[Bunny Stories] Hallowe'en story time with Umbra!

Art by Zaheroux

Umbra took her job as the Hallowe'en bunny very seriously. She'd offered to share with Harrington, but he'd said she told the yearly stories so well.  With the flickering LED candles playings shadows on the wall, Umbra prepared her annual spooky tail time. "Carl Sandburg said that 'The fog comes, on little cat feet. It sits looking, over harbour and city, on silent haunches, and then moves on.' But he was wrong, it doesn't come on cat feet, and when it moves on, it doesn't move alone."

* * *

A long time ago, in a kingdom far away, there was a friendly bunny who lived in a thick wood. He watched the rich nobles of human kind trit trot about, he watched the kindly fae and less kindly fae ride on their grand hunts, he watched animals go about their lives. He did many things well, but the thing he did best was watch. He was a handsome bunny of grey; the grey that was the fog in Aberdeen on a spring morning, of a pure smoke fire, of dusted silver. One morning he was sitting at the top of a hillock, admiring the patterns of the fog, when a horse wandered up to touch noses. The horse was wearing a saddle that's girth had been loosened and had bits of brush hanging from the reigns and catchings.

"Hello," said the friendly bunny.

"Hello," said the horse.

"What are you up to, today?" asked the bunny.

"It's Hallowe'en. Sir Gerric decided he would go hunting witches." The horse shooked her mane in amusement. "He met one, she told him he'd sneeze four hundred and twenty-seven times or till he became more accepting of people. I ditched him around sneeze two fifty when he fell off."

The bunny tilted his head to one side, "Did you just leave him, then? The Bear is up and about and is rather grumpy."

"I'll wander home, he'll catch up." The horse stretched, turning to look towards the manor home of the local lord, "Or not. He's not a very nice man."

The bunny was rather concerned as the horse turned and meandered her way back towards her stable. The bunny decided he better investigate.

It didn't take him very long to find the sneezing man. His eyes were watery, the way he clutched his chest said it was aching, and every time he got to his feet, he'd sneeze and come back off balance. The bunny hopped up, "Are you alright, Sir?"

"No, I'm not," Sneeze, "alright." Sneeze, sneeze. "A witch cursed me and I've lost count." Sneeze.

The bunny thought he looked very apologetic and turned to wiggle his tail in the knight's direction, cancelling the witches magic.

The man lay panting on his side for several minutes, "I thought I was going to die." he moaned.

The bunny nodded with sympathy and hopped off to come back with a large leaf with water in it. He held it for the knight to drink. He drained the liquid dry before he suddenly turned and grabbed at the rabbit. The Bunny wasn't stupid, he watched humans, he knew what the man had wanted to do. He turned tail and ran off into the foggy afternoon. He was a bit surprised how fast the knight got to his feet to give chase. You'd think a man who had been sneezing his fool head off would be a bit more understanding and grateful!

Turned about in the fog, running scared from a rude and hungry human, Bunny lost his footing and fell off a hill, down into the deep, deep, fog.

It was a year later when Sir Gerric went out on his yearly witch hunt. He had to ride a bit further every year as the witches got wise to him and went further and further from his home. This year he brought dogs to help him along with his long suffering squire. The boy was left to jog along at the horse's flank while the dogs ranged every which way in the fog barking directions, ideas and excitement.

The horse stopped and no amount of bellowing got her to move again. She humped her back in warning when the knight started to apply his spurs. He looked over the horse's ears to see the bunny sitting on his hind legs in his path.

"Hello Mr Knight." said the bunny.

"uh." The knight managed. There was something not right about the bunny.

"I helped you and you tried to harm me. That wasn't very nice." The bunny said. "I spent a year travelling the world of fog and I learnt a few things. Do you know what the most important thing I learned is?" The bunny tilted his head to one side to look up at the knight.

"Uh, no." The knight said, wondering why he seemed unable to move. His horse could move, she was twitching her tail. He couldn't even hear his dogs; those dogs would have taken care of the uppity rabbit.

The bunny hopped closer. "I learned that you should always say thank you. I learned that you should never harm those that help you. I learned that if you're nice to people, they're nice to you." The bunny stopped underneath the stirrup, standing up on hind legs as the fog swirled after him. "And we all decided it's a lesson you need to learn too." There was a flicker of red, deep within the grey bunny's eyes.

The fog was swirling up the horse's legs now and she had enough. She bucked him off, leaving him to fall into the fog like a sack of potatoes. She shook her head several times before rearing up to sheer the air with her front hooves. Finally settling to all fours she gave a full body shake and ran off. The bunny watched the display passively before turning back to the knight who was staring at him with wide, wild, eyes.  "You will do good things for people until someone doesn't say thank you. Only then will they take your place, riding the fog." The bunny groomed a forepaw as the fog swirled around the knight, completely covering him until he disappeared.

The fog withdrew, leaving the bunny alone in the grove, water droplets glistening everywhere before he turned to go see how his warren had faired in his absence.

* * *

Umbra put down her front paws she'd been using to help accentuate the story. "And that is why you always, always, say thank you! Especially if its foggy!"