The Legend of Peter Cottontail--A Holiday Fairytale About the Easter Bunny Read online

  The Legend of Peter Cottontail

  A Holiday Fairytale About the Easter Bunny

  Tara Maya

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Prologue

  Have you ever wondered where the Easter Bunny comes from? How old is he? And how he happened to become a talking rabbit with a fondness chocolate eggs? And how this involved goblins and a feisty princess?

  Gather around, children, and I shall tell you the amazing legend of Peter Cottontail…

  Chapter 1

  Once upon a time, in the Age of Legends, magical creatures roamed the earth. The goblins who usually stayed in their cavern kingdoms below the earth, decided to conquer the upper world too. Armies of pointy-teethed, green-skinned monsters poured across the land, burning houses, stealing everything from spoons to horses, and even eating babies.

  In those days before light bulbs or sliced bread, people lived in houses made of wattle and daub—which is just a fancy way of saying sticks and mud. They cooked their food over a hearth—which is just a fancy way of saying, an open fire. A mother and a father from a poor village wondered how to protect their new born baby.

  Goblins attacked their village, taking every child they could. The mother and father hid their baby in a basket and ran to the river. They gave him the one gift they had, which was a single egg. They wrote his name upon the egg: PETER.

  They placed the basket in the river, and let it float away. They cried and hugged each other. Then goblins arrived with swords and crossbows and captured them. But their little baby was safe.

  Kind river fairies guided the floating basket swiftly past the burning villages of that ravaged land. The basket floated all the way to a magic forest, which was ruled by elves. Even goblins on their bravest days did not dare enter the forest of the elves.

  You may have heard of the elves dressed in red, green, and silver who help Santa Claus. They love the snow and live in places like the North Pole, or Minnesota, where it is nearly always winter. Those are the Winter Elves.

  Maybe you've heard of King Oberon and Queen Tatiana and their little friend Puck. They wear pink, blue, and gold and love to play on the beach and put on plays in the park on warm summer evenings Those, of course, are the Summer Elves.

  Well, these elves were Spring Elves. They loved soft lovely colors, baby animals, birds, flowers and trees. In their magic forest, it is always spring. The Spring Elves lived a carefree life, with few rules. But there was one rule that was strictly enforced: No mortals were allowed to live in the magical Spring Forest.

  The Spring Elves found the baby in the basket. Normally, elves tried to avoid humans, but they were kind-hearted and could not abandon a baby. They found the egg and guessed right away that PETER was the human baby’s name. To honor his parents, they did not eat the egg, but used magic to carefully empty out the sticky inside, so the shell remained intact.

  Peter grew strong and hearty in the beautiful elf forest. At first, he thought he was an elf too. His childhood friend was Princess Eastara, daughter of the King and Queen of the Spring Forest. To Peter, however, she was a friend in all kinds of games and mischief.

  Peter grew into a handsome young man. He could shoot an arrow, walk silently or hide himself with paint and leaves as well as any elf. He knew the language of the birds. But he began to understand that he was different from all his friends.

  Princess Eastara became a great beauty, also skilled with the bow and arrow, as well as the magic of her people. Her friendship for Peter deepened into love. But though they loved each other, they could never marry. She was an elf princess. Peter was a human. Now that he was grown, the elves expected him to return to his own kind.

  One day, the Elf King summoned him. “Peter, I'm sorry, but the time has come when you must leave us.”

  “Your parents left you this egg,” said the Elf Queen, handing him a basket with a single egg inside. “We hollowed it out and used our magic to make it strong, so you can keep it with you.”

  “I have to leave…now?” Peter gulped. He knew this day would come—but it seemed so soon.

  “No, it's not fair!” cried Eastara, when she heard he must leave. “Peter…I really l…I mean, I… you're my best friend…”

  “Really…?” he asked. “Is that…all?”

  Eastara turned pink to the pointy tips of her ears.

  “Eastara,” he said, “I love you. But you are an elf princess and I am a human. We can never be together.”

  With deep sorrow, Peter said goodbye to his elf father and mother who had taken care of him since he was a baby and to all his childhood friends. Princess Eastara took his hands, with a tear on her cheek.

  “Please don’t cry,” he said. “Listen to the birds. Every day, I will tell them how much I love you, and ask them to fly back to you and sing about my love. The day they stop singing, you will know I am gone.”

  They kissed for the first time. For Peter, it was bittersweet, knowing it would also be the last.

  Chapter 2

  Peter decided to seek out his human parents. The only clue he had about them was the hollow egg with his name on it. He kept this egg in the same basket he had traveled in as a baby. He was now so tall and broad-shouldered that he could easily carry it in the crook of his arm.

  He traveled far and he traveled wide. But no matter how long he walked or what else he did, every morning he woke up missing Eastara. He sang to the birds how much he loved her and they always flew back to her with his message.

  He found villages filled with other humans. But he found no sign of his father or his mother.

