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Hundreds of years ago, in a dry shrubby meadow, there lived many animals.  There lived mice, birds, toads, an old tortoise, a big red cow, and a hen.  Of course, these are the kind of animals that live a passive and easy-going life, but they didn't get along too well.  They would shy away from each other or shout at each other to stay away.  Why such unrest?  There's several reasons why, if you're willing to know.

One primary reason was that predators of several types dominated the meadow: rats, ravens, jackals, snakes, and a crocodile.  These nasty creatures prowled the meadow every night in search of any of the daylight-dwelling animals to devour.  With no compassion or compromise.  And this vicious cycle went on day after day after day... until the number of prey became so few, that the predators also became restless; especially against each other.

The dry shrubby meadow itself also suffered from the unrest between prey and predator and all within each side.  The sun shone so bright every day, that the soil got very dry and the fruit of the land spoiled, making it hard for the animals to find enough food to live.  Soon enough, their numbers dwindled to very few numbers;  both predator and prey; and the meadow eventually became a lonesome wasteland of its former, fruitful self.

The remaining animals struggled to survive day by day.  Hope was repleaced with fear.  And this fear became centralized, embodied into one thing; not by the predators who were also facing the same problem, but by something... tall and mysterious:  the Ghost in the cave.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hippity-hoppity, hippity-hop!  Oh where, oh where, do I rest and stop?"

The dry wasteland of a shrubby meadow's lonely gloom lifted upon the entrance of a new animal that traveled from a far, distant land.  It was a white rabbit.  He was lively, curious, and quick on his feet; yet he didn't know where to rest, or who to rest with, after such a long journey.

The white rabbit asked the mice if he could stay with them in their hole, but he was too big to fit inside.

The white rabbit asked the birds if he could stay with them in their tree, but he was afraid of heights.

The white rabbit asked the toads if he could stay with them in their pond, but he couldn't swim.

The white rabbit asked the big red cow if he could stay with her in the tall grass (and eat the grass), but the cow gave a loud "Moo!" and scared him off.

The white rabbit asked the old tortoise if he could stay with him in his shell, but there was just no room for the two of them (plus, that shell was very smelly).

And finally, the white rabbit saw the hen, but he was afraid to ask her if he could stay.  Instead, the hen took notice of the white rabbit and approached him.

"Hippity-hoppity, jumping and jive.  Oh where, oh where, can I stay in this dive?"

"My goodness!" said the kind hen, "You really look out of place here in this dry, forsaken meadow."

"You think?" pined the white rabbit. "I've come a long way just to be met with strangers that don't want me to stay with them!  Is there any place in this dry joint where I can rest and stop?"

"Please fret no longer, dear rabbit." said the hen. "Why don't you come with me to my nest?  You can come to rest there."

"You sure?" asked the rabbit. "I don't want to be a bother."

"It's alright." assured the hen. "I could use some good company for a while."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The white rabbit and the hen scuttled towards a nearby patch of dry shrubs.  Within the shrubs was the hen's nest, loaded with seven pealry white eggs.  The rabbit was astonished to see eggs so clean and uncracked, that the hen paused him and waved a feather at him with stern caution.

"These eggs..." explained the hen, "Are my children.  I've been sitting on them, keeping them warm in hopes that they would hatch someday.  I've tried looking for food for them once they hatch, but I've had no luck in searching far out enough for so much as a worm."

"That's no good." said the rabbit, "Anything I could do to help?"

"Well,..." pondered the hen, "There is one way you could help. Could you hold still for me, please?"

The white rabbit stood still as requested and the hen walked behind the rabbit and started patting and pinching his big, wide fluffy behind.

"Ha ha ha!  Stop it!" the white rabbit laughed. "That tickles!"

"I'm sorry for touching you like this." said the hen. "I wanted to make sure that you were soft enough to sit on my eggs without breaking them."

"What?" asked the rabbit. "You want me, a rabbit, to sit on your eggs?"

"Please,..." begged the hen, "It's the least you can do, if you want to stay safe here in the meadow."

The white rabbit paused to consider the circumstances, and then he agreed to sit on the hen's eggs.  The hen stayed to make sure that the rabbit could sit on the eggs without breaking them.  Slowly, gently, the rabbit laid his soft fluffy self over the eggs.

"How does it feel?" asked the hen.

"Weird." replied the rabbit. "But I'll get used to it."

