Story: The Rabbit and the Other Animals
Book: Animal Fables from the Dark Continent
Author(s): Alphonso Orenzo Stafford
Published: 1906
Internet Archive link.

Notes: Light editing for punctuation and paragraphing.

The Animals Build a House

One day many of the animals planned to build a house in which to place their winter food. All agreed to help.

When the rabbit’s turn came to carry some of the bush and one of the poles, he said, “Brothers, my dear wife is very sick and I must go home to nurse her.” As the clever little rabbit did not like to work, he thought this was a good excuse to go home.

When the house was finished, each animal brought his own food and put it in a place where it could be easily found in the rainy season. The lion, leopard, and wolf brought dried meat; the elephant, deer, and cow brought grass and leaves; the squirrel brought acorns and hickory nuts. Persimmons were brought by the opossum, and worms and seeds were brought by the birds.

While this was going on, the little rabbit from his hiding-place near by was softly humming to himself:
Hi, hi, brothers, diddle de dee,
Store in, store in, store in for me.

When the house was full, the animals left. Then the rabbit crept quietly in, looked about, and made up his mind to live there and eat what his friends had gathered. He carried in some water and two large horns, fastened the door and made himself cosy in a warm bed in a comer of the house. “What fun,” he said to himself from day to day, “to eat the food of my brothers and no work to do.”

When the rainy season came, the deer came to get his pile of grass. The door of the house was fastened. He knocked, but no answer came. He knocked again — still no answer. After a while the rabbit took one of the large horns and called out through it in a loud voice, “What is that?” The big voice made the deer jump in fear, but he answered, “It is Brother Deer.” Then the rabbit called out again through the horn, “What do you want here, anyhow?” “I want to come in and get the grass I put away for the winter,” returned the deer. “You can’t come in,” came back the voice through the horn. “Who are you inside?” now asked the angry deer. Then the rabbit took the larger horn and in a louder voice he shouted, ”I am a better one than has ever been in here before.” The voice was so loud and so strange in sound that the deer ran off in fear and told the other animals that a dreadful Thing had taken their house in which their winter food was stored.

The animals were very much surprised to hear this, but they agreed to go together to the house and find out what the dreadful Thing was. When all had come to the house, the lion was asked by his friends to knock. The bold lion knocked on the door, but no answer came. He knocked again, still no answer. Then he asked, “Who is that in there?” The rabbit took up the larger horn, and with all his strength called out, “I am a better one than has ever been here before.” The voice was so harsh and so loud all the animals thought the deer was right and that a dreadful Thing — possibly a spirit — was in the house. They were afraid to break open the door and in terror ran away. They never knew what a trick the rabbit had played upon them.

Sometimes a big noise is taken for the truth.

Illustration from the book; the artist is not identified.

Rabbit in a field, photo by Gary Bendig at Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gary_Bendig_2016_(Unsplash).jpg