“The Story Of A Candy Rabbit” 2 – A Classic Children's Story

Here's a story, bouncing with love and fun, for playtime and/or bedtime. This is a classic children’s story about the adventures of a talking toy Candy Rabbit. It’s a happy tale, an ongoing series, and Candy Rabbit and his toy friends will have lots of adventures. This is Part 2.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Stefania and here we are with part two of the story of a candy rabbit.

Maybe you remember the last time the candy rabbit had been tied to a kite and he floated away in the air.

What happened to him,

I wonder?

Let's find out.

The Organ Grinder Since the candy rabbit had left the toy store after having been put on the Easter novelty counter,

So many things had happened that he was beginning to get used to them.

But sailing through the air on the tail of a kite was something he had never done before.

Up he went,

Higher and higher,

As the wind blew the kite.

The candy rabbit looked down toward the ground.

It seemed a long way off,

Very far from him.

If I should fall now as I fell when the lady dropped me in the toy store,

Thought the candy rabbit,

I think he would be the end of me.

There is no soft rubber ball here on which to land.

Dick,

Arnold and Herbert,

The three boys who had been flying their kite when they found the candy rabbit in the grass,

Were laughing and shouting as they saw the tail swishing to and fro with the Easter bunny tied on the end.

That rabbit was just the thing needed to make our kite go up,

Said Dick.

Yes,

Agreed Arnold,

But it's funny,

The rabbit was out in the grass here,

Wasn't it?

Oh,

I guess my sister must have dropped him,

Remarked Herbert.

When we get through flying the kite,

I'll take the rabbit off the tail and carry him back to Madeleine.

Up and up and to and fro switched the candy rabbit on the kite tail.

Of course,

A bunch of grass,

A wad of paper or even a stone would have been just as well for the boys to have used as a weight,

But they had happened to see the candy rabbit and had taken him.

Boys are sometimes like that,

You know?

How long Herbert,

Dick and Arnold might have let the candy rabbit sail about on the end of the kite tail,

I cannot say.

But when the three chums had been having this fun for about half an hour,

All of a sudden Madeleine and her two friends,

Mirabelle and Dorothy,

Came running across the field.

Oh,

Herbert,

What do you think,

Cried Madeleine when she saw her brother,

That bad old cat came into our house again and tried to catch one of our goldfish.

Did he get any?

Asked Herbert.

No,

But he almost did.

Dorothy came over with her sawdust dowel just as the cat was dipping his paw down into the bowl and what do you think Dorothy did?

Asked Madeleine.

I don't know.

What did she do?

Asked Herbert.

I threw my sawdust dowel at the cat,

Exclaimed Dorothy.

I knew it wouldn't hurt her because she's stuffed with sawdust.

Did you hit him?

Dick asked.

I almost did,

Answered Dorothy.

Anyway,

I scared him away and he didn't get any goldfish.

That's good,

Said Arnold.

I wish I'd been there,

Said Dick.

Just then,

Madeleine looked up and saw something dangling on the end of the kite tail.

Why,

Herbert,

She cried,

What have you there?

Oh,

You have my candy rabbit on your kite.

I was looking all over for him.

Where'd you get him?

I found him here in the field where you dropped him,

Answered her brother.

I didn't drop my candy rabbit here,

Went on Madeleine.

I wouldn't do such a thing.

I left him in the house and then I couldn't find him and I was coming to ask if you had seen him.

I thought maybe Carlo the dog had carried him off as he carried Dorothy's doll once.

Well,

If you didn't take your candy rabbit out and leave him here in the field,

Maybe Carlo did,

Said Herbert.

Anyhow,

We didn't hurt him and you can have him back again.

We can tie a bunch of weeds on the kite tail.

They'll be just as good as the rabbit.

Oh,

The idea of saying my candy rabbit is like a bunch of weeds,

Cried Madeleine.

Take him right back to me this minute,

Herbert.

And she shook her finger at her brother.

All right,

Herbert answered.

Pull the kite down,

Fellows.

All right.

Down came the kite when the string was wound up and slowly the candy rabbit floated back to earth.

Madeleine stood under the tail with her dress held out to catch the bunny in it.