"Good." nodded the hen. "I can venture further out now to find food for my children once they hatch.  I really appreciate what you're doing for me.  Stay here and be as comfy as you can, and DO NOT... move from there.  I'll be back very soon."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The white rabbit sat, and sat, and sat on the hen's eggs for a long, long time.  He knew what he was doing was right, but he had to admit, it was boring.  And weird.

"This is what I came all the way from up north to do?" pouted the rabbit. "I migrated down south in hopes of finding more carrots and meeting less predators, now I'm sitting on eggs for a hen?  I mean, she was kind enough to let me stay.  These shrubs do a good job in hiding this nest... and myself.  Hiding... from what?"

The white rabbit perked his ears for a long moment, then shook his head in denail.

"Ah, what am I worried about?" bragged the rabbit, "I haven't seen any predators, and if there were any, they can't find where I am anyway!"

But before the white rabbit could rest assured, his stomach started to squeal.

"Oh, no." whined the rabbit.  "I'm getting hungry.  Maybe the hen will bring something back for me?  I mean, she knows what a rabbit likes to eat, doesn't she?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Soon enough, the hen returned  to the nest with a beak full of worms and a wing full of other edible things.  She placed the worms in a little hole to the side and she unloaded what she carried in her wings: a various assortment of beans.

"I thought you'd never be back!" said the rabbit.

"My apologiesfor taking so long." said the hen. "How are my eggs?"

"They're fine." replied the rabbit. "They actually feel really warm right now."

"That's good." said the hen.  "Now I knew you might be hungry, so I brought something back for you, too.  I'm sorry that it's not carrots.  I could have gotten some of the tall grass, but the big red cow won't give it up, so I thought these beans had to do.  Are they not to your liking?"

"It's alright." said the rabbit. "I used to eat green beans where I was from.  I'm willing to give these beans a try."  The rabbit then laid out and sorted the beans by color, hoping one kind of bean would satisfy his hunger.

He tried the yellow ones, but they tasted sour.

He tried the black ones, but they tasted bitter.

He tried the red ones, but they tasted spicy.

He tried the brown ones, and they... tasted just fine.  So he gathered all the brown beans together in a pile and nibbled on them.  The hen smiled, seeing her efforts to reward her helper were not in vain (even if she found it amusing to see how he reacted to eating each colored bean).

"Thank you so much." said the rabbit.

"Thank you, even more." insisted the hen. "If it weren't for you, then we both would be starving.  Where did you come from, anyway?"

"Far up north." replied the rabbit. "It wasn't as dry, but it gets really cold up there."

"Cold?" asked the hen. "How can such a place get so cold?"

"I don't know." replied the rabbit. "Maybe for the same reason why the top of a big, big mountain is white with snow?"

Suddenly, the rabbit's tummy started to squeal again.  This time, it wasn't because he was hungry.  It was because he had to go.  Really bad!

The rabbit gently sat up from the hen's nest, careful as ever with the eggs underneath him, and once he stepped away from the nest, he went and took off into the surrounding shrubs!

"Hippity-hoppity, hippity-hoop!  Oh where, oh where, do I go to poop?"

"Please, dear rabbit!" shouted the hen.  "Not in the shrubs!  Further out so we won't have to smell it later on!"

The rabbit then darted out of the shrubs and tried to find a place to relieve himself!  He looked around and found another group of shrubberies out in the distance.  He ran fast towards it and hastily hopped inside!  There was silence and then a sigh.  Soon enough, the rabbit hopped out of the shrubs with a relaxed grin on his face.

"And I thought green beans made me go much more badly." the rabbit mused to himself as he walked back to the hen's nest.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Time passed quietly the rest of the lonesome day.  The dry landscape turned a dull orange and the sun hovered over the blazing horizon while a dark shroud of clouds drifted in the aft of the fading daylight.  This twilight hour may eventually turn into a gathering storm.

The predators began their routine prowl in the dry shrubby meadow.  Every form of prey took cover, as usual, but while they did so, they couldn't help but wonder out loud why a strange white rabbit appeared and asked to take residence with them.

The mice bickered, the birds gossipped, the toads croaked, and the cow and old tortoise certainly had a heated discussion for once!  Why is that rabbit here?  Where did he come from?  What does he want?  These questions rose up such a fuss, that it got the attention of the predators.

