The Fox and the Rabbitt--Gordon

The Fox and the Rabbit

You are an animal (pick any animal) and you are stalking your prey - write a scene from the animal's perspective

Suddenly, I heard a squeal and woke with a start.

The day was brilliant sunshine and I had had a long sleep but there was a constant wariness and readiness that left me tired. I lay on the ground in the dappled sunlight hidden in a hollow in the shade of the covering scrub. It was the perfect den.

The rabbit ran and I chased. She ran slowly at first as though nothing had happened. Then with a spurt of speed turned sharply left. Then with a confusion of left turns and right turns, turned right. There was hesitancy and more confusion, with small leaps and then runs. I was close but it was hard to turn right or left. I could lengthen my stride and gallop but the turns were very difficult. The rabbit ran for a big log lying on the ground and rapidly squeezed through a hole underneath the log. I had no chance of going through. Quickly I bounded around the end of the log and a long way before me was the grey rabbit, running through the grass, down the hill. I stood and pondered another loss.

The peace and quiet of the den seemed far away and lost in the excitement of the chase I had forgotten my three pups also sleeping in the den.

From above I had a sense of something in the sky as a tiny shadow passed before me. I looked up and a large eagle was gliding across the patch of scrub covering the den. “My pups”, I thought and I looked back. The three small pups were playing outside the bush covering the den. The eagle landed on the thin branch on the large eucalypt overlooking the bush. The branch swayed with the weight of the eagle. He balanced on it and then looked straight at the three pups. I yelped with a bark and the pups stopped and searched with a startled look. I yelped again and they came running toward me across the paddock. I ran toward the three, now scampering across the grass and oblivious to the danger from above.

As I ran at full speed, the eagle swooped toward my smallest pup and missed. With his big wings he quickly soared into the air again and turned for another swoop. This time he held his claws downward and swooped again with a crunching stop on the small pup. I raced toward the eagle and with a mighty leap bit at his neck just as he started to flap to lift off from the ground. I held tight. The great wings flapped in panic and feathers started to fly around us. I still held on tight and flipped the eagle from one side to the other. Slowly, the flapping subsided and I began to relax my grip. My pup was free and the other pups scampered back to the den. The little pup seemed dazed but not harmed. This was a lesson never to be forgotten.

I dragged the eagle toward the den and ate. The pups joined in.

Gordon MacAulay
23 February 2010