The Peeper & The Honey Pot

A children's story, where a Peeper finds out why someone shouldn't be greedy

There was once a Peeper named Veek who played with his packmates in a field of butterflies, bunnies, and dragonflies, who hid with them in them in the bushes that were full of ripe berries, and played chase with the other Peepers in the bright sun and warm breezes. Unlike his pack mates, Veek didn't like to share, and liked to keep the yummiest berries and munchiest scrunchiest bugs all to himself.

Where other Peepers would help each other dig up and catch bugs or pick yummy berries Veek would steal berries and bugs from the others and run away to eat them by himself. While others were playing tag or hide and seek he would sneak the yummiest things for himself. While the other Peepers listened to the songs and tales of the grownups and the Matrons, Veek would sneak off to find the sweetest berries and the crunchiest yummiest bugs. While others paid attention when the Matrons and grownups told Peepers not go places where they might get hurt, Veek would sneak into those places thinking that the Matrons were keeping the yummiest berries and scrunchiest bugs for themselves.

The other Peepers, including the pretty silver Peeper Meepa, warned Veek not to be so greedy and naughty. That greedy and naughty Peepers had bad things happen to them, but Veek paid no attention. The Matrons and the grownups warned Veek that greedy and naughty Peepers had bad things happened to them, but Veek didn't listen.

Then one day a grownup came by, not with scales and pretty fan ears but a human, who went through the field while singing a tune that made all the Peepers hiding in the bushes sing with him. As the human grownup left, he dropped a pot, and once he was gone the Peepers came out of hiding and looked at it.

It was magical, it was wonderful. It was covered in bright colors and felt smooth and cool to the touch. From inside of it came a wonderful smell, and smell that made all the Peepers gather around and try to see what was inside. Meepa the silver Peeper sniffed at the golden shiny stuff that leaked from it, and then flickered out her tongue to taste it.

"It is yummy!" Meepa said, jumping up and doing a backflip. "Taste! Taste the yummy!"

All of the Peepers gathered around the honey pot, reaching in through the narrow neck to scoop a little out and taste it. Meepa warned everyone not to eat too much of it so they didn't get sick from eating too much of the treat, and the others agreed that such a wonderful tasting thing, the golden honey in the pot, should be shared by everyone and eaten slowly.

Veek did not agree, because Veek thought that the honey was the most wonderful thing ever. While the others went off to play, Veek would sneak back and eat more of the honey. While the rest of the Peepers began gathering up nuts to hide in burrows Veek would stick his head into the pot and eat. While others sang songs or danced dances Veek would eat the honey until his tummy felt like it was going to burst.

Meepa warned Veek not to each so much of it, told him that the honey was for everyone to share, and tried to tell him to save nuts and seeds because it was getting colder and colder, and that the honey would be yummy when it got cold and the stream could be walked on. Veek didn't listen, instead just played while the others prepared for the cold. The grownups told Veek to save nuts and dig a better burrow to stay warm for the coming cold. Veek didn't listen and instead snuck bites of the honey and played by himself.

One day, while the others were off playing and listening to the tales and the songs that the grownups told them, Veek snuck away to the honey pot. He rubbed the smooth colors and pretty patterns, then stuck his head into the pot to taste the honey, but the honey was too far in. Even though he wasn't hungry, Veek was greedy, and he climbed into the honey pot so he could reach the honey and began to eat it. While the others sang with the grownups he ate, while the others danced with the grownups, Veek ate more honey, and while the others snuggled up to the grownups for hugs and cuddles Veek ate even more of the honey.

When night began to fall, Veek tried to climb out of the pot, but found out that his stomach had grown too large, that he had eaten to much of the honey, and that he was sticky and could not fit through the neck of the pot. Veek cried out for help, yelled for his pack mates and friends, but nobody could hear him, because the bushes where the others slept was too far away. He struggled to climb out the hole, but was covered in honey and too sticky, his stomach too big to fit through the hole, but nothing helped.

It got dark, and Veek was all alone in the dark. Owls hooted, making Veek shiver. Bats flittered, which made Veek hide in the pot. And wolves howled which made Veek afraid that they would find him and eat him. Crying, all alone, and lonely for his packmates and the Matrons, Veek fell asleep in the pot even though he was cold.

That day something wonderful happened. From the sky came wonderful white specks that melted on the tongue and tasted sweet, that turned to water when it touched warm Peeper scales. The specks gathered, laying thicker and thicker on the ground, until the whole field and the bushes were covered with a thick white blanket of snow.

When the other Peepers woke up the exclaimed with delight at how the field had been turned into a wonderland. They danced, they sang about the yummy white flecks that fell from the sky and how it tickled when it touched their skin. They played tag with snowballs, raced through the snowflakes as they fell to the ground, and the Matrons taught them to make patterns in the snow, even Snow Peepers with wings.

