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Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Anabaptist Sermons by Eli Hofer The Writings of Ulrich Stadler |
Mr. Owl rescues Clover, the rabbit By Naomi Murphy It was a beautiful sunny day. Clover, the rabbit was hopping through the woods, enjoying himself tremendously. Not caring about where he was going or about the time, on and on he went, farther and farther from home. "Where are you going?" asked a voice. It was Mr. Owl, up in his tree. "Oh, nowhere in particular. It's a beautiful sunny day, so I thought today would be a good day for a stroll. Maybe I’ll go to Sunrise Pool. Everybody talks about it. It must be a very nice place. I’ve never been there before." "Sunrise Pool is a long way from home. Maybe you should go another time. Besides, it’s getting late and you should be heading for home. And your family will be worrying about you." Ignoring Mr. Owl’s warning, he said, "Oh, I’ll be all right. Don’t worry about me, I was raised in these woods, so I know the area pretty well." Mr. Owl said nothing, but shook his head and watched him go. After he disappeared, Mr. Owl flew back to Clover’s home to warn his family about Clover. "Hello!" he called. "Is anybody home?". A couple of minutes later, Mr. Rabbit popped his head out of his house. Behind him came Mrs. Rabbit and the rest of the family, Daisy, Dandelion, Skipper and Baby Bubbles. "Well! Mr. Owl! What a pleasant surprise! It’s so good to see you! What brings you here?" Mr. Rabbit said. "Hello everyone" Mr. Owl greeted cheerfully. It has been a long time, hasn’t it?" After a friendly chat, Mr. Rabbit asked, "Have you seen Clover? He’s been gone for several hours. I was just getting ready to go look for him when you dropped in." "That’s why I came. I’ve seen Clover by my tree. There are many dangerous animals about. I thought I might come and tell you. He said he was going to Sunrise Pool" Mr. Owl said before taking off. "Oh no!!" Mrs. Rabbit cried. "We kept on telling him not to go down there!" "Thank you, Mr. Owl" Mr. Rabbit said. "We’ll start looking for him right away." Mr. Owl was a rare visitor. So he was welcomed by the whole family. Everybody in the woods liked him, because he was so friendly. Meanwhile, back in the woods, Clover started to get hungry. He ate some berries and some leaves to keep his tummy satisfied. Pretty soon it started getting dark, it was then that Clover realized he was lost. He looked up in the sky and saw that a storm was coming, so he quickly looked for some shelter. He didn’t have to look very far. Just a few feet away from him he saw a bush. Quickly he crawled under and just in time too. As soon as he was under the bush, thunder boomed and lightning flashed. In a few minutes came a heavy torrent of rain. Clover had to wait there for the storm to stop. When he crawled out, he saw big puddles of water everywhere. He knew it was very difficult to go on home without getting all dirty. He was also very confused about which way to go. Back at home, everyone was very worried that something may have happened to Clover. The ground was still quite wet from the storm when Mr. Rabbit decided to get together a search party. Among the volunteers were Mr. Owl and his sons, Spotty, Snorky and Scooter, Mr. Rabbit and his son, Dandelion, Mr. Squirrel and his sons, Chatterbox, Squeaky and Squealer, Mr. Monkey and his son Cheeky. "I hope nothing happened to him" Spotty said. "Me too" Scooter agreed. "Let’s meet at the Big Rock" Mr. Owl suggested, before the hunt started. "Why don’t we break up into smaller groups and we’ll go in different directions." Spotty spoke up. "Good ideas!" Mr. Rabbit approved. "Mr. Rabbit, why don’t you take Dandelion, Spotty, Corky, Mr. Squirrel and Spunky? The rest of you come with me" said Mr. Owl. "OK", everyone agreed. So they split up and each group went their own way By then it was quite dark. Some of the animals had good eye sight in the dark, good hearing, and good sense of smell. It was by these instincts, Clover’s friends looked for him. Back in the woods, after Clover had crawled out of his hole, he became very worried because he was lost and also he knew quite well there were predators he had to watch out for. Besides that, he also knew his family