Week 2 Story
Re-telling of The Foolish, Timid Rabbit...
Not really sure why rabbits are considered dumb in this picture, but it was funny
Running From the Truth Like a Dumb Rabbit, May 2, 2015
One day, as the sun was setting, an ambitious young rabbit
was sitting beneath a tree. This ambitious rabbit was envious of the wise old
lion and his influence over the other animals and was trying to figure out a
way to sway the other animals to follow him. But he had nothing of value to
say. He was just a blowhard with nothing of importance to say, so it seemed
impossible to ever take center stage.
Then he thought, “I may have nothing of importance to say,
but all I have to do is say SOMETHING, almost anything, and as long as I say it
loud and confidently enough, some creatures will inevitably follow me. And then
other creatures will follow them, and so on and so on.”
So, suddenly, the young rabbit jumped up and yelled, “The end
times are here! The world is ending!” And he ran as quickly as he could.
Other creatures saw this, and while most rolled their eyes
at the young rabbit, some followed, wanting to know why he was running so fast.
When he told them that the earth was ending, they didn’t ask
how he knew this or what scientific or academic or peer-reviewed research he
was basing this on, they just ran. They ran and shouted that the world was
ending.
Soon, others began to follow, and before long there were
hundreds of other animals running and screaming about the end of the world. As
the stampede rolled on, previously skeptical animals began to doubt their own
original doubtfulness. “Look at all of these animals running and shouting,”
they would say, “if that many animals believe that the world is actually
ending, then it must be true!”
After a while, all of the creatures of the earth were
running around the world screaming about the inevitable heat death of the universe.
The wise lion approached this diverse herd and asked, “Why are you all running?”
They replied, “The end of times is here! Quick, run!”
But the lion said, “That’s foolish, here is an article in
this scientific journal saying the complete opposite of what you are panicking
about.”
But the herd wouldn’t listen, and they trampled the lion to
death. After this, the unqualified, blowhard of a rabbit was the animal king,
despite not being qualified.
*Author's Note:that is why it is important to question everything that
is not presented as fact and to listen to people who are qualified in the field
of study at hand, rather than your uncle on Facebook who just got the internet
last year.
Story Source: "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit", from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit
Hey Taylor,
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting take on the The Foolish, Timid Rabbit! I wouldn't have thought to portray the rabbit in the story as malicious! Also I enjoyed the point you were trying to get across in your story. You are absolutely right in that people need to question everything. There's this interesting quote from a book I read regarding the lies people will believe: "People will believe a lie because they want it to be true, or fear that it might be."
Hi Taylor! I like how you portray the Rabbit as both dumb and malevolent. It adds another layer of depth to the story and makes it more interesting to read. It also makes it so the story does not have a good ending, and that there are very negative effects for believing facts and statistics that have no evidence behind them. However, the scientific journal was a little difficult to follow. It definitely makes the story a lot different than the original, but it seems a little out of place because they are animals and not people. If you simplified the scientific journals to an easier object, then I bet the story would be a lot simpler. For example, the lion could prove the rabbit was lying by showing them a location or something simple to attempt to prove the world was not ending. Great job on your story, looking forward to reading more throughout the semester.
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