The Rabbit’s Name Was…

There once was a rabbit whose sire was named Recklessness and whose dam was named Cowardice.  Now in that warren at that time the weasels and other predators became so numerous and  bloodthirsty that the rabbits determined to leave.  They set out into the unknown forest but by ill chance a band of wolves came across their scent and started to follow them.  The rabbits fled in good order until they came to raging water flowing through steep and rocky banks.  They were almost in despair, because the wolves were not long behind, until one of the chief rabbits found a log laying across the rush of the waters.  It was narrow and uneven and wet, and rabbits were not climbers and balancers by nature, but the chief rabbit thought that by courage it could be done.  He cajoled the other rabbits and one by one they made the frightful attempt.  All except the rabbit whose sire was named Recklessness and whose dam was named Cowardice.  With great gasping breaths and wide staring eyes he sat immobile, frozen with fear.  The chief rabbit pled with him, bumped him, whispered love and affection and courage to him, but still he sat frozen, until in a few minutes the wolves came and the chief rabbit had to dash for the log and barely escaped with his life.

When the wolves came, the frightened rabbit fled madly, blindly, off the edge of the bank and plunged into the frothing current below, where he died.

The name of the rabbit was Panic.