Week 2 Story: Hawk Swoops Into His Own Trap

    There was once a place around the equator of earth that was beautiful in every aspect of the word. Under the shade of a mighty mountain laid a valley that possessed beautiful crystal blue pools and lush green vegetation all around. The temperature was always a perfect 70 degrees with light breezes. This was a perfect place for a couple rabbits to take settlement and raise a family. The rabbits began to increase in numbers as the years went by and established a wonderful quaint community. Now, many years past and something about their environment seemed to become different. The world, it seemed, had began to increase in temperature. This became ever more evident as the beautiful pools became sweltering hot tubs or were dried up all together. The vegetation also began to wither and die due to the heat as well. "What shall we do", cried the Rabbits.
    Watching all this take place was a mighty Hawk perched high in the mountain. He could see what

Hawk carrying a Rabbit from pintrest.

the warming Earth had done to the place the Rabbits called home. He also saw however, the changes that it made to his home. Up high in the mountain, the temperature began to become warmer and more vegetation began to grow. In essence the place of the valley seemed to have just moved up the mountain. The Hawk saw the Rabbits in peril and this gave him a marvelous idea. He was at this time very hungry and in need of a snack. So, he thought to himself, "Why don't I go down and tell these rabbits of my homes new look". The Hawk swooped down the mountain too the Rabbit's village. Upon seeing the shadow of the mighty hawk the rabbits scurried into their dens. The Hawks said in a mild voice, "Friends, I am here to aid you in your struggles! Please do not be afraid of me". The Rabbits thought this to be a trick so they all stayed in. "Ok, fine. I was simply going to tell you of a place like your old lands that I could take you too.", the Hawk proclaimed. At this the leader of the Rabbits came out of his den and asked , "Where is this place you speak of so we might go there." "Oh, master Rabbit.", said the Hawk "It is clear up the mountain and is much too tedious a road for you". The Hawk then proceeded to tell them how he could fly them up one at a time to this new place. The leader Rabbit knew their time here was numbered so he told the Hawk to take him and show him this place first so that he would know it is true before he sent his people with him. The Hawk took him up and flew him to the beautiful lands of the mountain. Amazed the Rabbit immediately agreed and the Hawk took I'm back to his village so that he could proclaim the news. The other Rabbits were excited to start a new life in their new place. The only thing is, is that the Hawk new all along he would not intent on taking the Rabbits to his homelands. Instead the Hawk, one at a time, grabbed the rabbits up with his talons' and once out of view from the village would take them to his nest and eat them up. He did this for several days, eating his fill of Rabbit.
    Finally, one day came when he did not see any more Rabbits around the town. Instead he saw a turtle that was in the village. "What are you doing here Turtle?", the Hawk asked. "I am here for a race I was suppose to have with the master Rabbit.", replied the turtle. The Hawk went on to tell the turtle how they had gone up the mountain and how he would be happy to take him up to see them. The turtle knew of the Hawks mischievous nature and saw rabbit fur around his beak. "Oh Hawk, I don't thing you could carry me up.", said the Turtle. At this point the Hawk was very greedy and said, "Nonsense Turtle! Here you can ride on my back and hold onto my neck with your mouth". The Turtle agreed and hopped on the back of the Hawk. When the Turtle saw that they were approaching the Hawk's nest he knew what was about to happen and gave the Hawks neck a little squeeze and plopped it right off. The turtle began to fall and fell right into a crystal pool that was up the mountain. Here is where the Turtle lived out the rest of his days.

Author's Notes
   This story is a remastered version of the "Cunning Crane and the Crab". In the original story the crane tricks a bunch of fish that there is a better pond to live in that he was from. The fish agree and the end up getting all ate up by the Crane. When all the fish are gone the Crane comes across a Crab that agrees to be taken to the new pond if he can ride on his back and hold on with his claws. When the Crab found out what was going on to the Fish the Crab told the Crane to drop him in the water and he does. When the Crab is out of harms way he snips off the Cranes head. As you can tell I changed the characters as well as the setting while keeping the plot relatively intact. I used my biology background to add some climate change in there.

Bibliography
Story source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.