And down he came,

Not being hurt a bit.

Quickly,

Madeleine loosened her Easter toy from the kite tail and she nestled him in her arms.

You poor little bunny,

She murmured.

I guess he was scared half to death away up there in the air.

She and the other girls looked at the toy.

He did not seem to be harmed in the least.

But he's got a green grass stain on one ear,

Said Mirabelle.

That only makes him look more stylish,

Said Dorothy.

And green goes well with the pink color of his ribbon,

Added Madeleine.

Oh,

I'm so glad to get my rabbit back.

Madeleine took her candy rabbit back to the house.

There she and the girls had some fun and the boys kept on flying the kite.

They used a bunch of weeds as a weight on the tail instead of the rabbit as they had done it first.

And of course,

Neither Madeleine nor any of the others knew that the cat had carried the bunny away and had dropped him in the grassy field.

They all thought Carl the dog had done it.

But of course,

There was no way of finding out for sure except by reading this book.

In this,

The true story of the candy rabbit is told for the first time.

Madeleine tried to get the green grass stain off her rabbit's ear,

But it would not come out.

Why don't you scrape it off?

Asked Herbert.

Why?

I might scrape off half his ear.

No,

Indeed,

Madeleine said.

Well,

Wash it off,

Suggested Dick,

Who had come over to play with Herbert.

Take him up to the bathroom and wash his ear.

My mother washes my ear.

Oh,

Your ears aren't made of candy,

Said Madeleine.

No,

And I'm glad they're not or the fellows will be biting pieces off all the while,

Laughed Dick.

Well,

I guess I won't wash my candy rabbit.

At least not yet,

Said Madeleine.

I'll wait till he gets a few more stains on him.

Several days passed.

The bad cat did not again try to catch the goldfish.

He seemed to have been frightened away when Dorothy threw the sawdust doll at him.

And I'm glad to say the doll was not hurt in the least.

In fact,

She rather liked scaring cats.

One day,

Madeleine took her candy rabbit out into the kitchen where the cook was making a cake.

She had just put the cake into the oven to bake and there were several dishes on the table,

Dishes in which were dabs of sweet,

Sugary icing and cake batter.

Oh,

May I please clean out some of the cake dishes,

Asked Madeleine.

Yes,

Answered the cook kindly.

This was one of the pleasures Madeleine and Herbert enjoyed on baking day.

But Herbert was not on hand then,

So Madeleine had all the dishes to herself.

She set her candy rabbit on a shelf,

Got a spoon and began to clean the icing dish.

Of course,

You know,

That means she scraped the dish with a spoon and ate all the icing she scraped up.

Yes,

And I think she even licked the spoon.

After she had finished the white icing dish,

There was a chocolate one to start on.

Oh,

I'm going to have a dandy time,

Laughed the little girl.

She forgot all about her candy rabbit.

There he sat on a shelf near the gas stove.

And as the cakes in the oven began to bake,

The fire grew hotter and hotter.

And the candy rabbit began to feel very strange.

Dear me,

I am afraid I am going to melt,

He said to himself,

Not daring to speak aloud when Madeleine and the cook were there.

The kitchen grew warmer and warmer.

The stove became hotter and hotter.

And on the shelf,

Where the candy rabbit sat,

It was like a summer day in the blazing sun.

This is worse than anything that ever happened to me before,

Said the candy rabbit.

I think I'll just melt down into a lump of sugar.

That would be dreadful.

Of course it would.

And Madeleine would have been very sorry if anything like that had happened.

One of the ears of the rabbit was just getting soft and drooping over a little to one side when the cook happened to look toward the shelf.

Oh,

Madeleine,

My dear,

She cried,

Your candy rabbit.

What's the matter?

Asked the little girl,

Looking up from the dish she was scraping clean with a spoon in order to eat the last of the chocolate inside.

He will melt if you leave him on that shelf near the hot stove.

And on the cook,

Look,

One of his ears is drooping.

Out here!

Screamed Madeleine,

And dropping the spoon,

She caught her Easter toy from the shelf.

It was only just in time,

Too,

For the poor rabbit was just beginning to melt.

