THE MOON RABBIT
Once upon a time
there was a lovely maiden
who lived all alone
in a silver palace
on the moon.
The maiden’s name was Pearl.
She was nine years old.
She had long white hair
that hung down to her waist
and she wore a dress made of
moonbeams and stardust.
Her skin was milk-white too,
but her eyes blazed with fire.
They glistened and shone like jewels.
They were so vivid and bright
that they illuminated half of the moon
and that’s why one side
of the dark and loveless moon
is light.
At night, Pearl,
the Goddess of the Moon,
went walking through a grove
of cinnamon trees.
Pearl walked through the cinnamon grove
every night,
for she was very lonely.
As she walked she would dream
about finding a friend.
Pearl didn’t know
what it was like to have a friend
because she never had one before
but she knew –
somehow she just knew –
it would be more wonderful
than anything she had ever known,
more wonderful than silver palaces,
more wonderful than cinnamon trees,
more wonderful than the opalescent glow
of moonrise.
Pearl dreamed the same dream every night.
Sometimes the friend was
a fairy princess with golden hair.
Sometimes the friend was
an enormous and beautiful toad.
Her friend was different each time,
but the dream was still the same dream –
friendship,
the end of her infinite loneliness.
Pearl dreamed so much of the time
that her dream became more real than anything else.
She dreamed until she became a lunatic,
and then,
one cool night
as Pearl walked through the cinnamon grove
dreaming her dream of friendship,
something amazing happened.
She reached the end of the grove
and saw something she had never seen
in all her life.
She saw a peach orchard.
There was never a peach orchard
on the moon before.
The fragrance of the peach orchard was heavenly.
Pearl entered the orchard and basked in the
peachiness that surrounded her.
She sang and danced merrily.
As she twirled around and around
she caught a glimpse of something white.
She stopped twirling and looked.
It was a rabbit,
a white jade rabbit with pink eyes
that sparkled with celestial wisdom.
He bowed his head to Pearl
when he saw her looking at him.
Pearl curtsied and the rabbit introduced himself.
Pearl invited the rabbit to come live with her
in her silver palace,
but he would not leave his peach orchard.
He thought the peaches smelled pretty
and he liked that.
They also made him immortal
and he liked that too.
He told Pearl
that she could come visit him every night
and they could play together in the peach orchard.
Pearl thought this was a wonderful idea
and so,
every night,
Pearl took her walk through the cinnamon grove
until she reached the rabbit’s peach orchard
where they played
and sang
and danced until dawn.
Pearl may have been a lunatic,
but she wasn’t lonely anymore.