I should start my Tale at the beginning, with the long and sometimes complicated story of my birth. I have had many adventures, and have done many things, but that one was the story of how I lost my family. The night was long, longer than it aught to have been, and I was born beneath the cold and evil full moon. Since that time I have never seen anything quite like it, but the elders of my warren... they had a plan to appease what they knew to be the stars... They banished me.
It was hard on me, being alone, but I dealt. I dealt by meeting other creatures and learning their ways. The first one I met was a Porcupine, with a rather thorny disposition. I met him in a rose plant, and I mistook him for one of those. "What are you?" I asked, when I saw that he was eating the plant. "And what are you eating?"
"I am eating the thorns off this rose bush, while they are still young, little Kit," he said, grumbling at me the whole while. "They are rather tasty, and since I protect my roses from thieves myself I have no need for such things." He pondered for a second. "Why don't you help me prune them? They will nourish you, and I will give you thirteen of my shed quills in return for the work, for it must be done quickly."
I was rather young and noble, so I did as I was asked, and I learned how do differentiate between the young soft thorns and those that were too hard and would bloody my muzzle. I worked and I worked, and it did feed me for nearly a year, but I continued to cut my mouth again and again. That Porcupine, it seems, had tricked me to an extent, being much happier eating from his stores than joining me in this task. For he knew that rabbits were normally adept at it, not that I was until after I had been performing it for a while.
Still, I completed my task after some time and the porcupine did as he promised, giving me thirteen of his sharp quills wrapped in a leaf. "Why... thank you." I said, not knowing any other response to end this relationship. I was still naive, and I did not understand that I had been tricked. I would eventually learn the truth, but that is another story for another day.
The next creature that I met was Mole, who was a far more hard-working fellow than the porcupine. "Come, brother, join me in the ground." He said, asking me to help him dig. "If you help me, I will teach you to borough like a mole, the best way to dig there is, and I will feed you with the roots we uncover." of course I was still naive, so I joined in his tedious endeavor.
Unlike Porcupine, Mole had a work ethic, and continued to help me while I dug. Every day of that year we would start with him giving me a lesson in digging. It would take hours and hours, into the night and day, as he had a different concept of time than surface dwellers did. "Come, child, and dig like so." He would say, moving in his rhythmic and powerful way. And he would give me a swat on my butt every time I failed to do as he did.
While I never did get the hang of mole-digging, I did have roots to fill my belly for a time and that satisfied me. Still, it was poor because Mole also consumed the worms of the dirt, which would make me sick, and would chastise me for how I had poor manners. I don't know if Mole ever understood the difference between the pair of us, but it was certainly something.
I left when I felt that I had learned enough about how to dig. Mole certainly would have disagreed, but I had no patience for such hard and tedious work. It was far less bloody than in the thistle, and far less painful than biting on those sharp thorns, but it hurt my body in ways I would never like to experience again. A soreness of work, something that I hated and would avoid for the rest of my life.
He did, however, give in when I left and gave me an additional gift: a thick and juicy root that he had been keeping for months, and he said to me, "This root is long, thick, and nourishing. It has been enchanted, by the way it grew, to last forever. I give this to you because you cannot hunt, but I wish that you use it wisely. Remember, there is always food just under the surface of the ground." I nodded, and received his gift with appreciation, much preferring his kind sternness to the lazy greed of Porcupine.
The next animal I met was Spider, a master weaver. She was in love with tales. "I cannot feed you, and nore can you me, but I can weave you a bag for your things," she said, pointing at the gifts and rewards I had already gained. "You are encumbered by your prizes, but in return for this I ask that you bring me a tale. I will safeguard of your things, but you must hurry in return." Naive as I was, I left my things at her feet and ran to find stories to tell. Thankfully she was not a thief, so my things were in fact safe with her.
First, I went to the starlings, with their wonderful warbling songs. I asked them what sorts of stories they sung about, and if they could tell me a story of adventure. "We have no such thing to tell," They responded. "We sing only of love, but if you wish, we will tell you a tale." And they told me of a beautiful bird that had spent its entire life in love with itself, and had died because he refused to disturbed his reflection in the water to feed himself. I returned this tale to Spider, and she nodded and waived for me to go on.
