Rabbit and the Moon-Man

Rabbit and the Moon-Man

Long ago, deep in a snowy Canadian forest, Rabbit lived with his elderly grandmother. Their cottage stood far from other homes. In winter, snow piled nearly to the doorstep, trees cracked in the frost, and stars shone above the white clearings.

Rabbit knew the forest well and could find food even in winter. Each day, he followed his trails and checked the simple traps he had set far from home. He shared what he brought with his grandmother, and for a while they had enough.

But one morning Rabbit came back with nothing.

“How strange,” he told his grandmother. “There are tracks all around the traps, but every catch is gone.”

The next day the same thing happened. And the next.

Every morning Rabbit woke up earlier. He would go out when the sky was still dark, hurrying through the snow, but each time someone would get there before him.

“We’ve got a night thief,” Rabbit finally decided.

After fresh snow fell, he noticed a curious track beside one trap. Long, narrow, and barely marked, it looked as though a ray of light had skimmed over the snow.

Rabbit leaned closer.

“So you leave tracks. Now I’ll track you down.”

He made a strong rope loop and set it beside the trail, drawing its long loose end behind a cluster of trees where he could hide.

That night was clear. The moon hung over the forest, illuminating the snow with a bluish light. Rabbit sat in ambush and waited.

Hour after hour passed.

Suddenly the forest grew dark.

Rabbit raised his head. There were no clouds, the stars were shining, and the Moon had disappeared somewhere.

“Where has it gone?” Rabbit whispered.

And then he heard soft footsteps.

A white glow moved between the trees. It grew brighter and brighter until Rabbit could no longer look directly at it.

The light approached the trap.

Swish!

Rabbit pulled the rope, the noose tightened, and the glowing figure stopped.

“Caught him!” exclaimed Rabbit.

But the next moment he became afraid. The captive glowed so brightly that the snow around him shone as if it were daytime.

Rabbit did not dare to come any closer. He ran home.

“Grandma! I caught a night thief!”

“So who is he?”

“I don’t know. He glows! Very brightly!”

Grandma shook her head.

“When you trap someone, you must find out who it is and speak honestly with them. Go back.”

Rabbit did not want to turn back at all. But Grandma was right.

He set off again towards the forest.

The dazzling light was still visible from afar. Rabbit came a little closer, but his eyes immediately stung. He scooped up some cold water from the stream and washed himself.

“Hey!” he called. “Who are you?”

An angry voice answered:

“First let me go!”

“No, first tell me who you are and why you come to my traps every night.”

The shining figure struggled. Rabbit squinted, trying to make out someone very tall and long-legged behind the white glow.

To dull the glare a little, Rabbit threw a few lumps of wet snow in the direction of the glow. They melted immediately. Then he took some dark, damp earth from the bank of the stream and threw it in front of him. A few drops flew to the shining figure, and dark spots appeared in the white light.

“Enough!” the voice cried. “I am Moon-Man.”

Rabbit sank back on his haunches in astonishment.

“Moon-Man?”

“Yes. That is why the Moon is missing tonight. You have kept me down here.”

Rabbit remembered how the forest had suddenly darkened, and he realized that the prisoner was telling the truth.

“Why did you take the food from my traps? Winter is hard enough for my grandmother and me.”

Moon-Man was silent.

“I should not have done it,” he admitted. “I came down at night and took what belonged to others, thinking no one could catch me.”

It was already getting gray in the east.

“I must return to the sky before dawn,” Moon-Man said. “Set me free.”

Rabbit still hesitated.

“Will you come back and take our food again?”

“No. I promise by my white light: I will not steal from your traps again and will not come down here for other people's goods.”

Rabbit thought that an honest promise was better than a long quarrel.

“Okay. But don't move suddenly while I untie the rope.”

Rabbit approached with narrowed eyes. Moon-Man gave off warmth as well as light, like a great lamp. Rabbit’s face grew hot, his shoulders warmed, and his lips trembled with nervousness.

The rope was tight. He couldn't untie it with his paws.

"Just a little more," muttered Rabbit.

Finally, he bit through one knot with his teeth, pulled the end of the rope, and the loop came undone.

The glow immediately rose above the snow.

“Thank you, Rabbit,” Moon-Man said. “I will keep my promise.”

And he rushed up so fast that in a moment there was only a thin light path between the treetops.

Rabbit raised his head. The sky was already turning pink in the east, and high above the forest the Moon had taken its place again.

Rabbit returned home.

"Well?" asked the grandmother. "Who was your thief?"

"You won't believe it. Moon-Man himself."

Grandmother looked at him carefully.

“And why are your eyes red?”

Rabbit touched his eyelids.

“From his light. It was so bright I could hardly look at him.”

“And on your shoulders the fur has turned a little golden.”

Rabbit looked around as best he could.

“Probably from the heat.”

Grandma smiled.

“But you put the Moon back in the sky and settled matters without a fight. That is quite an achievement.”

Since then, says the old fairy tale, Moon-Man no longer went down to Rabbit's traps. He remained in the sky and illuminated the forest every night.

Storytellers said the dark patches on the Moon were the damp earth that had once splashed onto Moon-Man’s glowing face.

Rabbit has since blinked a lot when the light is too bright. His lip trembles slightly, and his winter white fur sometimes shows a warm yellowish tint near his shoulders.

And when the full moon hangs over the snowy forest in winter, you can imagine how far down below Rabbit looks up and checks:

“Back in place? Good. Then this time we are both keeping our promises.”

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