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How the Easter Bunny Got His Job
By Erin McCarty Copyright © 2000
Many years ago -- about two thousand, in fact -- a small family of rabbits lived next to a cave just outside of Jerusalem. Their home was warm and snug, and the city was close enough that Peter, the Father Rabbit, could easily make his way there to get food and be back again by sunset. Each night, Peter, his wife Cotton, and their daughters Parsnip and Onions feasted on the fresh vegetables that were so abundant in the city. It was a happy life for the rabbits until one fateful day...
Onion thumped her hind footpad on the dirt floor nervously.
"Why doesn't Father hurry up?" she wondered aloud. "It's my first trip to the city, and I want to see as much of it as I can. We've already missed the sunrise!"
"Stop fidgeting, dear. Your father needs his sleep. He had a hard day yesterday. I'm sure he'll be up soon," Cotton promised.
"I don't think so," Parsnip called from the other room. "He's fast asleep, and he looks really tired. Maybe we should let him sleep and go to the city tomorrow."
"He can't be that tired!" Onion protested, joining her sister in the burrow where their father was sleeping. "Father," she cried, nudging him with her nose, "get up! You're taking me to the city today, remember?"
Peter's eyes opened slowly, and he groaned when he realized how late it was.
"Oh, no, is it mid-morning already? How could I have overslept like that?" he muttered. "Okay, Onion, I'm comi -- ugh!" As Peter rose, he doubled over as a wave of nausea swept over him.
"Are you all right, Father?" Onion gasped. "You look green!"
"Your face is really hot," Parsnip observed, nuzzling her father's cheek.
"Oh, dear," Cotton worried. "I think you've got a fever. You can't go out like this. I'm afraid the city will have to wait, Onion."
"Yes, Mother," Onion sighed, her ears drooping.
"Why don't you and Parsnip go gather some herbs for me?" Cotton suggested. "Perhaps they will make you father feel better."
"Good idea," Parsnip nodded. "Come on, Onion, let's go. We'll have you feeling better in no time, Father!"
"Thank you," Peter smiled weakly as the youngsters scampered outside.
"Don't worry, Onion," Parsnip reassured her sister. "You'll get the chance to go to the city soon enough. Though I'm not sure if I would want to go. Did you hear what Father said about what happened there yesterday?"
"Yes," Onion shuddered. "They killed that nice man who Father was always talking about. The teacher. What was his name?"
"Joseph...no, Jacob...no, Jesus. Yes, that was it," Parsnip recalled. "Father said he called himself the Son of God."
"How could God's Son get killed?" Onion wondered. They had reached the top of the cave, which had a few lonely herbs growing out of the cracks in the rock. Carefully, the young rabbits began to pull the herbs out with their teeth. Suddenly, Parsnip cried out in alarm.
"There's a man in our cave!" Parsnip shrieked. For a moment, Onion forgot about the problem at hand and peered curiously into the tiny peephole that had appeared when Parsnip pulled out the herb. Sure enough, a man was lying down in the cave.
"What is he doing?" Onion asked. "That certainly seems like an odd place to sleep! How did he even get in there?"
"Maybe he's not asleep," Parsnip said quietly. The ugly truth hit Onion like a rock, and she suddenly remembered what had brought them there.
"Oh, Parsnip, we must take these home to Mother at once!" Onion insisted. "Father could be getting sicker by the minute!"
With one last sidelong glance at the man in the cave, the rabbits hurried home to present their mother with what they hoped would cure their father. When they entered their burrow, Cotton looked very worried indeed, and Peter's raspy breath echoed in the silence.
"We got them, Mother!" Parsnip held up the little bundle she and her sister had collected. "How's Father?"
"I'm afraid he's taken a turn for the worse," Cotton shook her head. "I do hope these herbs set him right."
"Is there anything else we can do, Mother?" Onion asked.
"The only thing left for you to do now is pray," Cotton replied before heading off to crush the herbs into a powder and mix up a special broth. Parsnip and Onion looked at each other helplessly and slunk back outside.
"Let's go back up to the top of the cave," Parsnip suggested. "That's the highest place I know of. God will be able to hear us better from up there." Onion readily agreed, so they made their way together to the very spot where they had seen the man earlier in the day.
"I've never really done this by myself before," Onion worried. "I mean, Mother and Father always help us. What if we don't do it right?"
"All we can do is try," Parsnip shrugged. She cleared her throat. "God, wherever you are, please help our father. He's been so good to us, and, well, we love him very much and don't want anything to happen to him. And now he's really sick, and he's getting worse, and I've heard of rabbits who have died from this sort of thing and I don't want that to happen to our father. I know you're really busy up there, keeping the whole world in line, but couldn't you please just take a little time out of your busy schedule to heal our father? Amen."
