Written by: Abdo Ali Al-Fahd

A friend of mine told me that he had a friend in the village who followed him like a shadow. His hobby was hunting rabbits. He would accompany him on hunting trips to the valleys and mountain slopes. While his friend hunted rabbits, he would collect firewood and light a fire. They would roast and eat. This continued for a while. One day, he told him that rabbits were rare, but after a while, they disappeared, and we couldn't find anything to hunt. He said, "We will bring a rabbit to this slope and let it breed." He went to the market, bought a male and a female, and left them to graze on the slope. After several days, he searched for them but couldn't find any. Then he heard that one of the young men in the village had hunted them. He went to him, and an argument broke out. He denied it and said that what he had hunted was a wild rabbit. He was confused! Then, a few days later, he came back to me. He stood in front of my door and called me. I went out, and he said, "Lend me the price of a rabbit?" I said, "It will go after the first one." He replied, "I will buy a white rabbit and announce its color to everyone, so no one will hunt it." I agreed with him on the idea, except that I did not give him the price, and I was not able to fulfill his request; I did not have any money. His anger increased, and he left in a hurry, and went to the slope of the mountain, looking for the rabbit! He did not find a trace of the rabbit, and entered a cave and took shelter, lying on his back, and continued to examine the grooves in the cave ceiling with his eyes. A stone the size of a watermelon fell from the ceiling of the cave and landed next to him; its location appeared; a hole from which a strong, hot, foul wind gushed. He was unable to get up from the severity of the slap, so he covered his face with his hands and turned on one of his side. He felt the wind stop;

 He uncovered his face and saw a white rabbit emerging from the hole from which the stone had fallen. He jumped beside him and sat watching him like a tame cat. He stretched out his paw towards him, leaned his ears back, and stroked his head, submissive. Every time he stroked his back, the rabbit relaxed and placed his head in his arms. He said to himself: This is the rabbit I intended to buy. Where did it come from? No one had ever seen a white rabbit in the open. Suddenly! He saw the stone that had fallen; flying slowly until it returned to the place from which it had fallen, in the ceiling of the cave, and the hole closed. He felt startled and terrified; he pushed the rabbit aside, got up, and left the cave, his body trembling. The rabbit followed him, and after several steps, he crossed the shadow. The sun’s rays lashed him, so he sank and sank inside, and fell from his position, unconscious. He woke up before sunset, terrified, and saw the rabbit circling around him. He began to return towards the village, the rabbit following him. When he approached,

 The dogs barked at him, so the rabbit ran away from him towards a ravine. His friend met him, and in the middle of the village, he stood up and announced, “My white rabbit, if anyone catches it, their punishment will be severe.” He was strong and muscular, feared by the young men, and fascinated by the girls. The next day, he went to the same cave, stretched out on the floor, looking at the ceiling, to see the white rabbit emerge. However, he dozed off for a while, and when he woke up, he saw a huge number of white rabbits filling the cave around him. Sitting in regular circles, all looking at him. He sat up straight, his body trembling, and looked in all directions, finding no space or passage. He grabbed the biggest and fattest of them, then got up with the rabbit in his hand. All the rabbits that were around him left, scattering in all directions until they disappeared into the meadows of the ravine. He kept holding the rabbit in his hand and walked towards the village. When he arrived, the villagers gathered around him. They whisper among themselves: How did he find that white rabbit on the hunt?

 None of us had ever seen a white rabbit in the pasture like the one we see! He raised the rabbit with his hand high and said, “Here you see the white rabbit; there are others like it spread out in the pasture. If any of you happen to catch one, he will have attacked my rabbits, which are my possessions and property. This is my second warning. Whoever does that will have put himself in danger; he will fall into the circle of my wrath, and my sword will cut off his head.” Those around him hid away, so he made his way until he reached his friend. They slaughtered the rabbit, roasted it, and ate it. He continued in this state for a while. During the planting season, the farmers’ voices rose, complaining that the fields on the outskirts of the village were being invaded by wild rabbits that were gnawing at the crops. No one dared to confront them because they were protected by their owner, Ali Baqiya. The farmers gathered in front of Ali Baqiya’s house, so he went out to them. They presented their complaint to him, explaining what their farms were exposed to, from being devoured by the white rabbits spread in the valleys surrounding the village! He replied: I will verify the validity of your complaint, then I will tell you what you must do to protect your farms! The group dispersed, each to his own destination. Ali Baqiya went to his friend, offering to help him find a solution to this dilemma! He replied: The solution is easy; you have to announce to everyone that hunting them is permissible. Then, not a short time passed until

