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Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?
Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus,
and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton,
and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh.
To be great is to be misunderstood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hello
boys and girls. Welcome to EmersonVille—E-Ville for short—named for our beloved leader, Ralph Waldo. My name is
Hare. You’ve been invited to my story-telling session to learn what really happened between Tortoise and me. We’ll
be together for a few minutes, and then you’ll move on to another session. By the way, I hear Cinderella’s stepmom
has a delightful story. Make sure you check her out.
Anyway,
my fellow E-Villains include characters like Captain Hook, Red Riding Hood’s Wolf, Rapunzel’s Enchantress and
others. You’ve probably read about them. They have been famous for generations, but lived tortured lives. Do you know
what tortured means? It means that no matter what you do, you never feel appreciated. Most people thought my friends and I
were weird, boastful, and even out of our minds. We were just misunderstood and wanted to be liked.
We are
here on story telling day to set the record straight. Here’s my story. According to your school books, I was made out
to be a real show off. Raise your hands if that’s what you thought… Yes, I see most of you believe that…
Little girl, why didn’t you raise your hand? … Oh, thank you—you like my furry tail? That’s very sweet
of you.
Actually,
it was my tail that got me in the predicament of racing with a turtle. Yeah, I know, he said he was a “tortoise.”
He’s just a reptile who wanted you to think he was
from the upper side of the pond. He’s the real show off.
Anyway,
T, as I called him, came up to me one day as he often did and made a nasty comment about my tail. I was just sitting beside
the road reading a good book—trying to relax. Then, he called me “frizzytail.” He started in
on me for no good reason. He even had buddies hiding in their shells cheering him on. I try to ignore animals like that, but that day it was hard to do.
As T
kept at it, I remembered a wise owl told me to settle differences without fighting. That’s why I came up with the idea
of having a race with this pond vermin. The bet was that I’d give him a big head start and if I won the race, he’d
stop calling me nasty names. I was sure I’d leave him in the dust. Here’s where my plan went wrong.
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What
you may not know is that I have a bunch of brothers and sisters. (Our families tend to run big.) My mother and father were
killed by poachers who thought shooting rabbits was fun. I had to take care of my family when I was just five years old. I
gathered food and fur for the nest and had other responsibilities. On race day I was tired from being up all night with my
sisters, Flopsie and Hayzel. Boy, can they cry when their tummies hurt!
Anyway,
I took a nap during the race thinking I would wake up and out run the animal who travels in his house. As it turns out, I
slept long and hard and T won the race.
So history
has it that I was foolish, and T was wise. “Slow and steady wins the race” is how he is remembered. Of course,
my memory of him is quite different. Nevertheless, I forgave T for his harassment. Despite all that he did to me (along with
his undeserved fame), I woke up one morning and was not angry anymore. I don’t know why; it just hit me that I actually
cared for Tortoise. Maybe, I even loved him.
I’m
now the King of the Rabbit Patch. My siblings are better for my being around. I do good works at rabbit shelters. I feel appreciated,
and I’ve had a fun life. I’m glad I forgave Tortoise.
Unfortunately,
my friend never learned the lesson of being kind to others. One day he was teasing a sheep about her tail. It turns out the
sheep was a wolf in disguise. Sadly, the wolf had a keen appetite for…you guessed it… turtle soup.
Thank
you children for listening to my story. It’s time to move on to the next group. Stay together, and be kind to one another.
“The moral to this tale is in the form of a question:
“How long does it take to love someone?”
The answer: “In the beat of a heart.”
To hear a sample of The Hare’s
Song performed by his Royal Muse Cheryl,
click the play button on the media icon below.
*The Hare's Song is entitled "How Long
Does It Take? (To Love Someone)" ©
Written and performed by Cheryl Farrell.
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