An Off-Road Fairy Tale , which may yet have a happy ending .

Hoppy and his family hurried to pack their belongings before the bad humans came. Mommy Rabbit dressed the little bunnies while Hoppy gathered the few possessions they would be able to carry. Jack, the oldest bunny, tried to stay brave, but the younger bunnies were crying in fear. "Why Daddy, why? Why did the bad humans come here?" "I don't know" said Hoppy. "The bad humans take all the land for themselves and leave none for anyone else." "We have to go now children" he said, "for we too are in great danger!" The little bunnies asked "What about the other animals, Daddy, what will they do?" Mommy Rabbit's head hung low. "They must flee far from the bad humans as well, my children, for their homes are no longer their own."

Suddenly, and without warning, a large, shiny piece of metal crashed through the roof of the Rabbit family's burrow! Hoppy dove to get his youngest child out of harms way. "Now!" shrieked Mommy Rabbit. "We have to get out of here now"! As they scrambled for the back door, Hoppy looked up through the gaping hole in his roof and saw a man holding what the off-roaders had called a "shovel" in his hands. "How strange" he thought, "that a tool that can help the humans free their marvelous machines can cause so much destruction when used in the wrong hands."

As they escaped into the forest, Hoppy stopped and turned to look on his beloved home one last time. Where once he had seen a beautiful forest with trees, streams and trails, he now saw a sight he had become too familiar with over the years. A group of the bad humans were laying some kind of trap across the path. Several trees had been cut down and rocks had been moved. The stream that had came from the big pond now flowed across the path and was washing it away! "Such waste" thought Hoppy, "The good humans cut trees too, but they use them to help each other and plant new ones when they're done."

Out of the night sky flew Cedric the Crow. He circled the Rabbits, squawking "Flee! Flee! The pond is coming! The pond is coming!" "What do you mean, the pond is coming?" asked Mommy, confused at such a strange thing to say. "It's the Dam," said Hoppy, "they must have destroyed this one too." "Yes! Yes!" crowed the bird, "I can't find Benny the Beaver! I think he's dead!" With much haste, Hoppy and his family ran toward the high ground.

As they climbed onto a large outcropping of rock, a wall of water rushed below them! The rock shook violently and Jessica, the littlest Rabbit, fell into its swirling depths! "Hoppy!" shrieked Mommy Rabbit. Hoppy dove into the twisting maelstrom of water after his child. Then he was gone. "No!" cried Mommy. "Hoppy!" she screamed, "Hoppy, where are you?"

Some minutes had passed as Mommy Rabbit turned to her children with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry my little bunnies, but I fear that Daddy and your baby sister are dead." "Daddy!" wailed the little bunnies. Mommy held the little bunnies to her chest to comfort them. Suddenly from behind her, Hoppy appeared carrying the littlest bunny! They were alive! "Daddy!" cried the little bunnies, but this time they were tears of happiness. "What happened?" asked Mommy. "How did you two survive?" "The water washed us away, and I thought it was over," said Hoppy, "but the old human who lives in the cabin down the trail saw us and pulled us on to land." Mommy was relieved. "I'm glad he lives in the forest with us. He's a nice man." "Yes, he is" said Hoppy, "but he doesn't live here any more." "What do you mean?" asked Mommy, as she hopped to the top of the rock. "His cabin is right over ...."

But there was nothing there. The flood from the pond had washed his home away. "What will he do?" asked the children. "Where will he live?" The question hung in the air like a thick fog. Where indeed, for the site where the home once stood now sat under several feet of water. As Hoppy and his family followed this new river's banks , they found the man standing in the wreckage of what was once his home . The rushing water had deposited the house's remains some distance downstream, as it carved it's man made path of destruction through this once tranquil forest. As they drew closer, Hoppy could see the man standing amidst the rubble. As the winds changed his ears perked up and his nose twiched as he heard a faint , mournful sound. It seemed to come from the man's direction, but he was unsure. "Hoppy , we should go " said Mommy, " The bad humans may come this way ".

Though he new she was right , curiosity got the better of him and Hoppy quietly hopped over to hear what the man was saying. Perhaps he was hurt and needed help? The old man, overcome by emotion, sat on the ground and wept. The tears flowed freely over his wrinkled and weathered face. "And why not" thought Hoppy, "after all, his whole world sat destroyed around him, by the selfish actions of a few greedy men and women .....just like mine" .

When the man looked up, he saw the rabbit half hidden behind a tree. "So we meet again, my little fuzzy friend" he said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve . Hoppy slowly moved towards the man and joined him in a time of silence. "It looks as if we have something in common, little rabbit. It looks like you lost your home too" Hoppy looked at the man with that quizzical look only a rabbit can have. "Listen ta' me" said the man, "Ah'm talkin to a rabbit! Boy, iffin' Martha had ever saw me doin' that, sheda' had me in locked up in the loony bin!" The man stared at him for a while, then shook is head with a chuckle. "Why not" he grinned. "Your the mos' company Ah' had in a long spell! "

The man continued; "Ya' know little rabbit, Ah' been out in these here woods a hole' buncha' years, jus' livin off the land, but Ah' was once a rancher in a far away place called Nevada. Ah' raised cattle for milk and sheep for wool. Ah' had a family too, like ah' imagine you do".Hoppy twiched his nose, as Mommy and the little bunnies came to join them. The man saw them and smiled. "Well ah' guess you do" he said with a chuckle. "We did pretty good. We always had food on the table and clothes on our backs. Nevada was once a beautiful place, my little friend, where you could work the earth and land. Your family was safe there. Not like them big cities where ya gotta lock up your whole life and worry about gettin' shot at for crossin' the street .

