Ashley, Big Rabbit and I had just come from Turtle’s house. There we had visited the Blue Bottle Fairies. Being guests, we had brought along peaches and treacle which the fairies had eaten with much gusto. Then they sang us the Blue Bottle Song, all the while polishing their bottle until it gleamed in the fading afternoon light. Their song went something like this:

Hey ho, hey ho
It’s polishing we go;
To look at our beautiful face
Surrounded by lovely lace
Is all we need to know.

Hey ho, hey ho,
It’s polishing we go.

As they sang they regarded themselves in the blue glass and completely ignored us.

Turtle told us that they never spoke unless it was to ask for food, but he loved their song and so he put up with his prickly guests.

Feeling pleasantly tired and full—we had eaten cookies and milk—we were almost at Big Rabbit’s house when Ashley said, “What’s that?”

Big Rabbit and I looked up from our feet which had been meandering down the path.

“What?” we asked in chorus and Ashley pointed straight ahead to Big Rabbit’s house.

“There.”

And as we looked, Big Rabbit’s door knocker, which was shaped like a big yellow carrot, began to sway. Or looked as if it were swaying in the gentle breeze that was ushering in the evening.

In the fading light, the door knocker blurred, swayed, and then was still. Big Rabbit said, “It’s a…a…”. He stopped, not knowing what it was. Then as we approached, the moving shape resolved itself into a carrot with a small squirrel hanging onto it for dear life. The Squirrel, whose name it turned out was Squirrel, appeared to be gnawing on the carrot.

“Hey you there, stop that!” Big Rabbit’s voice was indignant. “That’s not a carrot. It’s my door knocker.”

The tail of the small creature twitched but there was no other response.

“I said—”

“I know what you said,” the voice was squeaky. The tail twitched again.

“Then stop it. You’re going to ruin my knocker.” Big Rabbit had come to a standstill before his door, arms on his haunches in a belligerant pose.

“I can’t help it”, moaned the squeaky voice. “It looks so good.”