would have been wiped out completely! He said: Haven't you asked yourself what would happen to me and you if I did that? We would certainly return to our previous suffering from hunger? They replied: What do you think? He said: You must announce to everyone to be present to hear what I have to say? Everyone gathered without fail. Ali, the rest of them, stood up and said: You know without argument what my condition was before I owned my rabbits: hunger and hardship, and what I am now: luxury and comfort! They replied loudly: We all know that! He said: Do you see that my rabbits have run out? Where do I get my needs from? They replied: We know that harm will come to you, but what is happening to us is far greater than that. It is not fair that you sacrifice our common interests for your own interest! He said: You know that what I need is to satisfy my hunger with grilled meat. Are you able to fulfill my request so that I can remove my rabbits from your farms? They replied: What is your request? Tell us.

 Let's see if we can do that. He said: I don't ask you for more than what I already have: a roast beef meal for my lunch, dinner, and morning; it comes to me in my own backyard. Otherwise, leave me alone. There was a lot of commotion. Some of them said: Let's consider the idea. We'll come back to give you our opinion in the morning. Can you keep the rabbits away from our farms tonight?

Reply: No! Our appointment is tomorrow. The gathering dispersed, then they gathered to consult. Some of them said: What Ali Baqiya is asking for is a ransom ram every day, and all the farmers of the village do not have enough for three months, so there is no point in that, because the rabbits will surely return to what they were! Others said: We will grant his request and give him a ransom every day until we finish harvesting the fields. After that, we will tend to back down, and then we will have avoided the danger, because the rabbits usually do not harm us from their return. They agreed on the second opinion, so they went to him the next day with a ram. His friend slaughtered and cooked it, while Ali Baqiya went to the rabbit cave, blew a whistle, and the rabbits gathered around him. He pointed with his finger to the stone in the ceiling of the cave; it fell. He opened the trench, and the rabbits flocked to him, climbing up. They continued to enter, while he remained standing, until they had completely entered. He pointed to the stone, and they returned to their place. He returned to the village. He came across one of them in a field. He tried to catch it, but it stood on its feet and raised its hands.

 He said: Do you think you can catch me? He replied: You disobey me; I called and everyone came, so why didn't you come? He said: You no longer have power over me; after you ate the lamb and returned the stone to its place. Look around you, what do you see? He replied: Cultivated fields. He said: Close your eyes and then open them! He replied: It's not possible, where did the crops of the fields go? He said: I showed them all by myself in the blink of an eye. He asked him: Who are you? He replied: I will tell you. He pulled me from my place with one of his hands and threw me towards the village, so I fell kneeling in front of my companion, unconscious. His companion worked hard to revive him, and after some effort he opened his eyes, and asked him: How did you come? He replied: I have no idea what you saw. He said: I saw you hit the ground in front of me like a worn rag tossed by a strong wind. Here, eat your roast meat!

He said: Have you forgotten that I still have a remainder? How can you mock me? Give me a piece of wood, thinking it is roast meat? He replied: It is meat. Look how I chew it and swallow it! He said: You are no longer my friend; you are a jinn who swallows sticks. Get out of my way. His friend stepped aside and walked with faltering steps, while his friend continued walking behind him. He entered one of the ruins and lay down in one of its corners

 He was about to cover himself with the blanket, but he saw his friend behind him and said, “What do you want from me? Why are you following me to my house?” He replied, “This is a deserted ruin. Come with me, I will take you home.” He said angrily, “Go away from me. What have I done to make you chase me, you genie?” His friend left him after he despaired and continued to bring him food, place it next to him, and leave. A while passed and he remained in this state. One night, rain fell accompanied by lightning and thunderbolts. Suddenly, a rabbit knocked on the door. He opened the door and saw Ali Baqiyya standing there, his clothes bleeding and his body trembling. He hurriedly let him inside, gave him clothes, food, and a drink, then said, “Have you regained your senses and remembered that I am your best friend?” Jad replied, laughing, “Is it the rabbits’ habit?” He answered, “They no longer appear after they inhabited the ruin.” Ali Baqiyya returned to his former state;

 So he went on with his life, except that his conditions worsened and his character changed. When he walked, he felt that his body no longer had weight. He was no longer able to control his steps. He ate voraciously, as if someone shared his food with him. Since that day, they called him the rabbit; he devoured whatever he found in front of him, even grasses. His life became a mystery. This happened to him when he was in the prime of his youth. He is now an old man, over 100 years old, and walks with quick steps as if he were ten years old.