Reading Notes: The Foolish Timid Rabbit

(Image from The Foolish Timid Rabbit by Ellen C. Babbit. Sacred Texts Archive)

                             The Foolish Timid Rabbit from Jakata Tales by Ellen C. Babbit.

This story was very straight forward and didn't introduce any crazy fairytale like characters. Having animals as the characters made the story feel realistic, but still had the feeling of myth, which I personally like. I believe that if there is an element of realism then the story can have more of an impact on the audience.

This particular story jumped out at me because it's something that can be applied to in real life. Sometimes people jump to conclusions (the earth is breaking) and it soon becomes a huge mob of people (or animals in this case) that are going wild. It takes that one rational person (lion) to say "Wait a minute. Why do you think this?"

It's an important lesson in life that we must slow down and ask questions first before acting irrationally, otherwise bad things can happen. 

This was more of an action writing in my opinion. It was fast moving and having all the animals running made my heart rate increase. 

The ending was also nice because it gave an insight to what might have happen if the lion hadn't questioned the other animals. "If it had not been for the wise King of Beasts, they might be running still." The beginning was also nice because it started with "Once upon a time" but continued on to seem more realistic with real animals. I am also thinking of using "Once upon a time" in my story.

The dialogue is interesting as well because the rabbit and other scared animals all use exclamation points while the lion doesn't use hardly at all. I think this contrasts well on how the lion is more wise and calm than the rest of the animals.