"Then, one day, "he said, "A bus full o' them Earth Fist types, came and set up camp on my front yard. Said' that ah' was "rapin' the land" or some such hogwash. Said' I had ta' quit my ranchin' and farmin practices immediately or there was gonna be a ruckus! Imagine that! Them there fools went and told me what I was gonna' do on my own land! Ah' couldn't believe ma' ears! ". "Well , ah'm a peaceable sort of man , and ah went and called the authorities , stead'a givin em what they deserved . They came an' took em' off ma' land ,a' kickin an' a hollerin' , but the next day they come back ! Well , Martha an' the kids was gettin' real scared so ah' called the police again , and by the time they got there , them eco-freaks had went an' chained themselves to ma' tractor! They was a' singin' an' a yellin' about savin' the land. Ah' don' wanna' tell ya'll the names they called me an' them police! A nuther' bunch had went into the barn, and "liberated" all ma' animals! " Heck little rabbit " , he said, " they even beat the snot out'a ma' ol' dog "Benji" when he tried ta' stop'em from gettin' in there! God almighty , ya never saw anythin' like it! Ah' had sheep runnin across the highway, ah' had cows in the front lawn; ah'll tell you it was a mess. Three a' them "liberated" sheep got killed when an 18 wheeler came around the bend and couldn't stop quick enough ". " Hoppy thought about the farmer and his animal friends that lived on the farm down the way. He wondered if this was happening to them now.

The man went on; " .....Well the police went and locked a bunch'a them fools up good, then. Charged em' with a goodly bunch a' crimes too . Ain't no wonder. When they looked in that there bus they come in, they found a bunch'a explosives an' a couple a them assult rifles. God his'self only knows what they wuz' gonna do with all that ! " Hoppy didn't know what a "Salt Rifle" was , but the man had looked really scared when he said it . " It didn't stop em' all though" , he went on, " A week later, ma' tractor had it's tires cut , an' dirt poured inta' the engine . Damn fools cost me a bunch a' money to fix it. Another night, they poisoned ma' well and killed 38 head of cattle, 'fore ah realized what was wrong. The police called them Feds in to do something 'bout it, and ah went to work bringin' water in from a spring up on a mountain ah had on ma' land. "

"Ya know something, little rabbit? I guess you cant trust no one no where no how. Them feds said that ah' couldn't do that, on account of some damn law! They said ah' had ta tear it up an' fill it in! Imagine that. They said ah' had to destroy a naturally occurin' source a' water! What in the hell's the matter with em'? Well, I didn't o'course, an they said I had ta' go to court " .

"Well, before that day come, my wife an kids got killed in a car wreck. Hit an run, they said. Some of the people who saw it said it looked like them Earth Fist types that gave us trouble before, but they couldn't prove nothin'. Oh, they're sneaky bastards, they are. Cowards besides. They can't face a body to do thier dirtywork.Oh, they sell them pretty calanders and make people think that they's the best thing since sliced bread, but if people knew what they really did, they shore' would think different. Hell little rabbit , one o' them bigshot's in that " Syonaria Club " went and clear cut a bunch of trees off his own land, after stoping others from doin' the same! Didn't even plant new ones there. Greedy bastard made a bundle on them trees though ".

After losing my whole family, Ah' just gave up, my little friend. Ah' locked the doors and left the ranch. They can have it fer' all ah' care. I come out here to have some peace, an' get away from them fools. " But it looks ta' me that there ain't no where safe, is there " he said .

The man got up then , and rummaged through the debris . Hoppy wondered what could be left that he could have any use for. Finally, the man found what he was looking for. It was one of those fire sticks that made a loud noise . Hoppy had seen hunters use them to get animals to help feed thier families. He was scared when the man turned around with ith fire stick and looked at him". "Don't fret none, little friend this gun ain't for you an' yours" . Slowly, the man sat down,and with a faraway look in his eyes, put the end of the"gun"to his head. "They took everythin' I ever had away from me" he said. "I got nothin now ... Nothin' at all....." .

There was a terrible noise, and the man fell to the ground. Hoppy didn't know what happened, and went to the man's side. Shaken, he quickly returned to his family and said "We have to leave. We must go far away from this place". "What happened", asked Mommy Rabbit, "What did he do"? "He went to be with his family" said Hoppy. "the bad humans won't hurt him any more".

As Hoppy looked around, he saw animals of all kinds running away from from the bad humans and the destruction they had brought to the forest. Birds took to the skies and and the mice ran from thier holes. Everywhere he looked, they ran, panicked and frightened, not knowing where to go.