Pitaka was the land of the mighty rabbits. It was a place full of tall trees, thick shrubs, beautiful roses and the best carrot fields in the world. It was everything any rabbit could ever ask for. Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Joe were siblings. Their parents, all-time winners of the Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Joe championship, named their children after the game. Joe was the eldest. He loved his sisters very much and always looked after them. Whenever his parents would fall sick, Joe would take over the responsibility of the house. He would get the morning carrots, send his sisters to school, and go to class after making sure his parents were comfortable. Joe was also a talented artist. He loved drawing and painting and would make portraits of his little sisters.
One fine morning, Eeny finds Joe sitting in the corner of his room crying. Saddened by the sight of her brother crying, she rushes to call Meeny and Miny to investigate. They run all the way to Billy’s house as he is the only person that would know the reason behind Joe’s grief. Billy was Joe’s closest friend. He tells the sisters about how Joe had lost the art competition at school. He was careless with his brush strokes and the judges were not happy. His strict and impatient teacher had also given him a good scolding. Joe was very embarrassed.
Once Billy finished telling the sisters about what happened, they were extremely confused about how to make Joe happy. They all sat in Billy’s living room, munching on carrots, trying to think of the best way to make Joe smile.
Miny, the youngest sister, tells the others about how Joe wanted more colours to paint with. In Pitaka, you couldn't just buy paints. They had to pluck flowers and leaves and smash them to make colours to paint with. Red was a rare colour as red roses were hard to find. Meeny had come across a rose plant the other day on the way home from school. Without wasting time, the four rabbits go in search of this shrub and its red roses. They found it and quickly plucked a few and ground them to extract colour from them. It was a messy process, but they were all happy to do it for Joe. Once the colour was extracted and bottled, the sisters excitedly walked home. Billy is tagging along.
Joe was surprised to see all of them come into his bedroom. He wiped his tears and put on a sweet smile. “What’s this all about?” he asked. Eeny walked to him with a wrapped box and a small note, “Roses are red, Violets are blue. We can’t be happy when you are feeling all yucky. Love, Eenie, Meeny, Miny and Billy”.
