1 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: Hello friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. I'd like 2 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: to say hello to Siena and Stella who live in 3 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 1: Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Hello to Dax who is six, 4 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: Declan who is four, and Silas who is two. Hello 5 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: to Kenzie and Hadley in Delta, British Columbia. Hello to 6 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: Amara who is ten and are Have who is seven. 7 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: And Hello to Azuel from San Diego, California. I'd like 8 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: to say a happy belated birthday to Harper who turned 9 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: nine on June thirteenth. A happy belated birthday to Emerson 10 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: who celebrated her birthday on June twelfth, and happy birthday 11 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: to Evelyn from Ontario, Canada, who is turning eight on 12 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: June fifteenth. Happy birthday to you all. I hope you 13 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: have a wonderful day. Shout Outs and birthday wishes are 14 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: one way we give thanks to our supporters. If you 15 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: would like to support us and receive more bedtime entertainment 16 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: like this, all ad free, please visit our support page 17 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: at sleep tightstories dot org slash support. 18 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 2: Thank you. 19 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: This is a story about some little rabbits that have 20 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: just been born. They are learning all about themselves and 21 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: the world around them. Slowly they start to see, and 22 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: they go out into the world around their burrow. Papa 23 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: teaches them how to take care of their teeth and 24 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: when to run away to safety. The biggest little rabbit 25 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: learns to see. Seven little rabbits lay on their nest 26 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: at the bottom of the burrow and wriggled and squirmed 27 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,239 Speaker 1: and pushed their soft noses against each other all day long. 28 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: Life was very easy for them, and they were content. 29 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: The first thing that they remembered was lying on their 30 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: bed of fur, hay and dried leaves and feeling a great, warm, 31 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: soft something close beside them. After a while, they learned 32 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: that this something was their mama rabbit. It was she 33 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: who had gotten the nest ready for them and lined 34 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: it with fur. She didn't care so much about looking 35 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: beautiful as she did about making her babies comfortable. It 36 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: was their mama rabbit, too, who fed them with warm 37 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: milk until they were old enough to go out of 38 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: the burrow. Then they would nibble, bark and tender young 39 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: shoots from the roots of the trees and all the 40 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: fresh green growing things that rabbits like. She used to 41 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: tell them about this food, and they wondered and wondered 42 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: how it would taste. They began to feel very big 43 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: and strong. Now the soft fur was growing on their 44 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: little bodies and covering even the soles of their feet. 45 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: It was growing inside their cheeks, too, and that made 46 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,839 Speaker 1: them feel important. For Papa Rabbit said that he did 47 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: not know any other animals that had fur inside their cheeks. 48 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: He said it was something to be very proud of, 49 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: so they were very proud. Although why one should want 50 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: fur inside of one's cheeks, It would be hard to 51 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: say what tangles they did get into. Each little rabbit 52 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: had four legs, two short ones in front and two 53 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: long ones behind to help him take long jumps from 54 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: one place to another. So you see there were twenty 55 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: eight legs there pushing, catching in the hay, kicking, and 56 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: sometimes just waving in the air. When their tiny owners 57 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: chanced to roll over on their back and couldn't get 58 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: right side up again, then Mama rabbit would come and 59 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: poke them this way and that, never hurting any of them, 60 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: but getting the nest in order. It is a great 61 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: deal of work to pick up after children, she would say, 62 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: with a tired little sigh, But it will not be 63 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: long before they have homes of their own and are 64 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: doing the same thing. One fine morning, when the children 65 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: were alone in their burrow, the biggest rabbit had a 66 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: strange feeling in his face below and in front of 67 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: his long ears, and above his eager little nose. It 68 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: almost scared him at first, for he had never before 69 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: felt anything at all like it. Then he guessed what 70 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: it meant. 71 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 2: There were two. 72 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: Bunchy places on his face that Mama Rabbit had told 73 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: him were eyes. When you are older, she had said 74 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: to him, these eyes will open and then you will see. 75 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: Or the rabbit children are always blind when they are babies. 76 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: When his mother told him that, the biggest little rabbit 77 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: had said, what do you mean when you say I 78 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:35,720 Speaker 1: shall see? Is it anything like eating? And Mamma Rabbit said, no, 79 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: you cannot taste things until you touch them, but you 80 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: can see them when they are far away. Then it 81 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: is like smelling, said the biggest little rabbit. No, it 82 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: is not like smelling either. Or there are many things 83 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: like stones, which one cannot smell and yet can see. 84 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: Then it is surely like hearing, said the biggest little rabbit. 