  What Peter find was that the land was still ruled by cruel goblins. They took so much food away from the farmers and herders that none was left for the people. Goblins also hated any holidays—especially the spring holiday of Easter, because goblins hate flowers. They don’t like bright colors at all!

  Although it was spring, and Easter was approaching, the goblins did not let anyone celebrate. To make certain their holiday was unhappy, the goblins took away ALL the food, so everyone would be hungry and miserable.

  “This isn’t right!” Peter said to himself. He decided to find a way to help the people feed themselves, without the goblins finding out. “But what can I do?”

  He sat for a while on a rock. As he liked to do when he was thinking deeply about something, he lifted the hollow egg from his basket and held it gently in his hands. Suddenly, he had an idea!

  He traveled around the countryside, collecting eggs, until he filled his basket. He crept to the next house, walking so quietly and well disguised that the goblins couldn’t spot him, and traded the eggs for milk from the family that owned cows, and then took the milk to the family that owned wheat, and in this way, he helped all the families trade and make full, healthy meals before the goblins had any idea what was going on. On Easter, he went to all the houses where the people were poorest, with nothing at all too eat, and shared the food with them too. He would arrive in secret, and leave a whole basket to eat for each family. They would awaken to find the surprise gift and dance for joy.

  This exchange of goodies was so successful that he repeated it the next year, and the year after that. Soon, Peter spent every spring hopping back and forth every night, helping the people trade their carrots, radishes, bread, cheese, and meat, and of course, on Easter, he now left a big basket of the best treats for every family who needed help or who had children
.

  These were the very first Easter baskets!

  Unfortunately, it could not last. Not as long as the wicked goblins ruled the land from the big castle on the hill and robbed the people at the point of a sword. The goblins found out that someone was bringing goodies to the people, especially on Easter. They vowed to capture him. They searched all the houses, looking for food. They stopped anyone even carrying a basket.

  Peter needed a new plan. He thought hard, and he came up with a new idea.

  He collected eggs again, but this time, he hollowed out the eggs, and hide all the goodies inside.

  Then he painted them bright colors, so the eggs looked like flowers. He hid the painted eggs in the grass.

  And do you know what? The goblins looking for food to steal couldn’t find the colored eggs! Their eyes work best in the dark. Goblins see all bright colors as the same weird shade of gray, the same color as poison mushrooms. That’s why they hate flowers.

  Peter told the children in each family what he had done, and the children searched for the hidden eggs. They found every one!

  The goblins were madder than ever when they found out they had been tricked. They decided to set a trap for Peter.

  A big goblin put on a beard. A medium sized goblin put on a scarf. One short, fat goblin put on a cap, and another, even shorter and fatter goblin put his hair in pigtails. They painted their skin so the green warts did not show—well, not quite as much. It’s hard to hide goblin skin, which is as rough and slimy as toad skin. The four goblins in disguise pretended to be a family. They started to cry about how hungry they were and how much they wished for an Easter basket.

  And they kept whining and wailing, waiting for Peter to fall into their trap.

  Meanwhile, Peter was singing to the birds.

  During all this time, Peter never forgot, even for a day, to tell Eastara how much he loved her, even though he could only pour out his heart to the birds in the trees. He told her, too, about the goblins. He told her about the Easter baskets, and then later, he told her about the Easter eggs.

  He missed her so much, yet he never asked her to join him. He was glad that she was safe in the Spring Forest, for his life had become very dangerous.

  In fact, it was even more dangerous than he knew.

  That day, the birds sang to Peter about the crying family. Peter followed their song, because he wanted to help.

  He was surprised when he saw the “family.” Something seemed wrong to him. But he ignored his warning thought and listened only to his tender heart. He hid the colored eggs with goodies inside, and then he showed himself.

  He smiled kindly at the two short goblins pretending to be be children.

  “My name is Peter and I’ve hidden an Easter surprise for you!”

  “So have we!” laughed the goblins. They threw off their disguises.

  Peter took out his bow and shot eight arrows so fast that all four goblins were pinned to the ground by their sleeves. He ran as fast as he could away from there.

  Hundreds more goblins jumped out from behind the rocks and chased him. When he ran out of arrows, he fought them off with his sword. He was a better fighter than any of them, but they outnumbered him greatly. They tossed nets over him, tied him up, and carried him away.

  Chapter 3

  In the Spring Forest, Princess Eastara listened each morning to the song of the birds. They always told her the same thing. Peter was alive and he still loved her. Sometimes this made her smile. Sometimes this made her cry. Sometimes both at once.

  One day, the birds had no song from Peter. Eastara was confused and upset.

  The other elves were all sad too. They tried to comfort her. “Either he is gone, or he has forgotten you and found a new love, a human girl. Either way, you must forget him.”

  Eastara would not believe either was true. She remembered that Peter had warned her he was in danger.

  She set aside her beautiful gown of pink, lilac, and pale green. She took off her flower tiara. She put on her sturdiest walking boots, braided her hair, strapped on her sword, strung her bow and set out to look for him.

