WHERE DID THE EASTER BUNNY COME FROM?

THE EASTER BUNNY

It was the first time the boy had been allowed to go to market by himself. His name was Micah, and he had turned eleven that winter. He was proud that his father had felt he was ready for such a task, but he was also terrified that he would lose the money he had been given or that he might buy the wrong thing. He didn’t allow his fear to get the best of him, though, and his determination to be worthy of the task and the prospect of a couple of days of freedom and adventure shown bright in his dark eyes as he headed down the road that led away from home.

Micah entered the city early in the morning. He had never seen so many people in one place at one time. It was Passover and he knew the streets would be crowded, but he actually had to dodge and weave just to keep from being pushed to the ground and trampled. He wanted to take in everything, so he didn’t start trying to locate the items on his list right away. Instead he spent the day investigating the city; mentally devouring every sight, every sound, and every smell.

As evening approached he came across a shop where a man was selling and slaughtering animals. Cages were stacked everywhere containing chickens, rabbits, quail, and pigeons. Sheep were tied off in a pen in a corner and the owner’s donkey stood at a post looking bored by the proceedings. Micah had always wanted a pet. However, where he grew up, animals were used only for labor or for food. He knew he would have been ridiculed and thought a sissy if he had ever allowed himself to develop an emotional attachment to any animal. Still, he was drawn to the creatures and wanted to reach into the cages and touch them. As he looked on, the man with the animals began reaching into a cage and pulling rabbits out by the back of their necks. He took one over to a block, sat it down roughly and pulled a large knife from his belt. He took the point of the knife and stuck it into the rabbit’s throat just below its chin and then split the animal open down its gut with a quick sawing motion. Blood spurt across the man’s face, but he didn’t flinch. He pulled out the entrails and then laid the rabbit down on its face and cut a quick slash across its shoulders just below the back of its head. He pulled out a set of tongs and grabbed the flesh at the point of his crude incision and began to peel the hide and fur back from the muscle. Micah thought that the tearing sound was the most awful thing he had ever heard. When the man was done, he tossed the bloody pelt onto a pile of other bloody pelts and threw the meat and bones into a bucket as his feet.

Micah had seen animals slaughtered all his life. His father did it all the time, but he always did it with gentleness and respect for the animal. He couldn’t quite understand it, but he got the feeling watching the man killing the rabbits that the man enjoyed it and that it fed some kind of sick need that he had.

As Micah watched the man he noticed that the rabbits never made a sound, and that when the man would reach into the cage with a bloody hand, the rabbits would lick at the blood as he carried them over to the block and began the ugly work with his knife. Micah became enraged at the rabbits. Why don’t they try to squirm away? Why don’t they at least try and bite his hand? Why do they seem so damn willing to die?

Micah saw that there was only one rabbit left. He started to reach toward the cage while the man’s back was turned and lift the latch so the rabbit could escape, but he thought better of his plan as he watched the shop owner’s cruelty. Micah was momentarily distracted by a group of men walking by carrying food and wine. They were making their way up a narrow stair case to a small room where he assumed they would be observing Passover. One of the men caught Micah’s eye. He seemed to be important because all of the other men were making a fuss over him. In contrast to the man with the knife, this man had very kind eyes, and he stopped and looked down at Micah standing there next to the cages. It was almost as if the man immediately understood what was going on. The man waited until the shop owner’s back was turned and stepped up so that he was standing in front of the cage with the one remaining rabbit. He pretended to be engaged in conversation with his friends, but with the heel of his foot he lifted the latch and kicked the door open a few inches. The rabbit scampered out of the cage and darted through the crowd towards a hole in the wall. The man with the kind eyes looked down at Micah and winked and then turned toward the stairs and made his way up toward the room with the other men. Micah watched the rabbit as it darted for the hole, Just as it was about to scurry through the opening, the rabbit turned back toward Micah. Micah knew that animals don’t actually produce facial expressions the way humans do but just for an instant he thought he saw that stupid rabbit smile, and then it was gone. When the shop owner turned and saw that the last rabbit had escaped, he saw Micah standing there and assumed he had lifted the latch. He began to swear at Micah and started trying to make his way to him through the crowd. Micah was just as quick as the rabbit, and in an instant he was gone too.

That night Micah slept in a doorway, but he didn’t sleep well. His dreams were haunted by the sound of tearing flesh and visions of bloody rabbits.

The next day Micah tried to erase the image of the shop owner slaughtering the rabbits from his mind and began to make his way around town collecting the items on the list his father had given him. Later in the morning he came upon a large group of people and was shocked to see the man with the kind eyes again. People were still making a fuss over him, but this time it didn’t seem like it was because he was an important person. This time it seemed like the people in the crowd were really angry with him. He watched as a soldier tied the man’s hands together and then secured the rope to a ring at the top of a post. They stripped the robe off the man’s back and began to beat him. It was the most brutal thing that Micah had ever witnessed. The flesh was actually being ripped out of the man’s back and it sounded so much like the hide being torn off of the rabbits that Micah wanted to scream. The man with the kind eyes acted just like the rabbits, he didn’t make a sound or try to fight back. Micah wanted to run, but he felt frozen where he was. He couldn’t take his eyes off the man. He hung back in the crowd and when they started moving down the street he followed along.

The crowd made their way up a hill. On top of that hill he saw the man with the kind eyes forgive the soldiers who were hurting him. Micah could no longer stand to watch. He was angry with the man for not fighting back. He reminded Micah of those stupid rabbits licking the blood off the hand of the man reaching into kill them. Micah turned and began to run towards home. On his way, the sky became dark, and thunder began to rumble across the hills. Micah knew that he didn’t understand what he had just seen but he knew that it was important in a way that might take him a lifetime to understand.

He got home just before dawn. He had all of the items on the list, and he hadn’t lost any of the money. His father was proud. Micah slept through most of the day.

On Sunday morning he awoke and began his chores. His father approached him and was hiding something behind his back. His father said “You did a fine job at market and I thought you needed a reward. I know you’ve been wanting a pet, and this little fellow has been hanging around since soon after you left.” Micah’s father produced a crate and Micah peered inside. Two black eyes peered back and he was almost certain that stupid rabbit was smiling.