was very worried about him. He was very sorry that he didn’t listen to Mr. Owl’s advice. Now he wished he did. Eventually the storm stopped and he decided to look for food. Forgetting to look for danger, Clover met up with Nasty, the coyote, also known as the bully of the woods, who suddenly jumped out his of hiding place and blocked Clover’s path! Clover screamed and shook with fear. "Where do you think you’re going?", said Nasty. "Nowhere! You just surprised me, that’s all!" cried Clover. "Well, you better run as fast as you can because I'm going to get you!" Clover didn’t wait to be told twice. He ran and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, with Nasty right behind him. He dodged low bushes and hopped over every big rock. In the process of running, he cut himself pretty bad. He heard his jacket tear, part of it was left behind and his left hind leg was bleeding . He had to stop and find a place to hide, which was pretty difficult to do, because his leg hurt. Fortunately, Nasty lost his scent and went the wrong direction which was good for Clover. There weren’t too many hiding places, but he didn’t see Nasty either. He did see a low bush about 50 feet away. But his leg slowed him down. That made him look out for Nasty all the more. When he finally did reach the bush, his leg hurt so bad, he was glad to rest. He licked his wound, because it hurt so bad. After he caught his breath, he bravely continued on. Checking to see if Nasty was still around, he thought to himself, "I better be extra careful, or I’ll never make it home." Completely lost, he wished all the more that he listened to Mr. Owl’s advice. "They all must be looking for me now." Daylight was approaching when Spotty said, "I have a hunch that Nasty found him and took him to his cave." "I never thought about that" his father said. "Maybe we all should go back to the Big Rock and all of us go to Nasty’s cave together" Daisy suggested. So Mr. Owl and his group went back to the Big Rock and waited for the other group to show up. They didn’t have to wait for very long because Mr. Rabbit showed up with his group. "Well," Mr. Owl said after they showed up, "Did you find anything?" "Spotty said he had a hunch that Clover was in Nasty’s cave" said Mr. Rabbit. "That’s a good place to look." Mr. Owl responded. "We also found his torn jacket and his tracks and Nasty’s as well." "Well, let’s go to his cave. I never thought about that, though. Knowing Clover as my son, he’d be daring enough to try anything." Meanwhile Clover was still looking for a hiding place and was surprised by Nasty again. "Got you!" a voice from behind him said. Clover was so surprised that he screamed and jumped, which made him hurt all the more but he was caught! Nasty’s strong grip didn’t help any but add more pain. "Well, well! Look at you!!! Already bleeding! Well, my pot is waiting." When the group heard that scream, they were all frightened. "Oh! Oh!," Daisy said. "We may be to late." "Let’s not give up" Mr. Owl said. "At least we know where he is. Let’s go to his cave before he does, then we’ll surprise him." So everyone flew or ran to Nasty’s cave. "What will we do once we get there?" Snorky asked during flight. "I don’t know" his father answered. "We’ll have to talk about it once we get there. But we’ll have to plan quickly." When they got there, they all found a place to hide. They were relieved to know they got there first. "Look" Daisy whispered. "I see Nasty. And it looks like he’s got Clover with him. "So I see" her dad whispered back. "I see him too" Mr. Owl whispered. "As soon as I can, I’ll swoop down, pick him up and carry him home. He will scream, but there’s nothing we can do about it." When Nasty had his back turned, Mr. Owl flew in quietly and picked up Clover. Clover was surprised and screamed just as Mr. Owl predicted. That made Nasty turn around, but then Mr. Owl flew out of his reach and carried him home. The rest of the group followed him, some in the air and some on the ground. Mr. Rabbit was relieved to see that his son was still alive. After he was taken home, Mr. Rabbit bandaged his wound and told everyone how very grateful he was to have their help in looking for Clover. Mrs. Rabbit and the rest of the family also said thank you to everyone. |