The rats riddled, the ravens lamented, the jackals joked, the snakes seethed, and the crocodlie smiled... to know that there was a new tasty form of prey to be found.

The crocodile gathered all the predators together, making them forget about the hate and prejudace they had against each other, and ordered them to search for the white rabbit.

The rats peeked in the mice holes, the ravens flocked around the trees, the jackals circled laps around the pond, the snakes slithered through the tall grass, and the crocodile crawled alone overseeing his newfound army carry out the inquisition.  The predators all demanded from their prey where this strange white rabbit was.  None of the mice, birds, toads, nor the old tortoise, nor the cow knew; nor did they care to know where the white rabbit was.  However, the crocodile got a clue when he smelt and found the shrubbery where the white rabbit went to poop!  Once the jackals came and smelt it (much to their disgust), they spread out to track the white rabbit.

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The hen watched quietly from her shrubby home, observing how the predators all came out in such an unusual, organized fashion.  As soon as she heard mentioning of the white rabbit from them, she quickly, but quietly rushed back to her nest to warn him!

"What?" the rabbit cried in a hushed voice, "There ARE predators here?  To find ME?"

"Yes!" answered the hen, also in a hushed voice, "You need to leave this meadow before they find and eat you!"

"What about your eggs?" asked the rabbit. "Without me, they won't hatch and your children will starve!  Or in this case, those predators might use those eggs to, well..."

The hen cringed at the horrid thought and the rabbit got lost in a panicked train of thought.  Then he got an idea.  It was a weird idea, but it had to work!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The hen stood still in the now vacant shrub clearing bracing herself for whatever doom would await her.  The jackals closed in on the hen's shrubby home and then howled, signaling the other predators to surround it. The ravens hovered in the air like vultures, the rats squeaked and rustled in the shrubbery, the snakes slithered in and poked their heads out from the shreubbery, and the crocodile shoved away a good portion of the shrubbery to poke his own huge head in and growl at the hen with this large, menacing teeth.

The hen remained calm, staring into the crocodile's burning yellow eyes, and then the crocodile demanded, "Where's the rabbit?"

The hen took a deep breath, paused, and replied, "Oh! You mean that troublemaker with the long ears and the fat, fluffy arse?  He stole my eggs!  Won't you find him and bring my eggs back?  I mean, I'm sure my share of the eggs will be a most, um... adequate reward for desperate meat-eaters like you?"

"We haven't had any meat for the past 40 suns and moons!" protested the jackals.  "We haven't even had a rabbit ever since we ate up the last of those deset hares!"

"Yessss!" hissed the snakes.  "Ssssame with ussss!  The micccce have even become scarsssse for ussss to eat!  Perhapssss those eggssss will do niccccely?"

The rats squeaked and the ravens cawed in agreement.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed the crocodile.  "Remember the promise we all made: nobody eats a thing until the rabbit is found!  Not even this hen or her eggs."

The crocodile then issued orders to each group of predators: rats scattered about recklessly, jackals took the lead, the snakes followed, and ravens took to the sky after them.  The crocodile brought up the rear, but before he left to follow his minions, he gave one last eerie glance at the hen.

"You'll get your eggs back." growled the crocodile.  "But don't count on them to be back without a crack or two."

The crocodile left and the hen stood alone within the shrubb clearing.  She sighed and pondered, "Oh, dear, dear, rabbit... I hope you know what you're doing out there, but whatever you do, no matter how badly your surrounded, don't go near that cave!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hippity-hoppity, Boggity-begs!  How far, how far,, can I run with these eggs?"

The white rabbit was literally hopping madly as he was now carrying the hen's entire nest, with all seven white eggs intact.  He was carrying the nest by a makeshift looped handle he crafted and attached to the nest, making the nest look more like a weaved basket.  The awkward part was that he had to hold onto that handle with both paws and not shake it too much as he hopped.

After hopping a good ways away from the dry meadow, the white rabbit found himself in a new area littered with rough boulders, tall trees, and a large hill.  He took this time to study this new surrounding, but also took notice of the change in climate.  And it did not look reassuring.

The sun now fully set and the sky grew dark.  In fact, the sky was pitch black from the gathering overcast from earlier that evening.  The still darkness suddenly flashed white, followed by a loud crack of thunder!  Soon enough, the wind started to blow harder and droplets of rain hinted the inevitable storm to come.

