Unusual books with a slant you won't be used to: No Carrots for Dink

-Table of Contents

1. No carrots for Dink

– in which Dink, the donkey, goes in search of a carrot for breakfast, but only finds a plastic one

2. How Dink got half a beard

– in which Dink, still carrotless, tries eating one of Billy, the goat’s, thistles while Billy is eating the other end

3. Cyril, the squirrel

– how Cyril becomes a famous hairdresser by twisting his aunt’s tail

4. A cow in council

– in which Claudia, the cow, tries eating a worm, enjoys a little hum, and heads the village council

5. Claudia, the god

– in which Claudia overhears Mrs Rabbit telling the bunnies about god, and gets the wrong idea

6. Gruntlet’s balloon

– Gruntlet, the piglet, tries to help Scroggins, the bear, get some honey, but loses his rag

7. Bees, please

– Scroggins again tries for the bees’ honey, and Claudia has to fend them off with a cushion and some lemonade

About the author

John Bottrill Ph.D. is a former professor - author of learned papers in Psychology and several books.

Apart from writing and genealogical research, he enjoys renovating houses, furniture and paintings. He currently lives in Spain with his partner and a naughty cat, called Porage.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/contactenglish

Information about living in Spain can be found at http://smallholdinginspain.blogspot.com.es.

And a list of his books can be found at http://ebook0.blogspot.com.es

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374180 - Keep Your Head If You Move To France
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/375195 - The Edinburgh Grail - a Scottish romance
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/391628 - Replacement in Heaven
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/375206 - Practical Palmistry

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376206 - The King's Toads

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/580169 - More Kings’ Toads

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/580177 - No Carrots for Dink

my author page:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/contactenglish

http://www.contactenglish.eu

Historical information about the Boterel family (the original spelling!) can be found at http://www.bottrillfamilyhistory.com

and http://bottrillfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.es/

NO CARROTS FOR DINK

One morning Dink, the donkey, woke up feeling grumpy. In fact, every morning Dink woke up feeling grumpy. He was just a grumpy donkey. So hestarted to talk to himself, as lonely Dinks do. "Nobody ever comes and says ‘Hi Dink, come and have breakfast’ or ‘Gosh, Dink, I just felt I had to come round and see you.’ People don't care enough about each other. Something ought to be done."

And his tail drooped, and his ears drooped and he stood there for a long time in case anyone shouldcall and see him looking sad, but no one did.

So he decided to have breakfast by himself. He looked in the fridge to see if he had anything in there. Donkeys have big fridges with compartments for carrots and oats and things like that. But all he found was one carrot that had rolled down at the back hoping that no one would notice.

But Dink did notice. He looked at the carrot, and the carrot looked at Dink. It tried to roll back a bit further but Dink was too quick for it. He held it up and looked at it sadly. “Even my breakfast doesn’t want me,” he thought. But he ate it anyway and felt a bit better.

“Where can I get a carrot?” he wondered. “I could go and ask young Gruntlet.” But then he thought, “No, that’s no good. Mrs Grunt never gives her piglets carrots.” But it was a nice day, so he decided to go and see Mrs Rabbit in case she had any extra carrots she didn't want.

The sun saw Dink come out, and smiled trying to be friendly. But Dink was still in the dumps and wandered on looking at the ground. Feeling ignored, the sun sniffed and went behind a cloud and didn't come out for a long time until Dink had gone.

Mrs Rabbit lived in a hole in the bank of the stream. It had a round front door and a bell-pull shaped like a carrot. The carrot wasn't a real one. It was one of those plastic ones that you can buy in some shops. Billy the Goat had bought it to try to fool Mrs Rabbit. “I’ll just put it in her carrot bag,” he thought. “Won’t it be a surprise! I bet it makes her sick.”

But Mrs Rabbit knew all about plastic carrots and wasn't fooled when she found it. “It’s that silly Billy. I’ll have to get him back for this.” She thought of different things she could use the carrot for, but in the end she hung it outside on the bell-pull because no one else had anything like it.

When Dink finally arrived at Rabbit's house, he was still grumpy and wondering how the world could be made to be kind to neglected Dinks. And so when he came to the door and saw the plastic carrot, he wasn't really thinking. He stopped in surprise. "That's a carrot," he thought. "Mrs Rabbit must have hung it up for me and gone out. How did she know I was coming? How kind of her! Somebody cares."

And he chewed the carrot and swallowed it all. But it stuck in his throat and he started to cough. He coughed and coughed and changed colour - blue, purple, red. That didn't help so he started stamping on the ground. This pulled the rope and made the bell ring. Mrs Rabbit and Gruntlet came out to see what it was. Imagine their surprise when they opened the door to see Dink stamping around with a plastic carrot half out of his mouth and still tied to the bell-pull.

"Oh really, Dink," scolded Mrs Rabbit. "Whatever are you doing with my bell-pull?"

"Bk-ck-gug" gasped Dink. "Stop it at once!" snapped Mrs Rabbit. "If you were hungry, why didn't you come in and ask for a carrot, instead of eating my bell-pull? Gruntlet and I were having a cup of tea and you made us jump."

Dink choked and turned blue again. "Gug-kook," he gasped, pointing to the bit of plastic carrot.

"I should think so, too" said Mrs Rabbit, who thought Dink was giving her back half the bell-pull. And she pulled on the string. This made the bell ring in the house and also made Dink choke and turn purple. But the carrot was stuck, and all Mrs Rabbit's pulling only made the bell ring and Dink cough and choke more.

Then Mrs Rabbit had an idea. "Gruntlet, go round the other end and pull Dink's tail while I pull on the carrot this end. Gasping and choking, Dink tried to shake his head, but the other two had started pulling. They pulled and pulled, and the bell rang and rang, and Dink coughed and coughed.

Suddenly, the carrot came out of his throat. Mrs Rabbit fell over backwards, pulling the bell rope, and the bell fell off the wall. Gruntlet was still pulling on the tail, and Dink sat down suddenly, right on top of Gruntlet. Gruntlet gasped and waved his arms about trying to push Dink off because Dink had farted.

Slowly Dink got up. His throat was sore because of the carrot. His tail was sore because Gruntlet had been pulling it. And he was mighty sore becausehe thought Mrs Rabbit had played a trick on him. He looked at her, struggling on the floor with the bell rope. He looked at Gruntlet - still gasping and waving his arms.

"Humph," he said. "It's just as I said - nobody cares about me. They give me plastic carrots and then pull my tail." And he started back home with his ears and tail drooping, looking at the ground in case anyone had dropped any carrots.

END