Encounters with the Bunnies
he group is familiar with the fallen tree trunk that lies on the forest floor. Over the last few months, they have returned to it repeatedly in search of the bunnies, or at least the tracks they leave behind. Some children decide to follow that log again and begin to tell me about that particular day they spotted the bunnies.
We walk through the same path they had followed many times before. As we walk along, many narratives unfold; some of them about rabbit tracks and rabbit poop. They wonder why today we do not see any tracks or poop. As we move, they decide to uncover some ice and snow covering the log in our way. As we uncover the trunk, something is revealed, and the children announce they’ve found rabbit poop. Again they wondered about following the trail to find the tracks. Some inquire about the bunnies’ home, where might it be? Maybe it is covered with snow; perhaps it covered with mud. Such possibilities reveal the sudden changes we have been experiencing in the weather.
We wonder if it might take us a long time to find their home. John reminds us that we should not disturb them in their homes. As a conversation about a possible bunny cave unfolds, John spots from a distance a small group of bunnies. We try to lower our voices as the bunnies hop around. Some of the children observe that it is a family. Again at this moment as we are looking at the bunnies, one child finds bunny tracks. We were following the bunnies, and we see them! They remember the other day when they found rabbit droppings and the collective assumption seemed to be where we can find bunny poops; we will find bunny tracks and now where there are bunny tracks we find a group of bunnies! We are all excited about this encounter. We saw them! We talk about not following in their direction because we might scare them. We decide we should try to lower our voices and yet, it is hard to control the excitement.
Our relationship with the bunnies is not one of dominance, but it cannot be qualified as harmonic either. As we move through the forest we are all trying our best to be respectful.