Panicked and flustered, the white rabbit searched the immediate area for a safe place to wait out the storm.  None of the trees or rocks would be adequate, so the hill was the last place to check.  The rabbit moved around the hill to study it and noticed a pile of rocks on one side of it.  When he got to the rocks, he gazed up to see a sight that stopped his breath.

"Hippity-hoppity... what is this?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was a cave.  A large cave whose gaping entrance was covered with a tall, strange, yet perfectly circlular slab of stone, like a door.  The white rabbit stood and stared in awe at this cave's slab-door.  He had never seen a slab so perfectly, yet unnatrually round like that before in his life.

This slab almost perfectly covered what was inside of the cave.  Almost, in that there was a slight crack to look into on the left side of the slab.  The dark, empty crack beckoned the White Rabbit's curiosity and he ventured forth, with the basket of eggs still in his grasp.

The white rabbit looked into the crack, squinting his eyes to make out what was inside the enclosed cave.  When the lighting flashed from outside, the inside of the cave lit up for a split second revealing what was inside: a pale shrouded mass.  A Ghost!

The rabbit gasped at what he saw inside the cave in that flash of lightning!  He staggered backwards and fell on his tail, catching his breath while the rain fell heavier and heavier!  This was a nightmare come true, and it would come even more true when he perked his long ears to hear a... sqeaking sound in the distance.

Rats!  A multitude of rats scuttled all about towards the rocky clearing, searching for the white rabbit.  Following them were the ravens, flying in a murder together; then the jackals; then the snakes; and their boss, the crocodile, crawling behind them in the torrential storm.

The white rabbit was now truely terrified for his life upon hearing, then spotting these predators all searching for him!  He grabbed his nest-basket of eggs and remained hidden behind the rocks as he dashed and sneaked to get out of sight.  He was careful as ever with the eggs, but the real challenge was trying to get out of range of their smell.

As soon as he left the last boulder and ran for the safty of a nearby tree grotto, he tripped!

When he tripped, the basket slipped out of his paws, yet the basket landed right-side up, leaving the eggs intact.  But before he could breath a sigh of relief, however, one of the snakes spotted him!

The snake stared coldly into the white rabbit's eyes.  The white rabbit slowly reached for the basket and snapped off a loose piece of it to use as an improvised weapon.  The snake coiled up and lunged at the rabbit, but the rabbit held out the stick vertically, making the snake bite onto it and have it get wedged in it's mouth!   Like a stick under a leaning rock, the stick was now propping the snake's mouth open and he couldn't close it!

In that stroke of luck of stopping the snake from attacking him, the white rabbit hopped away into the forest grotto and desperately tried to look for another hiding spot!  A tree would have been a good hiding spot, but the rabbit recalled how much of a fright he had when trying to find rest with the birds in their trees earlier that day.  There had to be at least one tree that was low enough for him!

Sure enough, the rabbit spotted a low-bending tree to hide in.  This tree was situated above a wide, rapid-flowing creek, which the rabbit didn't notice until he stopped in the middle of the horizontally-inclined trunk!

"Caww!" shouted one of the ravens!  The rest of the black birds flew towards the rabbit in the middle of the low-bending tree, forcing the rabbit to take one path before him: the creek!  Recalling the time he tried to find rest with the toads and not being able to swim, the rabbit thought of a different, but risky approach: he grabbed his egg basket and jumped in the flowing creek with it  in his arms!  The ravens cawwed in anger as they didn't want to get their feathers any more wet then they were from the pouring rain!

The rabbit gasped for air as he poked his head out of the creek and immediate grabbed onto the egg basket, which to his fortune was floating on the creek water!  All six of the eggs were still safe, the crows retreated, giving the rabbit some reprive as he held onto that basket and rode the current with it for a few good minutes.

During that time, the rain died down and the storm eased a bit, adding more to the rabbit's lucid relief.  He felt he was free from the predators, as well as proud of the fact he got over this fear of heights and of not being able to swim.  Then he realized that the ravens could report to the other predators of his location!

