(A children's story)
Benjamin Bunny was born in a blackberry patch. It had a lot of thorns that protected him and his family from the fox. They could move under the thorny branches, but the fox couldn't.
Benjamin's favorite place to go was the meadow. Other bunny families were in the meadow too, and they played and hopped over each other. Sometimes he sat very still to let the sun warm his face and the breeze ruffle his fur. It felt good.
There were good things to eat in the meadow, like grass and leaves, but his favorite was clover. His mama made him eat the green part first, but then she allowed him to eat the flowers. They were the best part.
Recently the meadow had begun to change. There were things in the grass he didn't understand. Some things hurt. His friend Timmy cut his paw and got very sick. Some things smelled bad too, and other things covered the grass and killed it.
Benjamin heard the big rabbits talking about what happened to the meadow. Some of them called the mess litter or garbage, and some of them used a much bigger word: pollution. They said it was humans who left the bad things in the meadow, and Benjamin wondered why humans would make such a mess in his home?
Several of the bunny families moved away. Caleb, his brother, was sick because he had drunk something that smelled bad. Mama said as soon as Caleb felt better, they would have to move too. But before they could move, it rained. Caleb felt better, but Mama didn't want to move in the rain, so they stayed in the blackberry patch. It was so wet that Mama took them to the meadow only to eat.
Then on the first sunny day, a lot of humans came to the meadow. A few were big but most of them were smaller. They were all dressed alike. Mama called them scouts. They picked up all the bad things and took them away. The scouts did a good job cleaning the meadow.
Then Benjamin was happy because he and his family didn't have to move after all. Some of the other bunny families returned, and Benjamin could run and play with his friends again.
© 2014 Karen DeLisle
2 thoughts on "Benjamin Bunny Learns About Pollution"
Cute story. I enjoyed reading it.
Thank you for reading and giving that encouragement.