Post by SS on Oct 29, 2010 16:28:02 GMT -5
They say that before the rabbits came before the hills, shadows would like there. Shadows. Likenesses. Ghosts, if you want. The Shadows ruled the hills, and the once beautiful, bright, green, healthy grass, became dark and brooding. The trees darkened, as well, and they would not produce fruit. Humans would no longer go there, they said it was haunted and evil. But humans don't last. they wear away and rot, while the Shadows stayed, and thrived.
"It is the job of the old to worry, and the job of the young to scorn the worry of the old" (Quoted Phillip Pullman)
and that's exactly what happened. Young children trooped up the hills, laughing and playing. They picked grass blades, examined the dead trees, running over the planes in delight. Their laughter, merriment, and happiness angered the shadows. They were jealous. They could not make noise, and they knew not happiness or joy. they seeped at the happy children's ankles, then at the right moment, they tightened their coils of darkness around the children, and drew them, screaming, into the ground, which swallowed them.
After dark, the adults came, looking for them. shouting their names. The shadows gloated, and enjoyed their unhappiness. When they found the few drops of blood, and the cracks in the earth, the mothers flung themselves at the ground, tearing at it, screaming for their children. The husbands then grabbed the women and dragged them away, fearing that the shadows would take them too. They left the island, and did not come back.
The shadows felt suddenly sobered when they left. Finally, they faded into dust, and became nothing more than a chilling wind when a warm sun beats down. The rabbits that the people abandoned, took to the wild. At first they did not know that to do, but then, Frith-rah spoke to them, and they survived. The Rabbits of today are tense, there is a war between the warrens, and Frith-rah spoke to them again. The children will rise out of the ground, some day, and lay waste to the hills. The tension rises, as the rabbits wait for the disaster. Will they be destroyed by something else other than revenge?