Then I went to Wolf, the master of the forest, asking him if he could tell me of his adventures. "No," he said. "I have spent too long with adventure. Instead I will tell you a tragedy." So he told me of a wolf king who had died, and had been forced to watch his kingdom in sadness as it was wrought with strife between his brothers, and eventually his by son, who would regain the throne. Spider enjoyed this story, but asked for more, as she continued to make my pouch.
Finally , there were few animals close enough to meet, so I inevitably met Fox, and I asked him if he could tell me a story of adventure. "Yes," he said with a sharp toothed grin. "Of course I can." Thus, he told me about a bandit who would steal from the local deer. This was before the ponies had come, he said, when deer were the only ones to wander the forests besides the animals. Though I was afraid, I listened to the story, and returned the tale to spider.
With this she was impressed, as I had faced my greatest fear as a rabbit to bring her a story, so she was satisfied with my work. "Good then, that is good enough." She said with a simile. "Here is your pouch, and a scarf as well. I hope that it keeps you warm brother Rabbit." And forthwith I went upon my way. I had gotten quite more than I had asked for. I kept the pouch under my scarf with the needles and root hidden inside it's silk.
The next animal I met was Raven, a beautiful hen that I had never seen before. She was instantly my idol, who's feathers were as black as my fur. "Hmm, you are the Rabbit everyone is speaking of? I have a job for you, I believe." She smiled and leaned down to pick me up, carrying me into a tree. "It must wait until night, but we are going to steal silver from some ponies.
She was a thief, it turned out, but a good one. "My feathers are black, like your fur, which makes for a perfect camouflage at night," she said, with a wink. "If you help me I will teach you my skills, I will teach you to steel and cheat your way out of the arduous work of those others." While I was still naive enough to believe her and her promises, I had learned to hate work and quickly agreed.
That night she dropped me off on top of the pony cabin, and instructed me to sneak in. It was easy enough, as no one would expect a small creature such as myself to come in through the chimney. I used my powerful legs to cushion my fall and muffle my landing. I tread into the bedroom, leaving a trail of soot on the floor, and grabbed the silver necklace that was my target from inside of the drawer.
I noted my footprints, and on my way out I manipulated them look like those of a cat, and hopped my way back up the chimney. I gave Raven the necklace, and she took me away from the house, and I rested easily. The next night Raven appeared before me, in rage. "You framed my girlfriend!" she yelled, before describing that Cat had been captured and was in a kennel for
my deeds, before leaving in a huff.
Deciding to go and save Cat, I Snuck into the building on my own. It was hard, as I had to sneak past dogs and ponies alike, but I would be able to do it... this time without leaving tracks. I used one of Porcupine's quills to unlock the cage and get Cat out... In return I followed her back to Raven's nest, and stole some of Raven's feathers.
I had learned that I needed to look after myself, because Raven had been planning on leaving me to take the blame for the theft. But I still had compassion for other creatures in the woods, so I was remembered for saving cat rather than my other deed. Raven never noticed that I had taken her feathers, seven of them, to add to my now twelve count of porcupine quills.
My final story from when I was a young kit was the story of how I learned to speak pony tongue, the story of my first encounter with a deer on equal terms... where I wasn't simply stealing from them. I met him along the path in the forest, far from the pony settlement. He was one of the few hoofed ones with the gift to speak with animals, a brown spotted buck who had long antlers.
"Hello there Rabbit" He said to me, in animal-speak. "I can talk to you fairly easily, what do you say to that?" I knew he wasn't a pony, and I had heard that Deer had been able to speak with our people for hundreds of years. However this was new to me, and I had trouble responding at first.
"Hard to say honestly..." I said, staring at him. "I have never spoken to one like you, I don't know if any of my kind has." He smiled at this, and gestured at me to approach. "Well, I have a special talent regarding these woods, so I can speak to those animals that inhabit it."
"Odd, but fortuitous." I proclaimed, with a grin on my face. "I want to learn your talent, to speak your tongue." I had nothing but contempt for him then, as I wished to learn all-speak simply to trick more creatures and to be able to gain more fortunes.
"Well, that is not within my talent. But I do know elders who may be able to do something, though I cannot bring them here to meet you. You will have to come with me." I was used to this sort of tit for tat, so I agreed to follow him and go to his tribe. At the time I had no idea how big the world was, never imagining anything beyond my woods... It would be a rude awakening.