In fact,

One of his ears did soften and twist over to one side a little.

But Madeleine quickly took him out on the cool porch and the rabbit felt better.

However,

That queer twist or droop stayed in one ear.

Not the one with the grass stain on,

But the other.

I don't care,

Madeleine said when her toy was cool and all right again.

It makes him look different from the other candy rabbits to have a twisted ear.

It's so funny!

Happy days followed for the bunny.

The children played sometimes in one house and sometimes in another,

Taking their toys with them.

And sometimes the rabbit had a chance to talk to the sawdust doll,

The bold tin soldier,

The white rocking horse,

Or the lamb on wheels.

But the children would often leave their toys together,

As the boys and girls went out to play in the yards or on the porch.

I wonder how the calico clown in the shop is getting along,

Said the candy rabbit to the sawdust doll on one of the days when they were together.

They were on the porch of Madeleine's house and Madeleine,

Maribel,

And Dorothy were around in the back playing in a sandpile.

I should like to see him and also the monkey on a stick,

Said the doll.

Oh,

What's that?

She suddenly asked,

As sounds of music were heard.

It's a hand organ and here comes a man playing it,

Said the candy rabbit.

Is he a monkey with him to gather pennies in his hat?

Asked the sawdust doll.

No,

But he has a little girl with him.

She has a basket.

I guess she gathers pennies in that.

Maybe the organ man had a monkey,

But it ran away,

Suggested the rabbit.

Maybe,

Agreed the doll.

Oh,

Isn't that nice music,

She cried.

It makes me feel like dancing.

Indeed,

Hand organ man was indeed playing a nice tune.

The girl who was with him came into the yard and up the steps,

Holding out her basket,

Ready for pennies.

The little girls being in the back yard,

No one was near the front of the house.

Ah,

A candy rabbit and a sawdust doll,

Exclaimed the organ man's girl.

Nobody seems to want them.

I have a doll of my own,

But I have no candy rabbit.

I think I would take this one.

I would rather have him than pennies.

And looking quickly here and there to see if anyone was going to toss her a penny,

But seeing no one,

The hand organ man's little girl picked up the candy rabbit,

Tucked it under her apron,

And quickly went down the steps again.

Wow,

Of all things,

Thought the candy rabbit as he felt himself being taken away in this fashion.

Of all things,

What is this hand organ girl going to do with me?

And that is something that we'll find out in the next story.

The Peddler's Basket Slowly down the street walked the organ grinder,

Turning the crank and making music.

This little girl,

After putting the candy rabbit under her apron,

Looked around the house where Madeleine lived to see if anyone might be coming out with pennies.

But no one came.

Madeleine and Dorothy and Maribel were in the backyard where they had gone to play in the sandpile after leaving the sawdust doll and the candy rabbit on the front porch.

Madeleine's mother was not at home,

And the cook was too busy in the kitchen to bother with giving pennies to the organ grinder,

Though she might have done so if she had time and had had plenty of pennies.

As for Madeleine and Dorothy and Maribel,

They had given one look down the street when they heard the hand organ music.

Then as they saw he had no monkey with him,

Madeleine said,

Oh,

A hand organ isn't any fun unless it has a monkey.

You don't want to bother waiting to see this one.

Come on,

Let's play.

So as I had told you,

They were in the backyard,

Leaving the doll and the rabbit on the porch.

And then the hand organ man's little girl had come along and taken the rabbit.

I'll take him home with me.

He wants him,

She said to herself as she went down off the porch with the candy chop under her apron.

And she really thought the rabbit had been put out because no one wanted him.

She slipped the bunny into a large pocket in the skirt of her dress and hurried on after her father,

Who had walked down the street grinding out his tunes.

The organ grinders little girl did not tell her father about the candy rabbit until that night when they reached their home after their day's travel.

With the organ man lived his brother,

Who was a peddler.

He had a big basket in which he carried pens,

Needles,

Pen cushions and odds and ends,

Which are called notions.

They're used for sewing usually.

Anyhow,

This peddler man went about from house to house selling notions to whoever wanted to buy them.

He too had been out all day peddling with his basket.

And when he reached home at about the same time as did his brother,

The organ grinder and the little girl.