The white rabbit grabbed the side of the floating basket and started to kick with his large feet!  He kicked and kicked and kicked until he reached a small bank on the side.  When he reached the shore of it, the basket got stuck in the wet, muddy wash!  Desperate then ever, the rabbit pushed and shoved the basket out of the mud, only to get his once perfectly clean white fur all coated in the slimy dirt!  As much as he wanted to complain about being filthy, he stopped... and got an idea.  A weird, but risky idea.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The crocodile emerged from beneath the water of the flowing creek into the small bank.  He spotted the nest-basket and immediately approached it.  To his own puzzlement, however, the basket was empty!  He sneered and scanned the perimeter of the bank, but neither the rabbit or the eggs were in sight, even when the breif flash lightning revealed nothing but more but an empty field.  The crocodile snorted in disappointment and smashed the basket to pieces!  He then sunk back into the water, and quietly swam away.

A bulge in the muddy bank emerged to take a familiar shape.  It was the rabbit hiding in the mud!  He sighed with a smile, having the right idea of camouflaging himself... and all six eggs, in mud!  The problem then was, with the basket destroyed, how would he carry the eggs now?

The rabbit washed the mud off himself and took the chance to look around his new surroundings.  It was in a dark, empty field.  It was really hard to see what was in it because of the overcast dark sky, but eventually the shrouding clouds thinned out and the moon glowed to provide minimal, but clear illumination over the field now.

The moonlight revealed that the field was full of patches of flowers.  Colorful, exotic flowers tall enough to stay hidden under in case the predators conitnued their pursuit.  That being in mind, the rabbit proceeded to wash the mud off the eggs and carry them into the flower field, one at a time.  By the time he finished hiding the sixth egg, he felt a droplet of rain water suddenly splash onto his right paw!

The rabbit stood perplexed as he noticed that that rain droplet turned his paw... blue?

The rabbit looked up and noticed the blue flower above him.  He reached and plucked off a pedal, feeling the soft tissue of it squish in his grip and staining his paw a more deeper blue.  He dropped the pedal and breifly gazed in facination at how runny this blue dew was in his paw.  He instinctively stroked a nearby white egg with one digit, leaving a streak of blue on it.  After a few more blue strokes, he got yet another idea.  A weird, but creative idea.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The rabbit dabbled one last yellow dot on the last egg and stepped back to admire what he created.  A half dozen eggs painted in a bedazzling array of colors and patterns to match that of the field of colorful flowers.  He then proceeded to hide each egg under their respectively colored flower patch and he sighed in relief.

"That's one less burden to worry about." thought the rabbit. "I hope the hen will understand.  Now how am I supposed to do to hide myself?  Do I dare hide and forsake the hen and... the others to those nasty predators?"

Then the rabbit remembered the Ghost he saw in the cave.  It was a frightening shock to him  the very second he saw it, but his fear had turned into curiosity.  Where did this ghost come from?  Why was it sealed away in that cave behind a strange, square slab of stone?  What would happen if the ghost came out of there?  Will it be a friendly ghost or a deadly one?  As much as the white rabbit dreaded the latter possibility, he had yet another idea.  A bold, but risky idea.

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The animals of the dry, shrubby meadow united in an uproar!  While they were no longer separated from their bitter prejudice, they gathered together all loud and fussy over one thing:  the white rabbit.  Each group of animals spoke their case:

"That fat, dumb rabbit couldn't fit in our holes!" squeaked the mice.

"He couldn't climb up a tree without getting spooked!" tweeted the birds.

"He couldn't swim to be with us, either." croaked the toads. "Unless he was afriad to get a wart or two. (ribbit)"

"He tried to squeeze into my shell." said the old tortoise in a slow, steady voice. "But he just couldn't stand my smell.  Joke's on him!"

The big red cow didn't say much except for a loud, "Moo!"

"Yes!  That's just what I told him, too!" replied the old tortoise to the cow.

"Alright, alright!" shouted the hen, who presided over the gathering. "I know that this rabbit has been a bother to you all, but it's because of him that the predators haven't come for us tonight."

"But at the cost of him taking your egg nest?" asked a bird.

"I trusted him to sit on them for me once." said the hen.  "And I can trust him to keep them safe from the predators.  We cannot afford to dismiss him, even if he does comes back."

"Hippity-hoppity, blistery-blast!  Everyone, everyone, I've returned at last!"

And come back the white rabbit did!  Out of breath from hopping back so quickly, the animals stood and stared at their long-earred guest with wide eyes.  The hen was the first to speak.

"You're back!" cried the hen.  "But where are my eggs?!"