  Meanwhile, the goblins took Peter to their stronghold, a black castle built over miles of caverns. They threw him into a dungeon. They threw his basket after him, taunting, “What good is your Easter basket now?”

  To his surprise, he was not alone. There were hundreds of people locked away in the dungeon caves of the goblins. All the human knights who had fought the goblins and been taken prisoner were there. All the human parents who had refused to feed their babies to the goblins were there. Even many people who had done nothing whatsoever were there, just because the goblins felt like throwing them in the dungeon.

  A river flowed through the cave, so they had water, but it was dark and gloomy all the time. They wore rags and had to eat horrid things to stay alive, like bug stew and spider pie. They all had sad stories to tell.

  One old man and woman seemed happy even though they were in a dungeon.

  “How can you be so happy in a place like this?” asked Peter.

  “What still gives us hope is the thought that our son may still be alive and free,” they said. “When he was a baby, we put him in a basket with his name on the only gift we could give him. The river carried him away.”

  Peter stared at them in astonishment.

  “This gift,” he said, “what was it?”

  “The only thing we had left,” they said. “Just one egg.”

  Peter took his egg out his pocket. “I am your son!”

  The three cried and hugged each other.

  “How glad we are to know that you alive!” his parents said. “Yet how sad to find you here with us in this dark place!”

  “We will think of a way to escape this prison,” said Peter. “Just as you found a way to save me all those years ago. Have faith now, as you have for all these years, that we will leave this dark pit and find our way back to the light.”

  In truth, though, he did not know how to escape the dungeon. There was only one hole in the cavern, high up in the stone, and that was blocked by iron bars.

  Suddenly, Peter heard bird song. No birds ever visited the cave, or anywhere near the goblin caverns. He looked up at the tiny window.

  He leaped to his feet in joy. It was no bird at the window grate, but a beautiful young woman with pointed ears and a bow across her back.

  “Princess Eastara!” he cried. “Can you remove the bars from the window?”

  “The bars are iron and my magic cannot move them,” she said. “I cannot free all your people. But I can help you escape and maybe you can find a way to free them.”

  She lowered something on a rope.

  Peter scratched his head. “A carrot? Um. Interesting choice, Eastara.”

  “It’s a magic carrot, of course!”

  Peter ate the carrot. Magic sparkled all around him…and he turned into a rabbit!

  Chapter 4

  To Peter, it looked as though everyone had suddenly grown much taller. He wriggled his nose. He wriggled his toes. He wagged his ears.

  “Hey!” he cried. “I’m a rabbit!”

  His mother cooed, “Aw, you’re such a cute bunny, Peter! Your tail looks just like a fluffy piece of cotton! Peter Cottontail!”

  “Mom!” said Peter. His bunny cheeks turned pink.

  “Tie the basket to the rope,” said Princess Eastara. “I will pull you up to the window.”

  As a rabbit, Peter was small enough now that he could fit in the basket, light enough that Eastara could pull him up, and quick enough to hop through the bars.

  Eastara and Peter heard goblin guards marching around to check on the prisoners. The guards saw Eastara and shouted.

  Princess Eastara ran and fought the goblins, but as had befallen Peter before her, she was overwhelmed by their greater numbers.

  “Why, this is no ordinary girl!” cried the goblins. “It is an elf! Take her to the king!”

  None of the goblins noticed Peter. He
hid in the tall weeds. He hopped after the goblins when they dragged Princess Eastara to the throne room.

  The Goblin King stared at her.

  “I know who you are!” he laughed cruelly. “You are the Elf Princess of the Spring Forest. You shall be my bride!”

  “I will never marry you!” Princess Eastara said.

  The Goblin King and his guards took Princess Eastara to the tallest tower of the castle. The Goblin King pulled a key off his belt.

  “This is the King’s Key,” he said. He laughed in a mean way. “Only I can unlock any door in the castle. You will never leave this place except as my bride.”

  He locked the door.

  Peter heard Eastara pound on the heavy wood from inside the tower prison. But the thick door did not budge.

  “What can I do?” Peter wondered. “Princess Eastara is locked in the tower. My parents are locked in the dungeon. And I’m stuck in the body of a harmless bunny rabbit!”

  Just then, a goblin spotted him. The goblin’s eyes grew round with glee. For a moment, Peter wondered if the goblin knew who he was.

  “Dinner!” cried the goblin. “Rabbit stew, yum yum!”

  Peter hopped away as fast as he could.

  The goblin chased him all over the castle. Fortunately, he was faster than the goblin. But he found himself in a large room, packed with stolen treasures. The room was so messy, Peter did not see the bed until he heard snoring.

  Peter saw a big goblin snoring in the bed, surrounded by piles of treasure. It was the Goblin King!

  Peter realized he was in the bedroom of the king himself. Peter was amazed at all the things the goblin tyrant had stolen. There were chests of gold coins, toy rocking horses and dolls, swords and shields taken from knights. There were also boxes and boxes of chocolates and candy.