Zeka Belić – Gentle Children’s Story

The girl received a white bunny for her birthday—the one she had always wanted. One whose whiteness reminded her of snowflakes and the snow she adored.

Since she soon became a little ill, the doctor forbade her from going outside until spring arrived.

Meanwhile, something unexpected happened in the yard full of animals. The white bunny wasn’t so white anymore—his fur began to change color and he turned brown. For the bunny, this was no surprise at all, but for someone else, it would be.

On the first day the girl went outside, excited and happy, she cheerfully walked around to visit all the animals. She greeted them, petted them, and finally ran to her bunny.

But when she saw him, she was shocked.

The white bunny no longer looked like himself—he was completely brown.

In disbelief, the girl started yelling, “Where is my bunny? What did you do to him?”

“Something must have happened to him,” she cried desperately.

Her worried parents ran outside to her. They tried to comfort her and explain that it was her bunny—his fur had just changed.

The girl replied suspiciously, “But he isn’t white. That isn’t my Bunny Whitey.”

After moments of complete despair, the girl began to understand what had happened… but did she accept it?

Not really, because she wanted a white bunny and no other.

She walked up and down the yard for a while, thinking. Then suddenly she turned around, picked up the bunny in her arms, and headed to another part of the yard.

She remembered—her bunny would become white again.

She grabbed her shea butter body lotion from the table in the yard and started rubbing it onto the bunny. The bunny didn’t like it at all, but the girl was thrilled because the bunny looked white again.

When her mom realized what was happening, she cried out in shock, “Oh no.”

The girl turned toward her mom, and the bunny immediately managed to escape with a quick hop.

All covered in lotion but still white, he slipped into a nearby puddle where the ducks were playing, and of course he became neither white nor brown, but gray and dirty.

That amused the girl for a moment, and she started laughing loudly.

But it didn’t amuse her mom, who for days had to keep bathing the bunny to remove the mud stuck to him—and then the lotion smeared all over him.

When she finally managed to clean him, she quietly explained to the girl that when we love someone, we love them for who they are, not for how they look. The bunny might not be white anymore, but he was still the same bunny who was always happy to see her.

Fun fact about rabbits/hares:
White hares are known for changing the color of their fur. During winter, it is white and long to protect them from the cold, but in spring their coat turns reddish-brown to dark brown.