STELLA STINK

Once there was a young girl skunk named Stella. Stella was a very sweet young skunk. She made friends easily and had lots of playmates among the bunnies, raccoons, possums, and other animals of the forest. She even had a few friends among the birds who would light on a low tree branch or bush and talk with her. Stella was very happy and had lots of fun.

One day while she was out playing with her bunny friends, the Daddy Rabbit of one of her bunny pals hopped along to see how the children were doing. When he saw his baby bunnies playing with Stella, which is what her friends called her, he gasped in amazement. “Children,” he cried, “don’t you know that she is a skunk? Skunks stink. Everyone knows that. You can’t play with her. If she gets some of her spray on you, you’ll never get it off and you will stink the rest of your lives. No one will want to play with you. Come along now. Let’s get away from this little skunk.”

Now it was the bunnies’ turn to gasp. “Oh, Stella,” one of them said, “why didn’t you tell us? You should have let us know about your smell.”

“Stella,” Daddy Rabbit said. “So that’s your name. Well from now on you are Stella 

Stink. Come, children.”

“Stella Stink! Stella Stink!” the baby bunnies taunted as they hopped away.

Poor Stella was left all by herself with no friends to play with. She slowly made her way home with her head down and tears in her eyes. When she got home she went to her mother, Mrs. Skunk, and buried her head in her arms. “Oh, mama,” she cried, “Mr. Rabbit saw his bunnies playing with me and told them they couldn’t play with me any more because I stink. He named me Stella Stink and they all hopped off calling me that. Oh, mama,” she wailed, “now I have no friends to play with and no one will like me. And I didn’t know I stink. I have never smelled anything bad on me.”

“Oh, darling,” Mrs. Skunk said. “You don’t stink. All skunks are equipped with a spray that smells very bad. If an enemy tries to harm them, they can spray him, and the smell is so bad that the enemy will run away. It’s a way to protect yourself from larger animals that are too big for you to fight. You don’t stink, but you can make your enemies stink. I wish we could both spray Mr. Rabbit right now! It would serve him right. But that wouldn’t be the right think for us to do.” Then she explained to Stella how a skunk sprays its horrible spray on an attacker.

“I’ll tell you what,” she added. “My sister lives just a short distance away. She is your Aunt Samantha Skunk. She has a baby girl like you. Her name is Sara Skunk. Tomorrow we’ll go to see them and you can play with her.”

Stella stayed in her mother’s arms for a long time, crying, then sniffling, then just resting quietly with the one she knew loved her the most. She didn’t know until now that she had an Aunt Samantha and a Cousin Sara. Now she had something to look forward to and she was so excited. After supper, her mother put her to bed with the promise that tomorrow she would meet her aunt and her cousin. Stella went to sleep with hurt feelings, but with a smile, too, as she thought about tomorrow’s adventure.

Sure enough, next morning after breakfast, Stella and her mother set out through the woods for Aunt Samantha’s. As they went among the trees, they noticed that all the other little animals drew back as they approached. Some even called out, “Stella Stink, Stella Stink!” The word had gotten around to stay away from Stella. Oh how it hurt Stella’s feelings and how angry her mother was. But the wise mother skunk realized that there was not much she could do about the other animals. All she could do was love Stella and reassure her and make sure she had some baby skunks to play with.

After a short while they arrived at Aunt Samantha’s. She was so surprised to see Mrs. Skunk and Stella, but she was also delighted. She called for Sara and the two cousins met for the first time. They became instant friends. Now Stella had someone to play with as often as they could get together. They had a great time playing together and the two mother skunks, sisters, had a wonderful visit. After lunch, Stella and her mother headed for home.

When they had gotten about half way home, they heard a horrible commotion. They heard squeals of fear and horrible snarls. What could be happening? Then they came to a little clearing and saw the reason for the noise. Mr. Rabbit raced across the clearing squealing for his life and not far behind was a large, angry dog chasing him, barking and snarling. Mr. Rabbit dived under a log on the ground and the dog began to dig furiously trying to get him out.

“Oh, Mama,” Stella cried, “what can we do? We have to help Mr. Rabbit.”

“I am afraid there is nothing we can do, darling. The dog is too big and strong for all of us. If we all attacked we could not overcome him and he would surely kill and injure many of us. All we can do is hide and save ourselves. Come with me into this thicket.”

“But mama,” Stella cried, “we can’t just let him kill Mr. Rabbit.”

With that Stella bolted from her mother and ran up behind the dog. Without hesitating a second, she turned around and aimed her spray at the dog and gave him a big dose of skunk juice!

“Arrgh, arrgh, arrgh!” the dog cried. He rolled over and over in the dirt trying to get the smell off. It was awful and it wouldn’t come off. Then the dog decided to go after Stella for spraying him with this terrible stuff. But as he turned to her, she aimed again and was ready to fire. When the dog saw that, he turned the other way and ran away as fast as he could, “arrgh-ing” all the way till he was out of sight.

Stella’s mother ran out to her and said, “Oh, my dear, how could you take such a risk? That dog could have killed you with one bite. And especially for that terrible Mr. Rabbit who called you that awful name and wouldn’t let his bunnies play with you.”

By now Mr. Rabbit was poking his head out from under the log. When he realized that Stella Stink had saved his life, he was so embarrassed. If a rabbit could turn red, he did. He hopped over to Stella and said, “Oh Stella, I am so sorry. I was such a foolish rabbit to treat you that way. Why that stink of yours saved my life. And you don’t stink yourself, just that spray when it gets out. I was afraid that might happen. But you have taught me such a lesson today. Never judge anyone just because she is a certain kind of animal, but judge her by her character. You were so brave and willing to risk your own life. Thank you so much. Will you please forgive me?”

“Well of course, Mr. Rabbit,” Stella said. “I am just happy I was able to help.”

“My, my, your mother has taught you well. You are such a wonderful young lady skunk. Mrs. Skunk, you are to be commended.”

“Why thank you, Mr. Rabbit,” she replied. “She is a good girl, and she proved it today.”

About this time all the other animals began sticking their noses out from their hiding places. When Mr. Rabbit saw them he called out, “Come on out, all of you. Come congratulate Miss Stella Stink. Her stink saved my life. It is the best smell I ever smelled! Now she is Miss Stella Stupendous. Let’s all hug her and cheer for her and give her a party. And my bunnies may play with her any time they want to.”

So all the others animals ran out and surrounded Stella and her mother with cheers and hugs. They picked Stella up and carried her off on their shoulders to the party crying, “Stella Stupendous, Stella Stupendous,” all through the woods. Mr. Rabbit was leading the cheers.

And that is how Stella Stink became Stella Stupendous.

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