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"Look at those funny cows, Bruce,"
Bonnie said, looking down as they fluttered along.
"Those are Galloway cattle. They are
pretty big cows. I can see more sheep than cows and they all have black
faces and white wool," Bruce added.
"This is a pretty area. What’s it
called?" she asked.
"Glenluce. You’ll like it here.
There are a lot of gardens and orchards. Surely there’ll be some delicious
lady slippers or hyacinth for you to sip," he chuckled.
"Let’s find some right away. I’m
hungry," Bonnie said. The two butterflies fluttered closer to the ground.
"There are some over there," she shouted, heading for a patch of
beautiful, bright red lady slippers. She stuck her proboscis in and began
to sip. "Delicious!"
They’d only been there a few minutes
when the ground began to shake. "What’s this? Another earthquake?" Bruce
wondered.
Bonnie lifted her head. "Rabbits!"
she shouted. Just then hundreds of gray, brown and creamy colored rabbits
hopped through the flowers. "Watch out!" One of them hopped on the lady
slipper and bent it over. "To the trees, Bruce," she called and the two
flew up to a branch.
"Look at them all. I’ve never seen
so many rabbits in all my life," Bruce mumbled. "Where did they come from
and where are they going?"
"They’re heading towards the sea,
but rabbits can’t swim. I wonder why they are running?" Bonnie said.
"We’ll just have to stay up here
until they pass. In the meantime, would you like to know a little about
this area?" Bruce asked.
"Sure, why not."
"It was inhabited by Cistercian
monks. There’s an abbey somewhere around here and it was founded by
Roland, Lord of Galloway in 1190."
"That’s a long time ago. I imagine
its in ruins now," Bonnie suggested.
"Mostly. This area was also a
staging post in days of coaches. It’s in an ideal location, sort of at the
crossroads. Aren’t the hills lovely though?" Bruce said.
Bonnie looked down. "The rabbits are
gone. Let’s go and fly around, see if we can spot where they were going.
I’m curious."
"They may have gone to the River
Luce for a drink," Bruce said.
"I don’t think they’d run like that
just for a drink. Maybe someone tossed out a bag of carrots or something,"
Bonnie laughed.
The two butterflies flew towards the
sea and soon spotted the rabbits. There were hundreds of them, standing in
a huge field, nibbling the crops. "They’re eating turnips and carrots,
just like you said," Bruce chuckled. "Look at them nibbling away."
"Let’s just leave them in peace and
head back to the flowers, if there are any left standing. What a shame to
have them all trampled like that, but if we hurry we can sip nectar before
they shrivel up," Bonnie said.
They landed in the flowers and it
was hard to find one that hadn’t been crushed but they managed a few and
soon were full. "I need a rest," Bruce said, "but not down here. What if
the rabbits decided to come back this way? I say we head into the hills
for a while."
And they did just that.
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