Barnaby Rabbit and the Digging Machine
Written by Peter Allchin. Illustrated by Jo Emery.

It was so cold in Orange Blossom Wood that every log, twig, and blade of grass was covered in white. Everywhere shimmered and sparkled in the early morning sunlight. Barnaby Rabbit looked outside and shivered.
“Gosh Mum, has it been snowing?”

Mrs. Rabbit joined Barnaby at the window. “No Barnaby,” she said. “It hasn’t been snowing, but it does look like Jack Frost has been very busy in the night.”

“Jack Frost?” replied Barnaby, snuggling up against his mother’s warm fur. “I’ve never seen him. What does he look like?”

“Nobody knows. He is never seen because he works so fast, but we always know when he has been.”

Barnaby Rabbit stared at the frost, wishing it was snow, but at the same time, wondering how Jack Frost managed to cover everything and yet, not be seen. As these thoughts moved around in Barnaby’s head, he saw in the distance, underneath a large oak tree, Sammy Squirrel clawing the ground, move around a little, stop, claw the ground, move, stop, and claw the ground again. Barnaby was fascinated by this and asked his mummy if he could go out to see exactly what Sammy Squirrel was doing.

“Of course you can,” said Mrs. Rabbit. “But you make sure you wrap up really warm. It’s bitterly cold today.”

‘Mum is right, it really is cold today’ thought Barnaby as he stepped outside. “What are you doing?” he asked, as Sammy Squirrel clawed at yet another piece of hard ground.

“I’m hungry,” replied Sammy, without stopping for a moment to look at his friend. “I have buried lots of acorns, and now I can’t get them because the ground is so hard.”

“Burying acorns seems a silly thing to do,” said Barnaby, laughing so much, that he fell over.

Sammy Squirrel suddenly stopped and looked at his friend. “You don’t know much about squirrels do you?”

Barnaby Rabbit slowly shook his head and got to his feet, feeling a little ashamed that he had laughed at his friend.

“Well, we squirrels wait for the acorns to fall from the tree, and then we bury them in the ground so we can eat them when it’s winter, but sometimes, they are hard to find, and this frozen ground is making it very hard indeed.”

Barnaby Rabbit stood perfectly still. Only the twitching of the whiskers at the end of his nose could be seen to move. Barnaby was deep in thought. "What you need,” he said, “Is a digging machine!”

“A digging machine!” exclaimed Sammy Squirrel. “Where are we going to find one of those?”

“I know just the place. You wait here and I’ll be back as soon as I can,” shouted Barnaby, as he ran off into the woods.
It was quite some time before Barnaby Rabbit arrived back at the oak tree.

“I thought you were going to get a digging machine,” said Sammy Squirrel, looking very disappointed.

“I have,” replied Barnaby. “I’ve brought my friend Ben. He is the best digging machine in Orange Blossom Wood.”

Ben was a big badger who used to play tricks on other woodland folk by jumping out from behind a bush or tree and shouting ‘Boo!’. But now, everybody knew Ben to be a kind, helpful badger and he began to dig away at the hard, frosty ground with his strong sharp claws.

Many holes were dug and many acorns were found, much to the delight of Sammy Squirrel. “He’s found some, he’s found some,” he cried, unable to contain his excitement.

Sammy put so many acorns into his mouth, that his cheeks puffed out like furry balloons. He then ran as fast as he could, straight up the oak tree and disappeared into a hole in the tree-trunk. He did this several times before stopping, at which time, he was quite out of breath.

“Thank you so much, I don’t know what I would have done without you and your digging machine,” he said to Barnaby Rabbit, and then went over to thank Ben.

After a quick game of ‘hide the acorn’, the three friends parted company and Barnaby Rabbit went home.

“Was that Ben Badger I saw you with today?” asked Mrs. Rabbit, as she put some wood on the fire.

“No Mum,” Barnaby said, laughing. “That was Ben Badger the Digging Machine.”

The End

Peter Allchin © 2006

More Stories / Rhymes

Category: Children's Stories