85 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: Oh dear, exclaimed his mother, who was tired of having 86 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: questions asked which could not be answered. It is not 87 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: a bit like hearing. You could never hear a black 88 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: cloud coming across the sky, but you could see it 89 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: if you were outside your burrow. Nobody can make you 90 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: understand what seeing is until your eyes are open, and 91 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: then you will find out for yourself without asking. This 92 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: made the biggest little rabbit lie still for a while, 93 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: and then he said, what is a black cloud? 94 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 2: And why does it come across the sky? And what 95 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 2: is the sky? And why does it let the cloud come? 96 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: And what is But he did not get any answer, 97 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: for his mother ran out of the burrow as fast 98 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: as she could. And now his eyes were surely opening, 99 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: and he should see. His tiny heart thumped hard with excitement, 100 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: and he rubbed his face with his fore paws to make. 101 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 2: His eyes open faster. Ah. 102 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: There it was something round and bright at the other 103 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: end of the burrow, and some strange, slender things were 104 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: waving across it. He wondered if they were good to eat, 105 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: but he dared not crawl toward it to see. He 106 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: did not know that the round, bright thing was just 107 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 1: a bit of the sky which he saw through the 108 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,679 Speaker 1: end of the burrow. And that the slender, waving ones 109 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: were the branches of a tree tossing in the wind. 110 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 2: Then he looked at. 111 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: His brothers and sisters as they beside him. He would 112 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: not have known what they were if he had not 113 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: felt them at the same time. I can see, he cried, 114 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: I can see everything that there is to see. I'm 115 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: ahead of you. Don't you wish that you could see too? 116 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: Now that was not a very kind thing to say, 117 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: But in a minute more his brothers and sisters had 118 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: reason to be glad that they couldn't see. Even while 119 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: he was speaking and looking toward the light, he saw 120 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: a brown head with two round eyes looking at him, 121 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: And then a great creature that he thought must surely 122 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: be a dog, ran in toward him. He pushed his 123 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: nose in among his blind brothers and sisters and tried 124 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: to hide himself among them. He thought something awful was 125 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: about to happen. I wish Mamma rabbit would come, he squeaked, 126 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: shutting his eyes as closely as he could. I wish 127 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: mamma rabbit would come. Why here I am, she answered, 128 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: what are you afraid of? The biggest little rabbit opened 129 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: his eyes and there was the creature who had frightened him, 130 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: and it was his own mother. You can imagine how 131 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: glad she was to see that one of her children 132 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: had opened his eyes. I will call some of my 133 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: rabbit friends, she said, and let you see them if 134 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: you promise not to be afraid. The next day, four 135 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: of the other little rabbits had their eyes open, and 136 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: the day after that they could all see each other 137 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: and the shining piece of sky at the end of 138 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: the borough. It was not so very long afterward that 139 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 1: the rabbit family went out to dine in the forest, 140 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: and this was the first time that the children had 141 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: seen their father. Then their father taught them how to 142 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: gnaw tough bark to wear their teeth down, for rabbit's 143 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: teeth grow all the time, and if they were to 144 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: eat only soft food, their teeth would get too long. 145 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: He taught them also how to move their ears in 146 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: the right way for keen hearing, and told them that 147 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: when chased, they must run for the burrow or the 148 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,839 Speaker 1: nearest thicket. Then crouch down on some leaves that are 149 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: the color of your fur, he said, and you may 150 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: not be seen at all. 151 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 2: Why should we. 152 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: Run, said the biggest little rabbit, because you might get 153 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: caught if you don't. What might catch us, asked the 154 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: biggest little rabbit. Oh, perhaps or a weasel. 155 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 2: What does a hawk. 156 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: Look like like a great bird floating in the sky, 157 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: said Papa Rabbit. 158 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 2: Now don't ask me any more questions. 159 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: Um, does a hawk look like that bird above us, 160 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: asked the biggest little rabbit. His father gave one look upward. Yes, 161 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: he said, run, And just as the hawks swooped down 162 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: toward the ground, he saw nine white tipped tails disappear 163 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: into a burrow nearby. And that is the end of 164 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: our story. Good Night, sleep tight.