The family had supper.

And after that Rosa brought out the candy rabbit.

All the while the bunny had been in her pocket and the sweet chop did not like it very much.

I want to be out where I can see things murmured the rabbit.

I want to see what is happening.

It is dreadful to be kidnapped like this and carried away from home.

For that,

That is what really happened.

The candy rabbit had been kidnapped by Rosa the organ girl,

Though really she did not mean to do any wrong in taking him.

But when the bunny was taken out of Rosa's pocket and set on the supper table in the light,

He looked around him.

It was quite a different home from Madeline's.

Not nearly so nice,

The candy rabbit thought.

But of course he said nothing.

Oh,

What a fine rabbit.

Where did you get him?

Asked Rosa's father.

He was thrown away on a veranda of a house where I got no pennies,

She answered.

No one wanted him,

So I took him.

He is a fine candy rabbit,

Said Joe the peddler looking at the bunny.

He is almost new.

I guess he came from an Easter novelty counter.

Once I sold Easter toys,

But now I only sell pins and needles.

Yes,

He is a fine rabbit,

Rosa.

Are you going to eat him?

He's made of candy.

Eat him?

Oh,

No.

I am going to keep him always,

Said the little girl,

Hugging the rabbit in her arms.

The bunny liked to be hugged and petted,

And though he would rather have been in Madeline's house,

Still he was glad the little organ girl liked him.

Nobody wanted the rabbit,

So I took him,

Said Rosa,

And she really thought this was so.

But of course,

Madeline wanted her candy rabbit very much,

And when she and Dorothy and Mirabelle came back to the porch after their play in the sandpile and found the sawdust doll there and the bunny gone,

Poor Madeline felt very bad indeed.

She looked all over for her toy,

But he was not to be found.

At first,

Madeline thought perhaps her brother or one of the other boys had taken the bunny to tie to the kite again,

But Herbert said that he and his chums had not seen the toy.

Then Madeline thought perhaps Carlo,

The little dog,

Had carried the bunny away,

As once he carried off the sawdust doll,

But this could not have happened,

As Carlo had been kept chained in his kennel all that day.

Well,

My candy rabbit is gone,

And I wish I could find him,

And I'm awful lonesome without him,

Said Madeline,

And she was not happy even when her mother,

Said she or Aunt Emma,

Were by her another.

And all the while,

The organ-grinder's little girl had the candy rabbit,

And that night,

When the time came for Rosa to go to bed,

She looked for a safe place to put the Easter toy.

The little girl saw the big basket of the peddler in the corner of the room.

"'I'll put the candy rabbit on one of the pin cushions in Uncle Joe's basket,

' said Rosa to herself.

"'He can sleep there all night.

Tomorrow I will make a little nest for him.

' And the candy rabbit was so tired after all the adventures he had met with that day that he fell asleep almost at once,

And passed a very pleasant night in the basket on the pin cushion,

Which was stuffed with sawdust,

Just like Dorothy's doll.

' Peddler Joe was up early the next morning.

He was up before either his brother Tony or the little girl Rosa.

Joe cooked himself some breakfast on an old stove,

And then,

Taking his basket,

He went out.

He did not even turn back the cloth cover to see that his pins,

Needles,

Cushions,

And other notions were all in place.

He felt sure that they were.

And of course he did not know the candy rabbit was in his basket.

But there the candy rabbit was,

In the peddler's basket,

On the cushion.

"'Dear me,

What is happening now?

' thought the candy rabbit,

As he was suddenly awakened by being jiggled and juggled about in the basket.

"'Am I at sea?

Have I been taken on a ship,

And am I crossing the ocean?

' For that is what the motion was like,

Just the same as the lamb on wheels felt when she was on the raft.

' And Joe,

The peddler,

Not knowing the bunny was in the basket,

Carried the sweet chap farther and farther away.

But the candy rabbit will be okay.

He's just on another adventure.

We'll see what happened to him in part three.

And that's it for today.

We'll be back again soon with part three of the candy rabbit.

Bye for now.

Reviews

Great story! I love the suspense and your voice is very relaxing. Can’t wait fir part 3.