The Bunny Who Wouldn’t Sleep: A Magical Bedtime Story

Once upon a time, in a green and peaceful forest, there lived a little bunny named Fluffy.

Fluffy was a small bunny with fur as white as snow, long soft ears, and a pink nose that was always twitching, even when he wasn’t smelling anything. He loved to hop through the grass, eat carrots with honey, and most of all, ask questions. Lots and lots of questions.

But there was one thing Fluffy absolutely did not like.

Sleep.

Every evening, when his mother, Mother Daisy, would say “Come now, Fluffy, it’s time for bed!” the little bunny would find a new reason not to go to his soft bed of leaves.

— Mama, I’m thirsty!
— Mama, I forgot to wash my ears!
— Mama, I want to hop one more time!
— Mama, what’s the moon doing up there?

One evening, Mother Daisy brought him a glass of spring water, washed his ears with a soft towel, tucked him into bed, and said gently:

— Fluffy, my dear, if you don’t sleep, you won’t grow. And if you don’t grow, you can’t eat the big carrots from Old Grigore’s garden. Good night!

Mother turned off the firefly lamp—a small lamp the color of honey, kept burning each night by an old firefly—and left.

Fluffy lay still for one second. Two seconds. Three.

Then he opened his eyes wide as moons and whispered into the darkness:

— I’m not sleepy. Not at all.

He tiptoed out of bed, perked up his ears to make sure Mother couldn’t hear him, and slipped out of the burrow.

The forest at night looked different than during the day. The trees were taller. Their shadows stretched across the ground like giant arms. The bright moon hung in the sky like a big slice of white melon, and the stars twinkled happily, as if they’d just heard a good joke.

Fluffy took a deep breath of the fresh night air, stretched his paws, and said out loud:

— Look, I’m awake! Nobody’s sleeping!

But immediately, from behind a bush, he heard a small, sleepy voice:

— Well, I am sleeping. Or… I was.

Fluffy turned around quickly. There, on a big shiny leaf, sat Sparkle the Firefly—a tiny firefly with a yellow belly, looking at him with half-closed eyes.

— Why aren’t you in bed? Sparkle asked, yawning so wide that all his tiny teeth showed.

— Because I’m not sleepy, answered Fluffy. Why aren’t you flying?

— Because I fly during the day, said Sparkle. At night I glow and then I sleep. I was just finishing up my glowing.

— And how exactly do you glow? asked Fluffy, moving closer curiously.

Sparkle smiled proudly and made his belly shine: bip-bip-bip, like a little lantern.

— Ooooh! said Fluffy. Can I do that?

— You’re a bunny, not a firefly, said Sparkle patiently. Bunnies don’t glow. But do you know what bunnies do at night?

— What?

— Sleep, said Sparkle. Good night, Fluffy.

And he turned around, tucked his tiny paws under his head, and fell asleep on his leaf.

Fluffy walked deeper into the forest.

At the edge of a small pond, he found Ribbiting the Frog, sitting on a stone and gazing at the moon’s reflection in the water.

— Frog! called Fluffy. Why aren’t you sleeping?

— I was just about to sleep, she said. But first I like to sit here and look at the moon. I love how it looks in the water. It looks like there are two moons.

Fluffy looked into the pond too. The moon in the water trembled gently, as if it were breathing.

— It’s beautiful, he whispered.

— Yes, said the Frog. But you know something? You’re a bunny. The day is your time. The night is mine.

And the Frog dove into the pond with a splash! and disappeared underwater.

The bunny continued on and came to an old oak tree with furrowed bark and roots thick as sleeping snakes. In a hollow of the oak, Prickly the Hedgehog was sleeping, curled up like a ball.

— Prickly! called Fluffy. Prickly, wake up!

The hedgehog opened one eye.

— Who’s there?

— It’s me, Fluffy! You’re not sleeping, come play with me!

The hedgehog opened his other eye, looked at Fluffy, looked at the sky, saw that it was night, and said:

— Fluffy… it’s night.

— I know! But I’m not sleepy!

The hedgehog sighed deeply.

— Come here, he said. Fluffy, do you know why the whole forest sleeps at night?

— Why?

— Because at night, while you sleep, magical things happen in your body. You grow a little. You become stronger. You dream beautiful things. In the morning you wake up and you’re a different bunny—bigger, faster, smarter.

Fluffy blinked.

— Really?

— Really. Sleep is like food for your body. Without food you get hungry. Without sleep… you get sleepy.

— And do I dream about carrots? asked Fluffy.

— You can dream about anything you want. If you think about carrots before you fall asleep, you might dream of an entire garden full of carrots.

— And can I fly in my dreams?

— You can.

— And can I talk to the moon?

— You can do that too.

Fluffy thought for a moment.

— So in dreams I can do things I can’t do when I’m awake?

— Exactly, said Prickly smiling. Now go home, put your head on your pillow, and close your eyes. Dreams are waiting for you.

Fluffy walked back through the forest more peacefully than he’d left it. The moon shone down on him. The stars accompanied him. Somewhere far away, Ribbiting the Frog was going splash-splash in the pond.

When he came into the burrow, Mother Daisy was there with a small candle lit, and she looked at him without any anger.

— You went outside, she said.

— Yes. I talked to Sparkle, the Frog, and Prickly.

— And?

— And they told me that sleep is magic. That in dreams I can fly and talk to the moon and dream of giant carrots.

Mother smiled.

— That’s true.

— Mama… do you dream?

— Every night, my dear.

— And will I dream too?

— You will. But you have to close your eyes for it to begin.

Fluffy snuggled into his bed of soft leaves. Mother tucked the blankets up to his chin—a warm blanket that smelled of chamomile and summer evenings.

— Mama?

— Yes, Fluffy?

— Can I think about a carrot garden before I fall asleep?

— You can think about anything you wish.

— And if I dream that I’m flying?

— Then you fly.

— And if…

— Fluffy.

— Yes?

— Close your eyes.

Fluffy closed his eyes.

He listened to the sounds of the forest: the rustling of leaves, the distant ribbit of the pond, the song of a night cricket.

And somewhere, far away, he heard Sparkle glowing: bip… bip… bip…

Like a small, warm melody.

And Fluffy smiled.

And he fell asleep.

And in his dream, there was a giant garden with red and orange carrots reaching to the sky. And Fluffy flew among them, his ears stretched out like wings, laughing and hopping and happy.

And the next morning, when he woke up, the first thing he said was:

— Mama! I flew!

And Mother Daisy smiled and gave him a fresh carrot with honey and said:

— I knew it.

The End.

And you, if you close your eyes now and think of something beautiful, maybe you’ll fly in your dreams tonight too. Good night! 🌙