"Don't worry." assured the rabbit, in a firm tone. "Your eggs are safely hidden in a place where no predator would dare to look.  And I know a place where we can all be where no predator would dare to come close to:  the cave... of the Ghost!"

The animals gasped!

"You went to cave of the Ghost?!" squealed the mice.

"The Ghost in the cave?!  That can't be!" screeched the birds.

The toads croaked in dread, the cow shook it's horns in panic, and the old tortoise had the sense to ask, "Did you see it?!"

"Yes!  I did see it with my own eyes!" replied the rabbit.  "I was... terrified, yet I cannot get it out of my head."

"What do you mean?" asked the hen?

"It's true that we should be afraid of what we don't know." said the rabbit.  "But just because we're afraid of it, doesn't mean we should ignore it!  What if this ghost was a friendly one?  We should welcome it and hope that it comes out!"

"WHAT?!" cried the animals.  "You're crazy!"

"I know it may sound crazy, but think about this..." the rabbit rationalized. "If this Ghost was not as friendly as I think it was, I wouldn't be here to tell you the tale, would I?"

The animals shook their heads in both reply and confusion.

"Are you suggesting the Ghost spared your life?" asked the hen.

"Maybe it did, but we have to be sure." the rabbit then proposed, "We should all go to visit the Ghost in the Cave!  And if the predators want to come for us, they should be know that the Ghost will come for them!  You know?  Scare them off!"

The animals turned to each other and conferred quietly, but the rabbit stepped forth and put his paw out to propose, "If the Ghost in the cave shows himself by the time the sun comes up, and if we all stand together before it, then all our lives will be spared!  Who's with me?"

After a silent moment, the animals turned their backs, but the hen stopped them.

"You're all willing to turn your backs on your only chance for SURVIVAL??", begged the hen.  "If you all go back to your homes, the predators will still come for you all; just as they have before in these poor, desperate times; until NONE of us remain!  Is that what you want?"

The animals paused.

"If none of you are going..." said the hen, clutching the rabbit's paw. "Then I'm going with this white rabbit to live.  To see my eggs hatch!"

Soon enough, each different animal joined paws and wings, declaring their reasons to live.

"To have a lot of baby mice." said a mouse.

"To sing a new song for the coming morning." said a bird.

"To swim in a bigger, cleaner pond." said a toad.

"To see my eggs hat-- I mean, to have a better smell in my shell." said the old tortoise.

All attention was then turned to the big red cow, who turned herself around to reveal her huge udders and milk sac.  She swayed herself back and forth to make the milk inside her sloosh and swish, much to the other animal's breif bewilderment, but then they understood.

"Oh, I get it!"  said the rabbit.  "To see that your milk is shared with young calves, right?"

The cow mooed with a wink and a smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"YOU FOOLS!" roared the crocodile.  "You're telling me, that with all our forces combined, that you cannot find ONE... WHITE... BLOODY  RABBIT?!"

The rats cringed in guilt, the ravens bowed in shame, and the snakes hissed in defeat.  But the jackals approached with perked ears.

"What is it now, you mongrel?!" growled the crocodile.

"We picked up the scent of that rabbit guy." replied the lead jackal.  "Him... and all the other prey in the meadow.  They're all on the move somewhere."

"Really??" sneered the crocodile, now with a large, evil grin.  "All of them on the move together?  Where are they going?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The mice, the birds, the frogs, the old tortoise, the big red cow, the hen, and the white rabbit all gathered before the round stone slab covering the entrace to the Ghost in the cave.

They all stood together silently.  The waited for whatever response the Ghost would make having so many visitors outside it's cave.  Waited, waited, waited...

Soon enough, the predators approached the gathered animals, but they all paused upon seeing where they were.  All, but the crocodile.

The animals turned around to face the crocodile and his carnivore allies.  Neither member of either side flinched, faltered, or stepped forth.  All they did was wait for the coming dawn, when the Ghost in the cave would surely come to answer to it's visitors.

Soon enough, rays of sunlight radiated  up through the shrouded dark clouds, tinting the black sky with white, yellow, and blue gradients.  This light pierced above the hill, blinding the predators so that they had to shield there own eyes to see what would happen next.

>creeeaaak<

The round stone slab began to move.

>creeeaaak<

The slab tilted forward, rolled off to the side, and slammed flat on the ground!

