Strawberry

Once upon a time, in a land not far away, there lived a bunny and rabbit. Under the shedding orange trees they lived a mediocre life, but dreamt of a life above ground where food abound. So the two set left the burrows to start a life under the sun.

The day was long and almost difficult. It fast turned to dusk, and bunny and rabbit looked for a shelter to sleep in.

The rabbit found a house of bricks in a clearing. The ants nearby chanted, "A house of bricks, better than furze, better than straw. Better than a nest in the sky, better than a hole in the ground. A house of bricks, impregnable and proud." The rabbit agreed. It had seen many of her kin devoured above the surface before its kind learnt to hide from the wolves. It decided a house of bricks would be safest.

"Bunny, I found a house of bricks. It is safe from dangers of the surface," the rabbit proposed. But the bunny was staring at the bird in the trees.
"I want to be free and fly in the sky with the birds," said the bunny.
"The wolves can climb, and they will eat you," the rabbit warned.

The bunny entranced by the birds paid the rabbit no heed. The ants around chanted, "you were born to this world, fly free, free, free!" the birds above swooped down and picked the bunny up, up into the sky.
Seeing the bunny fly away the rabbit retreated to the brick house, far away.

The saturated colours of autumn turned to winter. The rabbit hid in its brick house, the bunny in its nest in the skies. The country was cold, but both had food aplenty for the winter.

Spring came. Thinking of home the bunny left the trees to find the brick house. From its safe house the rabbit emerged, and for its fear that the bunny will return to the skies the rabbit gouged the bunny's leg out. Wounded the bunny limped away, calling out for the birds circling above.

The bunny and rabbit dreamt of a life above ground, where food abound. The bunny died food to the birds of the sky. The rabbit lived never tasting food for the blood in its mouth.

END