Today’s Little Legend:
Mean ‘Ol Mr. Fox is a short story about a hungry fox who’s decided to pick on a local family of rabbits for his breakfast. It’s set in a little village full of animals in a forest, and has a feel somewhat similar to Beatrix Potter’s stories.
Rebecca shook the broom at him, looking very, very unhappy. “Your reputation precedes you, don’t you know?”
“Hmm?” Ferrier looked to the side, up at the sky, at the ground – generally anywhere where Rebecca’s unhappy face was not. “Well, I- I have a reputation?”
“Yes, and it’s not very good,” Rebecca insisted.
It features the setting and some characters from The Roaming Mole, which is another story somewhat in the same vein but is more along the lines of a lighthearted mystery. This piece is shorter, and has a more straightforward good guys vs. bad guys vibe. It would be good for children who enjoy that type of story. I figured after writing The Roaming Mole I would eventually get around to writing a companion story or two, considering how many characters were in it, and – well – here we are!
A Short Anecdote:
I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. (That was what I always told people when I was little anyway.) And when you grow up on a farm, you grow up with lots of animals.
Lots. And lots. Of animals. And not all of them belong to you.
And I don’t mean that you stole the animals. I mean wild critters, the things you love looking at from a distance but are too shy to approach because if you’re not quiet enough they bolt off faster than you can say “Bob’s your uncle”.
But I remember one time when I was little. I loved rabbits when I was little. Love love loved em. I still do, but not like I did when I was wee. Back when I was wee, I would check books out of the school library about rabbits. I read all about rabbits. I read about raising and keeping and breeding rabbits and all the different types.
Back then, I caught a rabbit. By hand.
I think I was eight at the time. It was just a little one, and I don’t remember how I managed it. I think it was a cottontail, probably a year old, maybe younger.
I think I just chased it around until I could pick it up (I was a fit little 8-year-old!), and I held it and paraded it around for a while until it got tired of me and jumped out of my arms. It shot off and away and I chased it again until it dove into a hole behind the barn. While I was parading it around I was thinking of keeping it as a pet, but now it was stuck in a hole and I didn’t know how to get it out, so I left it alone. Have no idea what happened to that rabbit, but I hope it had a happy rabbit-y life.
Coming up:
A little fantasy tale about the king’s orcharder, his new apprentice, and a tree that produces golden apples. It is both parable and allegory, and was inspired by a real tree that grows golden apples (not of the sheen described in-story).
About this publication:
Little Legends is a biweekly periodical, geared towards families and individuals looking for positive, honest storytelling. It features a short story, some relevant information or an anecdote, and anything else that may have been produced such as poetry. You can read more about me, the author, here. Thanks for reading.
C.M.Rininger 