Mother Rabbit scurried quickly around the kitchen. Ricky and Rita Rabbit watched excitedly from the door. Mother had just taken the last pie out of the oven. "Oh, these pies smell so good!" The little rabbits looked hungrily at Mother's pies cooling on the shelf. "Our tummies can taste them already, " said Ricky, sniffing the aroma swirling in the air.

Mother Rabbit smiled. "Okay, you two. Run along now. I've baked these pies for a special surprise. No one will get a taste until the time is just right! Now, go outside until I call you."

Rita and Ricky tried to question her about the surprise, but Mother just laughed and scooted them out to play.

The little rabbits were soon playing happily with their friends. Rita quickly forgot about her mother, the pies and the surprise, but Ricky couldn't forget about the sweet, tangy smells coming from the warm kitchen. He slipped away from his friends and crept slowly up to the kitchen door. Mother was nowhere in sight.

"I'm sure Mother won't need all those pies for her surprise. Surely if just one came up missing, she wouldn't notice, would she?" He wrestled within himself as he stared longingly at the tempting pies. Now sometimes, even though he had been trying very hard to be very good, Ricky didn't always succeed at doing just the right things he knew he should.

Ricky checked for Mother one more time. Seeing she still wasn't in the kitchen, he quietly went to the shelf, lifted down one of the pies and swiftly ran back outside.

Ricky hurried over to hide in the long green grass growing under the shelter of the tall oak tree in the far corner of the yard. "No one will notice me here," he said. He sat and stared at the pie sitting innocently on his lap.

"This pie could be all mine!" As he spoke to himself, he stared again at the forbidden pie. Just as he was to make up his mind to take his first bite, Mother Rabbit's words came back to him. It seemed as if she were standing right there!  "I've baked these pies for a special surprise. No one will get a taste until the time is just right!"

Suddenly Ricky wasn't hungry for the pie any longer. He remembered if he tried really hard, he could be a good little rabbit!

Ricky picked up the pie and ran quickly back toward the house. He could see Rita was still playing with their friends. When he reached the kitchen door, he slowly poked his head inside. Mother was still nowhere in sight. If he hurried, he could put the pie back and Mother would never have to know. Tiptoeing in, Ricky carefully placed the pie on the shelf with the others. Feeling pleased that he was doing the right thing, Ricky ran outside to play with the others. But, unknown to Ricky, Mother was quietly watching from the other room.  She heaved  a happy sigh of relief with a motherly smile as she watched Ricky go out the kitchen door.

It wasn't much later when Mother Rabbit called for the little rabbits to come inside. "What's the surprise, what's the surprise?", the two asked as they tumbled into the sweet smelling kitchen.

Giving her rabbits a big hug, Mother said,"I have been watching you both very closely this whole week and I have noticed that you have been trying very hard to be good little rabbits. I am proud of you and wanted to do something very special just for you!  So, I baked these pies for my own good little rabbits."

Rita and Ricky looked shyly but happily at one another. Mother went over to the shelf, lifted down two of the pies, and handed each rabbit his very own pie.

"Thank you, Mother," Rita said, taking her first yummy bite. "Thank you, Mother," Ricky said. He smiled to himself as he remembered the mistake he had almost made. He was glad he had done the right thing and just in time, too! He knew he was learning to do the things all good little rabbits should do.

Ricky bit into his pie and it was the best pie he had tasted in his whole life! He was sure that from now on he would try even harder to be a good little rabbit. He wanted to always be ready for any other surprises that could come from Mother Rabbit!