环球自然日®-故事播讲（2022年度）英文素材-6.Who is the thief?

Little rabbit opened a flower shop. It had all kinds of flowers and green plants. The rabbit always holds a water bottle and a flower shovel to take care of all the plants carefully.

One day, the rabbit put a new pot of plants in the shop. It was full of small lantern-like fruits, as red as the freshest cherries. It was quite beautiful and festive! The rabbit carefully placed the plants on the most eye-catching shelf with a big sign: precious "Red Jade Fruit", 1,000 forest coins.

Several customers came. The mouse walked into with his head lowered. The rabbit greeted warmly: "Welcome, is there anything i can do for you?" The mouse stammered, "I’m just looking." Meanwhile, he lowered the brim of his head.

The little pig rushed into the flower shop, yelling: "I want to buy apples! Bananas! Peaches!" "It’s a flower shop," the rabbit raised his ears and said angrily, "Not a fruit shop!"

The door opened again, and there was a crisp chirping sound: "Rabbit the boss, I'm here to deliver the newspaper!" It turned out to be the postman little bird , and he put the Forest Daily on the bookshelf in the corner of the flower shop.

The rabbit was busy taking care of daisies that had just been picked, didn’t noticing the customers. When she turned around, she suddenly found that half of the precious red jade fruit has been eaten, and there were still a few half-eaten fruits hanging on the branches. The rabbit felt dizzy, she cried out: "Who ate my red jade fruit!"

Today, only the mouse, the pig and the bird visited the flower shop. The thief must be among them. Who is it? The gluttonous pig? The sneaky mouse? Or the postman bird ? But they all shook their heads and denied, saying that they didn't steal the food.

The rabbit walked around frantically: "You have to pay for my red jade fruit! Red jade fruit worth 1,000 forest coins!!!"

At this time, uncle bear opened the door and walked into the flower shop. He wanted to buy a gardening shovel to grow vegetables. After knowing the situation, uncle bear laughed: "rabbit, I know who stole your red jade fruit!"

Uncle bear picked four fruits and gave each of them one. He asked them to eat. Taking a bite, the mouse's brows frowned, the pig's face turned red, and the rabbit spat out with a "pooh": "It's hot! It’s like fire." Only the little bird swallowed a whole fruit without any reaction.

"The truth reveals," said uncle bear, "it was the little bird who ate the fruit!"

The bird's face turned red: "It looks delicious. I didn't notice the price on the brand. I thought they were just ordinary fruits."

The rabbit was so angry but uncle bear said: "rabbit, don't be angry. Actually, your red jade fruit is pepper! This is one of the most common vegetables, which maybe only worth 10 forest coins!"

At this moment, the rabbit was embarrassed, she muttered: "That's not what the fox said... I was cheated..."

Finally, everyone helped the rabbit find the fox who resold the pepper, and the money was returned. The bird who stole the pepper was especially helpful. As for the remaining red jade fruits, they were all given to the postman bird, who corrected itself after knowing the mistakes!