Meepa the silver Peeper heard Veek crying from loneliness and went to see if the greedy Peeper was OK, to make sure he had not been hurt during the night.

"Help me! I'm stuck!" Veek peeped, and then began to cry when Meepa ran away.

Meepa got a grownup, who came and saw Veek stuck in the pot.

"Come out, Veek, don't be naughty and hide in the pot. Others want to taste the honey when they're done playing in the snow." The Matron said sternly.

"I can't. I'm sticky and my tummy is too big." Veek peeped.

"Then your being punished for being greedy." the Matron answered, and went off to make sure that the rest of the Peepers were still warm even though they were playing in the snow. "Come, Meepa, it is time for you to learn to make fire to keep your packmates warm."

"You were naughty." Meepa trilled at Veek, and followed the Matron.

Veek watched the other Peepers play, watched them build forts, watched them dig burrows through the snow, and watched them play tag with snowballs. Sometimes Veeks brothers and sisters brought him snow to eat, so he did not get too thirsty. Other times Veek's brothers and sisters brought him bugs to eat so he did not get too hungry.

"Don't eat any more honey." Meepa peeped to him. "Be good, Veek, and don't eat more of the yummy."

But Veek didn't listen. He got mad that the other Peepers were playing, and so he kept eating the honey so that his packmates could not have any. The more he ate, the larger his tummy got. And so he had to watch the other Peepers play in the snow.

Then the honey ran out, and Veek got hungry.

"Good. You need to be hungry." The Matron told him after letting him eat a handful of bugs.

"It isn't fair. I'm hungry, why do my brothers and sisters get to eat and I do not?" Veek trilled, his voice a whine. "How come I can't have more?"

"Because you must be hungry." The Matron said, and left to teach Meepa the silver Peeper how to make shiny rock soup.

A whole hand full of days went by, while Veek complained that he was hungry, that the berries and bugs that his brothers and sisters brought him were not enough to eat even though his brothers and sisters were sharing their food and what Veek ate they did not get to eat. Even though his brothers and sisters had to be a little hungry to feed Veek, he complained that he was hungry and wanted more. Veek kept crying until Meepa the silver Peeper went to get a grownup. The Matron told him to lick the honey off his scales if what his sisters and brothers shared was not enough. Veek bathed himself with his tongue until his scales were clean and shiny, even though the sticky honey made him ashamed when he was reminded that it was all the honey he ate selfishly that got him stuck in the pot.

"Break the pot!" Veek begged with a whistle one day, his tummy rumbling with hunger. He had only gotten to eat two berries and three bugs, and wanted more.

"No. The pot is pretty, and your brothers and sisters like it." The Matron said.

"But I can't get out." Veek chirruped. "I want to get out and dance! I promise I will be good!"

"Then you mustn't be greedy. If you had not been greedy, you could find yummy to eat, but you were greedy, so now you must be hungry." The Matron told Veek, and left to teach the others how to find frog eggs under the ice in the stream, how to skate on the thick ice and turn circles and jump while they skated, and how to tell when the ice would break so that they did not fall through.

The next day Veek saw his brothers and sisters run by, playing with a bunny who hopped and danced for them. Oh, Veek wanted to play with them, he wanted to rub his face on the bunny's fur, he wanted to see the magic bunny dance in the snow. He wanted to play and dance too. He didn't want to be in the pot any more. He didn't want to be hungry any more.

Veek wiggled, pushing himself to get out of the pot, scrabbling his little feet against the inside and pushing with his little hands on the outside of the pot.

"Help me!" Veek chirped as silver Meepa and bronze Seevee ran by. Meepa and Seevee stopped and came over to Veek, giggling with the fun of playing with the bunny in the snow.

"Help me, Meepa! I promise, Seevee, I'll be good!" Veek peeped.

"Will you be greedy?" Meepa peeped back.

"No. I'll share. I won't eat to much." Veek promised with a whistle.

"Have you been greedy? Have you been sneaking yum yums?" Seevee asked, his little peeps stern.

"No." Veek promised, his peeps ashamed that he had been greedy before.

"Then we will help. If you were greedy, it won't work, if you were good, you can come play in the snow with us!" Meepa peeped to Veek.

Meepa and Seevee grabbed Veek's hands and pulled. They pulled and pulled until suddenly Veek popped out of the honey pot. Seevee and Meepa and Veek all rolled in the snow when Veek flew out of the pot. Seevee and Meepa laughed with the fun of it.

Veek was so happy he sang, he danced, and he helped Meepa and Seevee make shiny rock soup.

And every time he felt like being greedy, he remembered how he had to be hungry. Every time he didn't want to share, he remembered how his brothers and sisters shared with him.

And Veek was never greedy or selfish again, and when he turned into a grownup, he told little Peepers about what had happened to him, and why Peepers should never be greedy.

(c) Tim Willard, 2010

Author's Note

The repetition is purposeful, a commonly used device in children's tales.