>THOOM!<

The Ghost in the Cave had finally emerged!  The rats scuttled away, the ravens flapped into the sky, the jackals whimpered and ran off, the snakes slid away, and the crocodile remained still... petrified in shock of what he saw!

The other animals stood still with their backs toward the Ghost.  It became clear to the crocodile, that none of the animals feared him, the predators, or the Ghost in the Cave!

The crocodile started turning away and began to crawl away, shedding bittersweet tears of defeat!

"Well done."

A deep, soothing voice said.  The animals slowly turned to see their speaker and all slowly backed away in fear.  All, but the white rabbit who froze with wide eyes gazing up at the Ghost.

The Ghost was a tall, tall being, shrouded in a pale sheet.  The morning sunlight radiated behind it's head and shoulders, conveying not fear, but mysterious and heavonly intrigue.

"Fear not, my little friend."

The Ghost kneeled down and reached out to the white rabbit with long, shadowed arms.  The rabbit was not startled to see this extended offer, rather, he was... confused and delighted at the same time.  The Ghost was actually offering with open arms to come forth to it.  Does the rabbit dare to accept this offer?  He had no other choice.

And so the Ghost lifted the rabbit into it's arms and it cradled him.

"The Easter Sun has risen for those who believed in me.  I have not expected to see so many of My Father's creations gathered here upon my return."

Said the Ghost to the surrounding animals.

"And it was all because of you, wasn't it?"

The white rabbit closed his eyes and lowered his ears, and the Ghost softly laughed.

"There now, my little friend.  You had faced many dangers to come here from your former home up North to these lands unknown to you.  You were once a stranger, now you are a savior.  You are a brave, clever, and kind rabbit."

With that complement, The Ghost  pet the rabbit's head with a hand with a scabbed hole in the middle of the palm.

"I wish to dwell more on this day of the Easter Sun, but I must go now to meet my brothers, neighbors, and friends who have prayed for my return.
There is one thing you can do to spread the word of my return, my little friend."

The white rabbit perked his ears.

"Show them where the hen's eggs are hidden in that they may find them yeilding to new life."

And with those absolute instructions, the Ghost set down the white rabbit, who still looked up at the Ghost with a mix of uncertainty and newfound respect.

"Oh, yes.  You may need this while you're at it."

The Ghost handed over a brand new basket for the white rabbit.  It was neatly woven and with a vine of small flowers on it.  The rabbit solemnly accepted the basket and nodded in gratitude.

The Ghost then extended a hand to the rabbit, giving the following blessing:

"From this day of the Easter Sun onward, my little friend, you shall be addressed by the Earth as... the Easter Rabbit."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the day was a glorious and happy one for the animals of the once dry, shrubby meadow.  Once, in that the rain from the overnight storm had revitalized the vegetation, turning the former wasteland into a lively, green sanctuary.  The flower field was especially even more glorious with the warm, bright sun saturating the colorful petals... as well as the colored eggs that the Easter Rabbit was wise to hide from the predators.

Once the eggs were found, the hen profusely thanked and blessed the Easter Rabbit while the other animals gandered at how intricately painted each of the eggs were.  Their gandering was then taken by surprise by a slight knocking sound coming from one of the eggs.  The other eggs gave off knocking sounds of their own, and soon enough, they began to hatch!

The hen embraced  her newborn chicks, and she smiled at the Easter Rabbit, who the chicks also crowded to for a warm embrace.

The mice kissed, the birds sang, the toads leaped with joy in their new clean pond, and the old tortoise watched happily as the big red cow met a big black bull.  (His shell still smelled, but he didn't care.  He was just happy.)

The Easter Rabbit was content to see so many of his friends gather happily in once place in this new land once foriegn to him.  His friends would all prosper and live on, restoring their numbers to once again occupy their new lively, green sanctuary.  But what of the Easter Rabbit himself?  What will he do now that the Ghost had blessed him to spread happiness?  Who else can he share it with?  Where can he go?  How long will he live on to do that?

The Easter Rabbit thanked his friend for accepting him, just as they thanked him in return, and he said good-bye until he met them again the next time it got cold up North.

The Easter Rabbit then left to travel back up to the North to spread the Easter joy even further for generations to come.  Even to this day.

So if you wake up the morning 40 days from Ash Wednesday and find a basket full of goodies in your house, just remember: The Ghost in the cave now known as Jesus Christ sent the Easter Rabbit to reward our faith in Him!


THE END