”.

Grandfather Bunny winked wisely at him and touched the side of his nose, “It’s as easy as falling off a log, but this secret you must never tell to anyone. When you have finished your list, and your basket is empty, you will find a piece of Magic Clover. All you do is close your eyes and nibble on it, and there you are – or should I say here you are”.

Rum Tum Tuddly grinned widely and said, “It does sound like fun, can I start now? I have my basket of eggs and my long list”.

Grandfather Bunny nodded and smiled, so Rum Tum Tuddly joined the line of happy, excited bunnies. He looked down into the basket of eggs and thought “The Magic Dust really does work, I don’t even feel like tasting them. Oh my, look at my list, I hope I have enough eggs”.

Soon it was Rum Tum Tuddly’s turn to step up onto the Magic Stump. It was very large, and very old, and the center was worn into quite a hollow from all the little bunny feet that had stamped on it over the years. Up he stepped and he turned to look at Grandfather Bunny. “I’ll do my very best work for you and I will be ever so careful not to wake the children”. Then he turned and closed his eyes, stamped his feet twice, said the Magic Words and twitched his nose. He opened one eye to peep at what was happening and just had a moment to see Grandfather Bunny smiling at him and then, in a twinkle of time, he was in a garden – his first little delivery.

The list said – ONE LITTLE GIRL, MAKE IT EASY. So he put the eggs where a very small child could easily find them, then skipped off to the next house.

Rum Tum Tuddly soon became quite clever at hiding the eggs in many different places, making it easy for the little children and much more difficult for the older children, so that when they found them it was much more fun.

As soon as he thought his basket was empty, it became magically full again, so he would turn the page and race off to the next house on the list.

When the little book of children’s names was on its very last page and down to the very last name, Rum Tum Tuddly hid the eggs carefully and stood up and stretched out tall, well as tall as a little elf could stretch, and yawned widely. He was smiling to himself and thinking what a fun time he had enjoyed when a little voice called out, “Look Mummy and Daddy, I can see an Easter Bunny and he’s yawning”.

With a twitch of his little Bunny Tail costume, Rum Tum Tuddly ran amongst some trees and quickly nibbled on the Magic Clover Leaf that just happened to be right there, waiting for him. Within the wink of an eye he was back home again joining in the fun and laughter with all the other little Easter Bunnies.

They had all done such a good job of delivering all those Easter Eggs on that special morning and everyone was quite proud of themselves and their friends.