In times past, the hare looked very different to how we see him today, his tail was long and bushy, his feet were neat and small, his legs were long, and his ears were short.
You may wonder how he came to look the way we see him today, well, it just so happens that I know a story about just that.
Back when the world was young and fresh, there lived a hare, the father of all hares. There also lived
a wily fox, whose most fervent desire was to eat that same hare, but the hare eluded him.
One day, the hare woke the fox by tickling poor foxy’s nose with his long bushy tail. Fox woke with a start and snapped at the offending tail, catching it in his teeth. Hare knew he was in trouble, so he tugged at the tail, but it was stuck fast in the fox’s strong jaws. Hare took his knife and chopped off his long bushy tail, leaving a short bushy bob. He ran faster and further than he had ever run, to get away from the fox.
The fox tied Hare’s tail to the end of his own as a trophy, then pursued the hare. Such a chase had not been seen before in this new world, sometimes the fox would gain, sometimes the hare, but for days upon days they raced, and as they raced, unknown to them, their bodies were changing.
Fox’s muzzle became longer, as he frowned with concentration trying to catch the hare. The white fluffy hare’s tail he had tied to his brush merged in until it could not be untangled (that is why foxes have two colours to their tails today).
The hare ran so far and so fast that his small feet flattened and lengthened, while his legs bunched up into the springy legs we know today. The hare became tired of turning his head to hear his pursuer’s footsteps, so he learned to turn his ears, which lengthened to better catch the sound.
The chase continues to this day, sometimes a fox will catch a hare, most times he won’t, but a fox will always chase a hare, and a hare will always taunt a fox, neither of them knowing how their actions have shaped them.
But we know, don’t we?
One day, the hare woke the fox by tickling poor foxy’s nose with his long bushy tail. Fox woke with a start and snapped at the offending tail, catching it in his teeth. Hare knew he was in trouble, so he tugged at the tail, but it was stuck fast in the fox’s strong jaws. Hare took his knife and chopped off his long bushy tail, leaving a short bushy bob. He ran faster and further than he had ever run, to get away from the fox.
The fox tied Hare’s tail to the end of his own as a trophy, then pursued the hare. Such a chase had not been seen before in this new world, sometimes the fox would gain, sometimes the hare, but for days upon days they raced, and as they raced, unknown to them, their bodies were changing.
Fox’s muzzle became longer, as he frowned with concentration trying to catch the hare. The white fluffy hare’s tail he had tied to his brush merged in until it could not be untangled (that is why foxes have two colours to their tails today).
The hare ran so far and so fast that his small feet flattened and lengthened, while his legs bunched up into the springy legs we know today. The hare became tired of turning his head to hear his pursuer’s footsteps, so he learned to turn his ears, which lengthened to better catch the sound.
The chase continues to this day, sometimes a fox will catch a hare, most times he won’t, but a fox will always chase a hare, and a hare will always taunt a fox, neither of them knowing how their actions have shaped them.
But we know, don’t we?