"Well, God," Onion began, "I just want to say everything my sister just said, but maybe if we both pray hard enough then you'll hear us better. And I also wanted to say that I'm really sorry to hear about your son, or whoever he was, getting killed. I mean, I don't really understand how that could happen to your son, but even if that man who died wasn't your son, he loved you a lot and you must be really sad. And you know how we feel, and how much we don't want that to happen to our father. So, please, make him better. Well, thanks for listening, God. Amen."
"Well, I guess there's nothing for us to do now but wait," Parsnip sighed. "But let's stay here for a while." So that is what they did. They waited...and waited...and waited. They watched the sun set from atop the roof of the cave. Finally, it began to grow dark. The two rabbits crept silently into the burrow and fell into a deep and uneasy sleep.
The next morning dawned bright and beautiful. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn't a cloud in the bright blue sky. Onion and Parsnip jumped out of their beds cheerfully. Surely this meant that their father had recovered! But when they walked into their father's room, they realized that they had been wrong. Their mother turned to them, teary-eyed, and shook her head slowly. No words were needed to tell the youngsters that their father had not made it through the night.
"But there must be some mistake!" Parsnip sobbed. "We collected the herbs for him, we prayed really hard for him in a place where God must have heard us, and we even stayed away from home so he could rest better! It just doesn't make sense!"
"We all did the best we could," Cotton smiled sadly. "Sometimes it just doesn't make any difference. Some things just happen, and there's nothing we can do about them. We just have to pull through this together." Onion let out a wild cry and bolted out of the burrow.
"Wait, Onion!" Parsnip called. "Wait for me!" Parsnip caught up with Onion outside, where she had flung herself to the ground and was screaming insults at the sky. "Onion," Parsnip trembled, "you must stop this. You're going to hurt yourself."
"Maybe I will, then," Onion snapped. "I don't care what happens to me now. Nothing matters. Not even God loves us anymore!"
"Of course he does!" Parsnip tried to sound sure of herself. Onion locked eyes with her sister until her vision had cleared.
"Then why did he let Father die?" Onion demanded quietly. Parsnip didn't answer. She only curled up next to Onion and began to weep noiselessly. All of the sudden the rabbits became aware that they were not alone. They looked up and came face to face with the man who had been lying in the cave yesterday!
"Why are you crying, my young ones?" the man asked gently. The rabbits looked at each other. Could he possibly be talking to them? People never bothered to talk to them! Still, he seemed to be addressing them, and they felt it would be polite to at least answer his question.
"Our father died of a fever during the night," Onion explained sadly. "We did everything we could to help him, but he still died. We prayed, but God still let him die. I always thought he loved us, but he must not." The stranger looked upon the weeping sisters, his heart full of love.
"My dearest ones, you must never think that. God has not abandoned you. He is always with you, even when it is so dark that you cannot see Him. Come, take Me to your father, and I will help him." Onion opened her mouth to remind him that their father was already dead, but something about the man made him decide not to. She and Parsnip led the man to the entrance to their burrow. He spread him white-robed arms wide and shouted out in a loud voice.
"Awaken, and be well again!" he commanded. Parsnip and Onion heard a great rustling beneath them, and before their very eyes Peter leaped out onto the ground next to them! Close behind was a flabbergasted Cotton. The sisters looked, wide-eyed, from each other to the man to their father. Then they ran to their father, dancing around him joyfully.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, sir!" Onion praised the man. "You brought our father back! But however did you do it?"
"It's you," Parsnip whispered. "Jesus. That's your name, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is, Parsnip," Jesus acknowledged.
"But I saw what they did to You, Lord," Peter piped up. "It was horrible...I watched you die."
"Just as My Father raised me from the dead, so too have I given you new life," Jesus responded. "And now, with that life, I wish to bestow upon you a task. Stand before me, Peter."
Eyes shining with wonder, Peter approached Jesus and stood on his hind footpads.
"Peter, you are the first of your kind to meet Me, and you know firsthand the gift of new life which I bring. Every year, then, at this time, you shall travel the world and present a reminder of My new life to all children who love Me," Jesus instructed. "I now give you the title Easter Rabbit."
As Jesus spoke, Peter felt himself growing larger, his footpads growing sturdier. When the transformation was complete, Peter stood easily as a man does and was nearly four feet tall.
"Thank you, Lord, I won't let you down," the Easter Rabbit promised.
"I know you won't," Jesus smiled as he waved goodbye and vanished. And so it was that the Easter Rabbit was born. You may know him by the name of the Easter Bunny, since the youngest children - the ones who have seen him - call all rabbits bunnies. Or perhaps you have heard him referred to as Peter Cottontail...his story was passed down through the ages as Cotton first told it. It became known as "Peter: Cotton's Tale". Eventually, the history was lost, and folks took to calling the Easter Rabbit Peter Cottontail. No one knows just where the family went after that, but the legend of Peter lives on today.
And so I conclude my tale. It may be no more than that, but I can think of no better way for the Easter Bunny to have been created than through the gift of new life, which Jesus gave to all of us so many years ago.
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