The Hare and The Moon

"I am a hare and I want to tell you the story of my ancestor Harry and how the hare's image ended up on the moon."

Harry's Story

"Come family, hurry, can't you hear the thunder in the ground? The dinosaurs are coming, we must hide quickly." Harry coaxed them all behind a group of large rocks and cautioned them to be very quiet.

The little ones were shaking, and Minny, their mother, rubbed her nose against their fur to calm them. "Ssshh, they soon will be gone."

Peeking out from the rock Harry could see the large brachiosaurus and heaved a sigh of relief. The huge long necked species were not meat eating but rather combed the grassland for leaves in the trees. Still, one had to be careful because their large feet could crush the entire family in one footstep.

The brachiosauruses didn't seem to be leaving soon and the little ones were getting restless, so Harry decided to tell them all a story of how life began on Earth.

"Years ago, children, the moon was much closer to Earth than it is now. The moon's magnetic field protected the Earth from the Sun's radiation, and it created tides which helped form life. At first life was aquatic but eventually it moved to the land. We are not sure when hares first appeared, but it was many, many, moons ago. The rabbits came later, we think they are inferior to hares."

The bunnies were now sound asleep, Harry and Minnie also decided to take advantage of the quiet and nodded off. They awoke to rain pounding the ground into a muddy, raging, stream. "We need to move to higher ground, let's go."

Quickly hopping up the large boulders they continued higher and higher until they found the entrance to a little cave where they could take shelter. "It's cold here," the bunnies complained.

Come gather close to us and you will stay warm," Minnie said.

Comforted and warm, the bunnies were quiet but suddenly they heard a squeaking noise and were alarmed. Just then a mischief of rats appeared from the caverns of the cave.

Yelling, Harry pushed the family out of the cave door as the rats, with sharp incisors showing, chased after them. Unfortunately, one of the bunnies was not quick enough and fell prey to the rat.

"We can't help him now, keep running," yelled Harry, "our lives depend upon it."

They ran until they could run no more and finally fell, totally spent, into a heap on an overhanging rock.

Minnie was sobbing over the loss of her child, but all Harry could do was comfort her. "There's nothing more we could have done, Minnie. We might all have been taken. It was foolish to go into the cave. I blame myself."

Sad and forlorn, the little family lay on the rock throughout the night until the morning sun woke them. "Let's move back to lower ground," Harry said. "We must find food and water."

Still grieving over the loss of the bunny they made their way back to a meadow which had a crooked stream running through it. They ate their fill, then found a hollow log and climbed into it exhausted. Life was difficult.

One day as they were out in the lush green grass a shrieking noise was heard from above. Before they could react, a Teratornis swept down and grabbed a bunny in its claws. It flew away with the hare, never to be seen again. There was nothing they could do but go on with their life.

Finally after roaming the grasslands for some time, they happened upon a perfect home. It was a large natural hole in the ground protected by a hanging cliff above. They were away from the wind and rain, it was high enough to be safe from floods, and not easily seen.

We've been through a lot but maybe we have found a safe haven, thought Harry.

Sometimes safety also leads to carelessness. One day the family was romping in the grass while Harry had gone down to the stream for a drink. His hair stood on end as he heard screaming from his family. Unseen by anyone, a Raptor had crept upon them in the field and one by one devoured them. Harry was devastated He roamed from grassland to grassland in sorrow.

"What's wrong with you?" a tall crane said to him one day. "You look like the loneliest hare I've ever seen."

"My entire family was killed. I wish it would have been me. If I could leave here and go to the moon I would."

"I could take you there."

"You could?"

"Of course, I fly you know."

"I just want to be gone from here. Will you take me?"

"I will."

Gently the crane picked up the lonely hare in his claws and they began their flight to the moon. It took many days, and many nights. As the journey progressed, the cranes legs became longer and longer from the weight of the hare in his claws. Finally, they reached the glorious moon; the crane circled over the top of it.

"I am going to drop you now and you will land on the moon. Good luck my friend."

"Thank you, dear Crane." Harry reached out his paw to pat the crane on the head, but his paw was bleeding and left a red mark on the crane. Today, cranes still bear that red mark.

Then, slowly, the hare fell to the moon. His dark silhouette can now be seen on the near side of the moon pounding a stone and mourning the loss of his family throughout eternity.




947 Words
Prompt: Write a short story or poem about the moon
Make Genre: Fantasy


Author's Note ▼

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/moon_rabbit