In the beginning of time, long before People showed up, the Great White Hare decided to create the earth. He formed the planet with his paws then thoughtfully organized all living things, releasing the globe, and grew it to its present size.
You might not have known about this but the Great Hare and his many gifts to humankind - fire, prosperity, fertility, longevity - are well known to many Native Americans and celebrated in traditional rabbit dances. Rumors of the Great Hare's exploits may well have been the basis of the mythical Easter Bunny, believed by many to be related to the Moon goddess Astarte. The Easter Bunny is also believed to bless people with the rabbitly gifts of prosperity and fertility, represented by colorful eggs, but his relationship with the Moon goddess has taken him down an unfortunate trail.
The courageous and compassionate bunny who sacrificed his life to save Buddha couldn't have known how his valiant act might end up sullying the rabbit's reputation for purity. As a reward, the Buddha sent the helpful hopper's soul to the moon, where he is said to sit in the lap of the Moon God to this day. Things should have ended happily there but there's always someone looking to make trouble. All that hobnobbing with lunar deities just didn't sit well with certain medieval Europeans. And the hyperactive hoppers' manic courtship rituals - a very lively, rollicking romp in the moon-lit fields - were just a little too pagan to suit their straightlaced religious views. In no time the village gossips were spreading rumors of black magic, sorcery and unlicensed witchcraft. Some even claimed to have seen witches transform themselves into rabbits under the power of the moon for purposes far too vile to discuss in polite society.
Stories of rabbit-witches dancing with wild abandon under the moon, bringing bad luck to the unfortunate souls who caught them in the act, were common in those dark days, and some persisted even into more enlightened times.
Well, nobunny's perfect, and certainly every hare has more than a few drops of trickster blood running through its veins. But the truth is, not a single hare has ever been caught practicing witchcraft or morphing from witch to bunny or vice versa. Asian tradition, in fact, claims the lively lapin's lunar antics are only evidence of their great spiritual power and longevity. Some of the more ethereal hares are known to be immortal, or at least to live to a very ripe old age, but their earth-bound cousins seek immortality through the traditional means of procreation. Can you blame them? Bunnies know how to have a good time - in the light of the full moon on a sultry evening, what self-respecting hare wouldn't hop at the chance for some misbehaving in the meadow? The only magic involved is that old black magic of love!
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