The Jack Rabbit Story

Introduction

It was a great morning, bright, hot and sunny in the west Texas hill country. Jack Rabbit was awake and moving from his burrow, ready for breakfast. He was in the mood for some fresh sprouts and knew where they were growing, up the mountain side. Jack weaved around the cactus and sage brush starting up the well know path to higher ground. After a few minutes of travel, he stopped wondering what that noise was.  Moving slow, he hopped closer to see. From behind a giant red barrel cactus he nosed around for a peek. To Jack’s surprise, an Apache medicine man was chanting and dancing around a small fire. The medicine man was dressed in feathers with his body painted in many colors. Most noticeable was his left hand, it was painted all white up to his wrist like a glove. In his right hand he held what looked like a ball of bones, sticks, feathers, cloth, and who knows what else wrapped around what resembled a skull.

Jack heard a small crack and looked up the mountain side. A small puff of dust spit out into the sun shine. Jack had seen rock slides before but this was different. He noticed one big rock vibrating and beginning to move. He was scared he was in the path of the rock when it fell. Jack jumped sideways as rabbits do and started to run. He let out a loud screech bolting past the dancing medicine man. Shocked out of the trance the shaman fell backwards into a crevice of the mountain side.

Jack had seen the bolder start to fall and jumped for the narrow opening to get away from the boulders path. Both Jack and the shaman watched a very large rock landed on the trail and fall over the side of the cliff. Needless to say, Jack had saved the shaman’s life.

The shaman looked down at Jack. “Wow that was close. Thank you for saving my life.”

“What is your name?” the shaman asked. “Jack Rabbit,” replied the rabbit. “Hello Jack, my name is Mohan. I am the medicine man for my Apache tribe.”

“How do you speak my language,” asked Jack. “How can I understand you?”

“My God has impowered me with great wisdom and the ability perform many wonderous tasks. May I ask you what you desire?” Jack knew immediately what he wanted to be. “Currently my life is short in comparison to yours. I wish to be many things, go many places and have a very long life.”

Mohan went back outside and rebuilt the fire. Jack stayed in the crevice away from danger. Once the fire was just the right size, Mohan went way back into the dark crevice mumbling words Jack could not understand. Jack could hear Mohan moving around taping and scraping as he moved around in the dark. Jack jumped as Mohan let out a loud “Ah Ha!” found it, and came shuffling out of the narrow passage. Back to the fire went Mohan as he opened his medicine bag. Mohan pulled out several items and began to chant, repeating a rhythmic phrase and dance around the fire. After a few minutes he called for Jack to come out of the crevice.

Cautiously, Jack moved out of the crevice and stepped close to Mohan, staying away from the cliff side and the fire. He was afraid to be too close to the fire because his fur could burn.

Mohan, still chanting and dancing, through something into the fire which seemed to explode. Jack jumped back a long way, close to the mountain wall. Mohan laughed and coached Jack back to a spot. Mohan asked Jack to move onto the top of a sitting rock he had placed next to the fire.

Jack was hesitant but decided he would be safe with Mohan. He was nice and had a good voice for chanting.

Mohan suddenly stopped in front of Jack and from his hand through a dust ball toward Jack. Jack had his face and both ears turned toward Mohan and now both were filled with the powder. The powder went all over Jack from his head down to his lucky feet.

Rabbits have lucky feet, you know.

Mohan started to chant and dance again. The rhythmic sounds from Mohan along with the hypnotic voice started Jack to sway back and forth.

Magical powers swirled around Jack and Mohan. Sparks flew from the fire, clouds rolled in, lightning lit up the sky, rocks crashed down the mountain, thunder rolled through the valley, cactus burst into flower, grass turned green, water sprung from the crevice to form a small creek flowing down the side of the mountain, a star fell. All kinds of strange things happened as Mohan did his magic.

Jack woke up feeling a little strange. Looking around he saw Mohan sleeping on the ground next to the dying fire. Getting up Jack went to the creek to get a drink. The water was the sweetest he had ever tasted. Looking around he spotted some fresh green sprouts which were tender and tasted really awesome. He hopped over to the sleeping Mohan who was just waking up.

“What just happened?” asked Jack.

Mohan setup and stretched. “Well Jack,” he said, “you are now a very special being. You have many powers to experiment with. First test your abilities. Picture in you mind that you are an Apache warrior.”

Jack thought “I am an Apache warrior.” The air stood still, a little fire flash went before his eyes, a wind blew some dust into his face, producing a tear.

Mohan said, “Jack go look at your face in the stream.” Moving to the stream Jack looked into the standing pool and saw an Apache warrior looking back at him. “Mohan,” he cried “what is going on?”

Mohan laughed a little and said, “Jack, you are now what we call a changeling. A changeling is a being with many powers. Changeling can become any being they wish to be. The spirits have also granted you never ending life. Never ending life means you can live forever. You have the power of time. You can venture to the past or future. There is only catch to this magical existence you will be living. You can do no harm to others except when the bad is harming others. Your life is now designed to be helpful to all beings everywhere you go. Protect the innocent from the bad people. This means you can use force when necessary.”

Mohan paused, “Jack there are however some restriction. You may never visit Easter Island as the awful ‘Z Gods’ there will harm you. And one more thing you can never eat papaya fruit.”

“Papaya fruit, what is that,” Jack thought.

Over the next weeks and months Jack changed from one character to another, Panther, Eagle, mouse, etc. “This is going to be fun,” Jack thought.

Jack wondered over the Apache territory for many years changing as he saw fit. He really liked being a bird. Birds could see a lot of things on the ground, fly fast and travel long distances. Jack liked being ground animals, Panthers were his choice. Most of all Jack liked being human even if he could be a big tree or a small bush just to watch the world go by.

Jack traveled all over the world through time and space for the next hundred years getting to know all kinds of people, places, and things.

Chapter 1

From here on you write Jacks Fiction story from any Genre you choose.