The Fox, the Rabbit, and the Owl

It was late afternoon. Boom! Bang! The thunder rumbled ferociously and the rain drummed down heavily on the trees in the forest. Those creatures who could do so, hid for protection. The snails crawled under the biggest leaves, the squirrels took refuge in the hollows of trees, and the bear huddled in the furthest corner of his dark cave.

In contrast, it was extra cosy inside Robert the rabbit’s house. The fire was crackling in the fireplace and a freshly baked fruitcake was cooling on a rack. Robert was playing all sorts of games with his two friends, Fiona the fox and Olive the owl.

Next, the trio gathered up some drawing materials and made pictures of each other. Robert drew Olive and Fiona riding on the merry-go-round at the fair. The picture was cheerful and colourful, a joy to look at.

Meanwhile, Olive drew Robert and Fiona building a sand castle together. They had spades in their paws and buckets were lying around them. She took great care drawing this, and her picture was really beautiful.

Seeing their work, Fiona felt embarrassed. She wanted to draw Robert and Olive making jam and wearing chef’s hats. But her picture didn’t turn out the way she had imagined it. Instead of a cute chubby rabbit, there was just a big grey blob on the paper. And Olive’s head was the size of a pumpkin, plus one of her wings was bigger than the other.

Fiona tried hard to fix the picture, but the more she tried, the worse it became. Her friends’ pictures had turned out so well, while her drawing was covered in blotches. What had she done wrong? Why didn’t her creations look anything like how she wanted them to look? Why is it…