Lesson 1: Think Before You Act

Once upon a time there was a young, naive rabbit. He had soft white fur that quivered when he was cold or frightened.

His older brother had told him that long ago there was an earthquake that killed almost all of the animals. The earth had split wide open, and most of the animals fell in before they could even realize what was happening. The earth swallowed them whole and then closed back up like nothing had ever happened. He had stared at his brother in bewilderment and with fear. To prove his story, his brother dug in the ground and soon came back with a small rock, and when the young, naive little rabbit looked closer he could make out a small figure that resembled him. "Here's one of the not so lucky little rabbits that got sucked into the ground. These are his bones," his brother said in a matter-of-fact tone. The little rabbit quivered.

The naive, little rabbit was always being picked on by his brother and the other bigger, older animals. He was tiny compared to them, and he could never stop quivering because he was always cold, which made it seem like he was also always scared. The older animals didn't mean any harm to the little rabbit, and they continued to tease him.

One day while the young rabbit was lying under a tall tree, he began to think about the worst of things.

He wondered out loud, "Oh, what would I do if the earth were to suddenly start to shake and quiver and break?"

A mischievous little monkey in the tree above heard the young white rabbit's worries. The monkey found a large coconut growing on the tree, and threw it down as hard as he could behind the little white rabbit.

BOOM.

The ground shook like an earthquake, and the little white rabbit squealed and quivered and shouted, "The earth is quaking! The earth is breaking!" He had not seen the mischievous monkey's coconut joke. The naive little rabbit began to run and run and run as fast as he could away from where he thought the earth was splitting.

Another young rabbit saw him running and quickly caught up to him.

"Rabbit, rabbit, why do you run so fast?"

"The earth is quaking! The earth is breaking! Run fast or else the quaking will kill us all!"

This terrified the other young rabbit and so he began to run with the naive little rabbit.

A little bear saw the two rabbits running. She caught up with them and asked, "Little rabbits, little rabbits, why do you run?"

"The earth is quaking! The earth is breaking! Run fast or else the quaking will kill us all!"

The little bear was scared of their warning, and began to run fast with the little rabbits.

Before long, hundred of foxes, deer, pigs, and other animals joined them. No one wanted to be caught in the quaking.

An old lioness saw the mob of animals. She roared, "Stop, young ones and old ones! For what causes you all to run so?"

"The earth is quaking! The earth is breaking! We must run fast before the quaking kills us all!"

"Who has seen this breaking and quaking of the earth?" she asked.

The animals all looked around trying to find the original runner. At long last, a quivering little white rabbit came forth.

"I did, lioness. I was sitting beneath a tree and suddenly the earth began to shake, so I began to run and found these friends along the way."

The lioness looked down at the little white rabbit and said softly, "Show me where you first saw the earth break."

So all the animals ran back to the beginning, to the tree that the little white rabbit had mentioned. Once there, the lioness circled the tree and found the large coconut the mischievous little monkey had thrown. It was split down the middle and cracked opened wide. She picked up a piece of the coconut and showed it to the naive little rabbit.

"See, little rabbit? It was nothing at all but a coconut that startled you. It is always best if you check what you believe is true, otherwise you may cause trouble for the ones around you," she said as she looked from the little rabbit to the hundreds of animals that he had gathered in his run.

If it hadn't been for the lioness's wisdom, all of the naive animals could still be running to this day.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

The original story told that the rabbit was resting against a tree when a monkey threw down a coconut and startled him. He then ran and ran while telling any animal that questioned his running that "The earth is all breaking up!" Eventually, a king lion asks the mob of animals why they are running, and the rabbit tells him about hearing the earth breaking all up. Only the lion and the rabbit go to the tree and find that it was just the sound of a coconut. The lion calls him foolish and the rabbit quickly goes to tell the other animals what it was.

This story originally had all male animals. I wanted to change the lion to an old lioness, because I feel that older, female animals have a more wise and graceful presence. The story originally called the naive little rabbit a timid, foolish rabbit. I didn't really like that they called him foolish so I changed it to a naive little rabbit because younger people and animals usually don't know any better. I also wanted all the animals to go and see it for themselves because I feel that "seeing is believing."

*Bibliography*

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit by Ellen C. Babbit, From the Jakata Tales

(The little rabbit, Pixabay)

(A resting lioness. Pixabay)

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