© 2009 Douglas Filter
Once upon a time, in the far North where the snows come early and stay late, the animals change colors to match the environment. For the bunnies, they change to thick, warm white coats so that the foxes, bears and wolves cannot see them so easily against the snow. For the Foxes and other predator animals, they change to thicker lighter coats also so they can sneak up on the bunnies. It does not seem fair to the bunnies, but that is the way it works up there.
Well, one day, as the weather was beginning to turn, and the snow was starting to fall, Father Rabbit told all of his bunnies to change into their stealth coats so they can hide from the foxes when they were outside in the snow looking for something good to eat.
The oldest boy didn’t want to do that. He thought changing to white was boring, and decided instead to change to blue. And so he did. Of course, the father was shocked. “Change to White” he demanded.
“I like blue” and with that, the little bunny ran outside. His sister followed him and tried to find him so she could talk him into being safe, like the others, but he was long gone.
Well, it turns out that the day was sunny although lots of snow had fallen on the ground during the week. So, the little sister was quite hidden as she scampered around the snowfields in her search. But it also turns out that foxes have very sharp eyes, and one smart fox saw the shadow that the little bunny cast as she was looking for her brother. As he looked closer, the fox also noticed her cute pink nose twitching back and forth. And he began to get closer.
The little blue bunny was sitting up on the rocks above all this. Since he was blue, he matched the sky, and nobody thought to look against the sky for a blue animal.
Blue bunny saw the fox creeping closer and closer. The fox fur was not entirely white, and an obvious sight was the black tip on the tail flicking back and forth. Blue bunny also saw his sister, who had not seen anything and was thinking about going home.
Blue Bunny followed the rocks until he was above his sister. Just then, she heard a noise and turned to look behind her. Suddenly, the fox popped out! She shrieked, and tried to run but she was trapped.
“Heh heh heh” Said the Fox. “Come here my sweet little treat”
She froze, she did not know what to do! The Fox crouched down to leap, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something amazing, a fast flash of blue fur had jumped onto his back and grabbed his two long ears! Some sharp teeth were clamping down on his tender ear and it HURT a LOT!
Did you know that those big teeth that bunnies usually use for biting carrots and other vegetables are bigger and sharper than lots of other teeth in the animal kingdom? Even bigger than fox teeth!
Along with the pain of the bites, a deep scary voice whispered into the Fox’s ear “I am the Sky Monster. I have been hunting you for a long time. Now it is time for me to EAT YOU ALL UP!”
The Fox shrieked “Please Mr. Monster, don’t eat me!” The poor Fox did not remember that just a few moments ago, he was preparing to eat the little white bunny! Now we’ll see how he likes it, won’t we?
The Fox was so scared that he couldn’t help himself! He peed right in front of the little girl, which made her laugh. Especially when she saw that it was her brother, the Blue Bunny holding onto the Fox’s ears. The Blue Bunny winked at her and held a finger to his lips to tell her to keep quiet.
The Fox was confused. He thought that the little sister was laughing because the Sky Monster was about to eat him and suddenly understood why the bunnies were always so scared when he came around.
“Please, Mr. Sky Monster, please let me go!” The Fox cried out.
“And why should I do that?” Blue Bunny whispered into his ear, in a threatening, hoarse tone. “I am hungry and I have you right where I want you”.
“I was not going to eat the little bunny here” The Fox lied; “I was going to take her home to her family”
The fox continued; “I have a family too, and my Mom will be so sad if you eat me:” This time he was telling the truth.
“Well, I will let you go on ONE condition”
“Yes, yes, anything!”
“Run away from here, don’t look back and never return to this place” Blue Bunny commanded.
“Yes, yes, I’ll never come back!”
Blue Bunny thought again, “I’ll let you go on ONE MORE condition”
“Please, anything you want”
“Tell all the other Foxes, ermines, bears and other meat eaters to stay away also. It has been a long time since I have eaten, I am very hungry and I would love to eat a bear or a whole family of foxes! Rowwwr!” Blue Bunny growled into the Fox’s sore ears. “The bunnies in this valley belong to ME and ME ALONE!”
Like he was riding a horse, Blue Bunny pulled on the right ear until the Fox turned around, away from the little sister. Then he bit the Fox hard on the back of the neck and said “RUN”
And run the Fox did. He jumped up and ran like the wind. He never looked back to see the two little bunnies laughing and hugging each other, one blue and one as white as the snow.
And you know what? The Fox did as he was told. He spread the word that there was a HUGE Sky Monster in that valley who was hungry enough to eat a family of Foxes or even a great big bear. He even had the bite marks on his ears and his neck to prove it. And they all agreed to stay far away from there.
Well, the Blue Bunny took his sister home and of course she told everyone in the family about what her brother did and how brave he was. Even Father was happy.
The next winter, no foxes, bears or other animals came to bother the bunnies, and the next year as well. No meat eaters ever came to visit the valley of the bunnies again. So the bunnies no longer had to change to match the snow to hide from those mean animals. Instead, they could change colors to anything they liked.
If you ever visited that valley in the wintertime, you would see the white snow, of course, but hopping around having a lot of fun would be dozens of bunnies of all colors – red, green, golden, pink, tangerine, turquoise … and one special bunny, the master of all color changers, who would change to rainbow. A purple nose, a blue face, green neck, lime front legs, yellow tummy, orange back legs and a bright red tail! They still called him Blue Sky Monster, though.
Douglas Filter has been a word-crafter all of his life. He has used his storytelling talents to organize presentations, law suits, technical papers and many other documents. He has written and published blogs, columns, articles, business plans and even recently, a draft of a patent. CV’s, contracts, business letters, all forms of written communication. If you need words crafted into a special message, please contact me.