Runaway Bunny - Western Armenian

Once there was a little bunny who yearned to explore, to discover what lay beyond the familiar burrow. "I am running away," he declared to his mother, his whiskers twitching with imagined adventure. His mother, with a gentle gaze, simply replied, "If you run away, I will run after you. For you are my little bunny."

Undeterred, the little bunny imagined himself transformed. "If you run after me," he said, "I will become a fish in a trout stream, and I will swim away from you." But his mother, ever watchful, countered with a soft smile, "If you become a fish in a trout stream, I will become a fisherman, and I will fish for you."

The little bunny, with boundless imagination, then pictured himself as a soaring bird. "If you become a bird and fly away from me," he chirped, "I will fly far, far away." Yet his mother's love knew no bounds. "If you become a bird and fly away from me," she murmured, "I will be a tree that you come home to."

He dreamt of becoming a crocus in a hidden garden, tucked away from sight. "If you become a crocus in a hidden garden," he thought, "no one will ever find me." But his mother's reply was unwavering: "If you become a crocus in a hidden garden, I will be a gardener, and I will find you."

The game continued. He envisioned himself as a little sailboat, drifting across the wide, open sea. "If you become a little sailboat and sail away from me," he declared. And his mother, with the breadth of her affection, responded, "I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go."

Even as a circus acrobat, flying high on a trapeze, the little bunny sought to outwit her. But his mother's devotion remained steadfast. "If you go flying on a flying trapeze," she promised, "I will be a tightrope walker, and I will walk across the air to you."

Finally, the little bunny imagined his ultimate transformation, a complete change of form. "If you become a little boy and run into a house," he mused. And at this, his mother's response was the most comforting of all: "If you become a little boy and run into a house, I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you."

A sense of warmth settled over the little bunny. He understood then that no matter how far he might roam in his thoughts, no matter what he might become, his mother's love would always be there, an unbreakable bond that would find him and bring him home. "Shucks," said the little bunny, a contented sigh escaping him. "I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny."

And so he did. "Have a carrot," said the mother bunny, offering a sweet, orange treat, and together they sat, wrapped in the quiet certainty of their love.