The Tale of the Chocolate-greedy Rabbit

[hectorberlioz]

The Tale of the Chocolate-greedy Rabbit
a new fairy tale
by Hector and Mari

Once upon a time there was a rabbit who did not like to eat carrots. He liked chocolate, and Belgian chocolate in particular. This was a bit of a problem, because he did not live in Belgium and furthermore rabbits were not supposed to eat chocolate. So the other rabbits didn't really like him. They thought he tried to deny his rabbit-nature, and they were right.

This rabbit's name was Sassafrass, but most everyone just called him Sass because of they way he always talked back. Somehow he always managed to find something other to eat than carrots, but this particular year the harvest had been bad. All that was salvageable were carrots.

So he set out on a journey to Belgium, where he knew the chocolate was abundant. Sass had not thought of all the problems he might encounter. Along the way the first person he met was a snake, Tricksy. "Hallo there snake. Can you tell me the road to Belgium?"

"Why yes, I can!" Tricksy answered. What Sass didn't know, was that Tricksy was called tricksy for a good reason! Tricksy was trying to lure Sass into his den so he could eat him! Sass followed Tricksy until they stopped at his home. "It's a long way, so let's rest for the night" said Tricksy (who planned on gobbling Sass while he slept).

"Oh but I'm very impatient to get to Belgium" said Sass. His greed was what kept him out of the snake's lair, because if it hadn't been for his lust for chocolate, he would surely have been eaten. It might have been a good thing he didn't know for Sass was actually quite cowardly and would have fainted rather than run away. But as it was he pressed on. He walked tirelessly through the night, and when the sun came up he saw that he was nearly out of the woods. He came upon a large toad who was having breakfast.

Oh hello there, Mr. Toad!" he said. "Having breakfast I see? You look like the kind of person who appreciates food. Can you tell me where I can find Belgium?"

Now Mr. Toad was very self-conscious and his weight was a sore point. When Sass said he looked like the kind of person who could appreciate food, he wasn't the least bit amused.

"You young rascal! What do you mean by coming here and tell me I'm fat, eh? Have you no manners?" The toad shooed Sass, but Sass was too stupid to care.

"I'm looking for Belgium," he said. "Do you know where it is?" Now Mr. Toad, still being angry from Sass' insult, decided to play a prank on the young rabbit by directing him in the wrong path.

"Yes I do actually!" the toad replied. "If you take a left turn here, go straight till you can't go straight anymore. Then turn left. Go straight again till you can turn another left and then straight till you can turn another left. It will be straight in front of you."

If Sass had been a bit smarter he would have noticed what we noticed, but he was still young and silly. So Sass took the path that Toad had pointed out to him. It seemed to him that there were a great many gravestones on the side of the road, and some scary oaks.

"I wonder if this is really the way. It sure looks a hard path." It soon dawned on him that this was not a main highway road, and that the toad had been mistaken, or perhaps even set him on the wrong path on purpose! He still did not turn back though. He was hungry and tired and he wanted to rest. In front of him he thought he saw a small light. Mist started swirling around his feet as he went onward.

Was the light moving? It didn't seem to get any nearer! Now it was dark again, and Sass was very frightened. He became desperate and ran frantically towards the spot of light. He finally caught up to it...and what was the light? Why, another rabbit!
"Good evening to you," said the voice of the other rabbit. He was clearly old, but still strong.The other rabbit held a lamp in his paw

"My, it's rare to see other rabbits here. What brings you here young one?" the old rabbit asked
"Well-"Sass began, breathlessly. "I'm looking for Belgium. Actually, I want to have Belgian chocolate and I heard they come from Belgium. But now I just want some warmth, some food and a place to sleep! I'm soooo hungry! I would even eat... CARROTS!"

"Come this way," said the old rabbit. "I'll let you stay in my home and give you something to eat. If you still want to go to Belgium, I will tell you the way."

So the two rabbits walked up a rather steep hill, and up on top of the hill was a large oak tree with a hollow at its base. Three other rabbits lived there, and Sass soon found out that they were his son and his son's wife, and their daughter. Sass didn't wonder why the rabbits lived so far from everything else and joined the family for dinner and looked forward to sleeping in a bed

When he woke up the next morning, Sass was like a different rabbit. He had no desire to continue on his journey to Belgium for chocolate. The food the previous night had seemed to cure him of his desire for all chocolate! Instead he was drawn towards the daughter of the couple. Which was fairly odd because the night before he had had no interest in her. He had an uneasy feeling, but that day he helped the family out and decided to stay for dinner and then for another night, and the next day it was the same story.

And the next.

Slowly he began to forget things...He forgot he had ever liked chocolate at all!
One day the old rabbit told him, "it's time you had a home of your own. Go down the hill and scout out a good tree for a home. And then you may marry Lily." (For that was the daughter's name. She and Sass had fallen in love during his stay).

Sass was overjoyed he had gotten permission to marry Lily and hurriedly he scrambled down the hill in search of a good home.

Suddenly he smelt something. Something vaguely familiar, something enticing...
He followed his nose. He HAD to know what this smell was! He followed the scent. It lead him straight to an old hollowed tree. Someone inside was eating a darkly colored....chocolate?!

He yanked the dark deliciousness out of the hand of whoever it was (he didn't look close enough to notice) and took a bite. All of a sudden all his memories came back!

It hit him like a hammer, everything that had happened so far. He was angry with the old man and his fiancee, what about her? How could she have done that to him!

So Sass once again set out for Belgium, in lust for chocolate. He did finally find Belgium, but he never found full satisfaction in chocolate. And some nights he wondered how his life would have been if only he had stayed to marry Lily.

The End.