Journal #1

Everybody has seen a rabbit with its long ears and short, stubby tail. Since it has been that way for many, many years, most people have forgotten the story of how the rabbit got its long ears and short tail.

One day the rabbit was just hopping around, minding its own business. It was scouring the forest floor for some food for him and his large family. His wife and he just had another son, so he needed to find food for his growing family. He was looking around hand he just happened to stumble upon a farmers carrot patch.

Immediately the rabbit started digging up the carrots, not realizing that he was eating some other family’s food. The farmer, seeing the destruction of his crops, came out and confronted the rabbit. The farmer yelled at the rabbit and told him to get off of his land. The rabbit then realizes that he is eating the farmer’s crops, not some wild vegetation that was just lying around in the forest, so the rabbit politely apologizes to the farmer for eating his crops and then the rabbit is on his way to find some more food to bring back to his ever-expanding family back in his hole.

The next day, when the rabbit was looking for food once more and he came across a large field filled with many different types of vegetables and fruits. The rabbit was cautious this time, though, because he remembered that last time he found a large amount of food, it ended up being a person’s farm. This field was unplowed and had weeds growing throughout it, so the rabbit decided it was safe to eat the food. The rabbit spent all day collecting the food and then he took it all back to his home and fed his entire family and some of the neighbors too.

Since the rabbit had so much food, he set aside an equal amount of food that he had eaten of the farmer’s crops, so the next day; he went to the man’s farm and gave him the extra as repayment. The farmer was very grateful but the farmer’s dog did not know that the rabbit was not there to steal more food so he attacked the rabbit. First he bit at the rabbit’s long tail, and ripped it off. Then he went for the rabbit’s short ears and hung on to them. The rabbit tried to run, but the dog held on. The farmer quickly realized what was happening and he pulled the dog off of the rabbit’s ears. Now the rabbit had a short stubby tail, and long, stretched-out ears. That is why the rabbit looks the way it does today.