The bunny whose ears would not stop listening

Clover was a small gray bunny with ears that were much too long for the rest of her. When she sat still, they went straight up like two tall grass stalks. When she ran, they streamed out behind her. And at night, when she lay down in the burrow to sleep, they did the one thing she wished they would not do.

They listened.

They listened to everything.

Clover lay in her nest of dry grass beside her grandmother, Nana Bramble, and she tried to close her eyes. But her left ear heard the creek going over the stones, gloop, gloop, gloop. And her right ear heard an owl far off in the pine trees saying hoo, hoo, which is only how owls say goodnight. And both ears together heard the wind pushing through the long grass above the burrow, shhhh-ff, shhhh-ff.

Clover sat up.

“Nana,” she said. “My ears will not stop.”

Nana Bramble was old and round and soft, and her own ears had gone silver at the tips. She did not open her eyes. She just said, “Mm. What are they hearing?”

“The creek,” said Clover. “And the owl. And the wind. And a dog, somewhere, saying goodnight to another dog. And a beetle. I think it is a beetle. It is walking.”

“That is a great deal of hearing,” said Nana Bramble.

“I know,” said Clover. “I cannot make them stop.”

Nana Bramble opened one eye. “No,” she agreed. “You cannot make ears stop. Ears do not work that way. But you can teach them what to listen for.”

Clover’s ears tipped toward her. “How?”

“Lie down,” said Nana Bramble. “Put your head on my side. There.”

Clover did. Nana Bramble’s side was warm and went slowly up and down.

“Now,” said Nana Bramble. “Your ears are big. They are listening to everything at once, the loud and the quiet, all together. We are going to let the loud things go. We are only going to listen for the quiet ones. Listen smaller, Clover.”

“Listen smaller,” Clover repeated.

“Can you hear the creek?”

“Yes.”

“Let it go. It will still be there in the morning. Now. Can you hear the wind?”

“Yes. Shhhh-ff.”

“Let it go. Listen smaller. What is quieter than the wind?”

Clover’s ears swiveled a little. “The owl?”

“Let it go. Smaller.”

Clover listened. Her ears, which had been straight up, leaned forward just a little, the way they did when she was looking for clover in the grass.

“A leaf,” she whispered. “A leaf came down. It landed.”

“Good,” said Nana Bramble. “That is a small sound. Can you find a smaller one?”

Clover listened and listened. She heard the beetle stop walking. She heard a moth, somewhere above the burrow, open and close its wings. Pff. Pff.

“A moth,” she said.

“Good. Smaller.”

Her ears were not straight up anymore. They were leaning, soft and heavy, the way flowers lean when the sun goes in. The creek was still going gloop, gloop, but it seemed far away now, like something in another burrow. The wind was still saying shhhh-ff, but it was only a kind of blanket over the top of everything.

“Smaller,” said Nana Bramble, very softly.

Clover pressed her head into Nana’s side.

“I can hear you,” she said. “Your inside. It goes thum. Thum. Thum.”

“That is a very small sound,” said Nana Bramble. “Only a bunny who is listening very well can hear it. Smaller still?”

Clover was quiet for a long time. Her left ear drooped all the way down and lay flat on the grass. Her right ear followed it.

“My own breathing,” she said, and she could hardly hear her own voice saying it. “In. And out.”

“That,” said Nana Bramble, “is the smallest sound there is. When your ears find it, they do not need to find anything else. They have done their job. They can rest.”

Shhhh-ff, said the wind, far away.

Thum, thum, went Nana Bramble.

In, went Clover. Out.

Her ears lay flat and soft.

Her eyes went shut.

The creek went on. The owl went on. The dog said one more goodnight and was done.

Clover did not hear any of it.

She was listening smaller.

In.

Out.

Thum.

Thum.

Shhhh-ff.

Listen smaller.

Listen smaller.

In.

Out.

How to read this one aloud

• The loud sounds (creek, owl, wind) get your normal speaking volume the first time. Each time they come back, make them quieter, so your child feels them drifting off.
• Say “listen smaller” exactly the same way every time, low and slow. It is the line a child will remember and may ask for again.
• The pause point is when Clover hears the moth. If your child is asleep, stop there.
• The last section is a whisper. Leave a real breath between “In” and “Out” and let your child’s breathing fall in with yours.
• If your child is still awake and the house is noisy, you can play the game for real: “What is the smallest sound you can hear right now?” A steady background sound can also help an ear that will not switch off, and we cover what works in sleep sounds for kids. For another slow story, try the princess who tucked in the castle, or read about how long a bedtime story should be at this age.