The unfairy tale of a dainty Doe

I am ploughing deeper and deeper and so are my fellow burrowmates. My ears are perking up at the sound of my own dewclaws scratching against the soft earth. My kits are shivering, petrified as they are, as if knowing by instinct that they are born prey animals, poor fellows. Foxes, Badgers, Lynxes, our tormentors are many and everywhere. Some chase us to funeral, others love to play with our fears before they gobble us up. And coming to think of it, not trudging on anyone's toes, we live only on some nondescript timothy grass that grow in the wild and hay that is fodder for timid idiots like us any ways. Why, why on earth are we intimidated, tormented, persecuted, and assaulted, as though we are criminals of the worst order ? 

Let me tell you a tale, that has suddenly led to this vigorous digging and the urge to keep away from the sights of our predators, at least till the dust settles. My friend's doe had gone out to look up the moon and say hello to her, last weekend. Her kits were snugged comfortably at home and she was in no hurry to return to her burrow soon. I passed by her that evening, but swaying as she was in the soft cradle of moonlight, she did not notice me, nor my cherry wink. She seemed almost inebriated, lost and happy. Oh ! how happy she was, very happy. A few rabbits, whom I had not really seen before, were entering the forest, as I looked back, one last time, before calling it a day.

And the morning after was terrible, I tell you. Those rabbits whom I had seen last night were jackals in rabbit's garb. They knew where my friend's doe was, unprotected and unsuspecting, lost in her own world. And they had come to assault her and violate her in every way possible. She had fought like a tigress, but was battered and bruised beyond recognition. Somehow she had managed to give them a slip and return to her family in the wee hours of the morning. And there she was, traumatised and speechless, shivering and badly shaken up. We begged and implored with her to make a complaint to The Great Lioness, but she was in no state of mind to think this through. 

After a few days she gathered herself back, rather gathered back her courage, and went to complain to the wolves. Who does not know that wolves are The Great Lioness's eyes and ears, headed by the Little Cub ? She thought she would get justice. She thought the wolves would get the storks pick up the jackals and take them to task. Oh how naive our doe was ! The wolves laughed at her, and, lo and behold, wanted to spend another moonlit night with her in the woods, exactly at the same spot, where she was violated by the jackals ! What would you do, if you are in a similar fix ? You wouldn't go to the Bard and let your ignominy be made public, would you ? But my friend's doe is different. She went ahead and did just that. And then all hell broke loose.

A good alpha wolf, having heard her story, decided to act. She did not know from before, otherwise she would have acted way earlier. But the wily wolves did not rest. They went to the Little Cub, and juvenile that he is, fed him with all kinds of cock and bull theories about a great conspiracy to malign the Lioness. The little fellow did not waste a minute and went running to report to his mother immediately. And then came the shocker. The Great Lioness, without even checking the facts once, with an aplomb, declared, from her high rostrum, that my friend's doe is out to destroy the greatness of her Empire and that she is a nuisance to the society ! Lo ! The poor poor victim became a poorer victim for the second time ! The Little Cub went even further and dragged us, the doe's friends, into this so-called conspiracy against the Lioness ! We had almost given up hope of survival but then something happened. Something that none of us ever expected to happen.

The good alpha wolf, dug in her heels, and, no matter what the Lioness said, no matter what the Cub said, went on with her business as vigorously as ever, and brought the evil jackals to justice. And then the birds stated chirping. And the Bard started singing. And the flowers started to bloom. And the river started to gurgle. And the Lioness sulked. And the Cub hid his face. And then, admist all this fun and frolic, a thought suddenly dawned on the whole rabbitdom. When the Lioness is on the prowl next, and when ever she decides to be, she would certainly look us up. She would almost surely like to see who had caused her such disgrace and who dared to defy her golden words. We have heard that the good alpha wolf has already been pulled up for her indiscretion. We must be next in line. So we are ploughing. And hoping that we go down deeper where she cannot reach us easily. Whether we would die of hunger, waiting for her till she comes, we do not know. But for now, this seems to be the only safe bet : act as if one does not exist and hope she would get busy with other pressing issues. She is a very busy Lioness any ways. And floating in the air are stories about an old Red Lion breaching her territory somewhere, which seem to be bothering her no end these days.