A Tragic Mystery in the Valley

Rabbit was hiding in the tall grass

There was good news and not so good news in the Valley. It was a school holiday, the good news, and it was a cold, dreary and misty day, the bad news. Near and downstream from the beaver pond was a rocky outcropping of stone, and in that was a cave. Several friends had gathered there to play, but the dreariness of the day was making everyone a little gloomy.

Finally, Otter suggested a game of hide-and-seek. “Good for you Otter” said Mouse. “You are waterproof but the rest of us get really wet in the rain.” “Oh come on Mouse, it’s only misty outside. You won’t get THAT wet. Just a little damp.” Mouse and the others, Rabbit, Weasel, Tortoise, Hawk and Snake talked it over and decided even getting wet was better than just sitting in the dark with nothing to do.

Otter volunteered to be “it” first and counted to 50 while the others left the cave to hide. The only rule was that they couldn’t go farther than the dam or the big bolder, or out of sight of the stream. That left plenty of places to hide. Otter yelled “Ready or not, here I come” and ran out into the forest. He quickly found Tortoise and Snake in a burrow not far from the cave, and soon found Mouse hiding under a Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Weasel was harder to find since she had decided to climb into a bush and stay very still. Hawk had flown onto a low branch of a Beech tree and hid in a cluster of leaves. Otter had a hard time seeing her too, but finally spotted her and yelled “Gotcha!”. After each of the friends was found, they went back to the cave to wait for the second game to start.

Something was wrong. Otter ran into the cave out of breath and said “I can’t find Rabbit! I looked and called but he never answered. We must all go out and look. He may be in trouble.” So the friends all went out into the drizzle to look for Rabbit. They called and looked everywhere but no trace was found. Rabbit had disappeared!

They ran back to Grandpa Tortoise’s burrow for help. Quickly a search was underway with all the parents and siblings on the hunt for Rabbit. They looked high and low, and well outside of the boundaries of the game. The Hawks glided up and down the valley using their excellent vision to try to find the missing Rabbit, but to no avail. As dark was approaching, Owl said that he and his clan would fly all night looking for Rabbit, but by daybreak, still no sign was found. All the next day the animals of the Valley searched for Rabbit, but no trace of him was ever found. For weeks after his disappearance, there was a sad and quiet feeling in the Valley, but gradually life returned to normal. On the hill where meetings were held, next to the hill where the dead were buried, a remembrance was held, and everyone told their favorite “Rabbit” story. There were tears and laughter, and afterwards most felt better.

But never again did the friends of Rabbit play Hide-and-Seek. And in years to come, children were warned to stay away from the cave. The mystery was never solved.

Image: http://www.arkive.org/rabbit/oryctolagus-cuniculus/image-A21550.html