By Obiabin Onukwugha
Hare is a mammal belonging to the genus, Lepus. It is a herbivorous animal, and live in solitarily or pairs. They are native to Africa, Eurasia and North America.
Hares nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth.
Most hare species are fast runners with long, powerful hind legs, and large ears to dissipate body heat. A hare less than one year old is called a “leveret”. A group of hares is called a “husk”, a “down”, or a “drove”.
Hares adapt to a wide variety of conditions, and reproduce quickly, so hunting is often less regulated.
Reports have it that the blood of a freshly killed hare can be collected for consumption in a stew or casserole in a cooking process known as jugging. First the entrails are removed from the hare carcass before it is hung in a larder by its hind legs, which causes blood to accumulate in the chest cavity.
One method of preserving the blood after draining it from the hare (since the hare is usually hung for a week or more) is to mix it with red wine vinegar to prevent coagulation, and then to store it in a freezer.
Scientists note that peak reproductive activity occurs in March and April, when all females may be pregnant, the majority with three or more foetuses.
The mating system of the hare is said to be both polygynous and promiscuous.
Females have six-weekly reproductive cycles and are receptive for only a few hours at a time, making competition among local bucks intense. At the height of the breeding season, this phenomenon is known as “March madness”, when the normally nocturnal bucks are forced to be active in the daytime.
Known as “ehoro” in Yoruba, “Kurewa” in Hausa and “oke oyibo” in Igbo, Hares play a crucial role in the ecosystem of the British countryside. They are an important prey species for many predators, including foxes, birds of prey, and carnivorous mammals. They also help to maintain the health of grasslands and meadows by grazing vegetation and fertilising the soil.
In African folktales, the hare is a trickster;
The hare appears in English folklore in the saying “as mad as a March hare” and in the legend of the White Hare that alternatively tells of a witch who takes the form of a white hare and goes out looking for prey at night or of the spirit of a broken-hearted maiden who cannot rest and who haunts her unfaithful lover.
The Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican cultures, see a hare in the pattern of dark patches in the moon The constellation Lepus is also taken to represent a hare.
The hare was once regarded as an animal sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido. Live hares were often presented as a gift of love.
In European tradition, the hare symbolises the two qualities of swiftness and timidity.
The White Hare And The Crocodiles
Long, long ago, when all the animals could talk, there lived in the province of Inaba in Japan, a little white hare. His home was on the island of Oki, and just across the sea was the mainland of Inaba.
Now the hare wanted very much to cross over to Inaba. Day after day he would go out and sit on the shore and look longingly over the water in the direction of Inaba, and day after day he hoped to find some way of getting across.
One day as usual, the hare was standing on the beach, looking towards the mainland across the water, when he saw a great crocodile swimming near the island.
“This is very lucky!” thought the hare. “Now I shall be able to get my wish. I will ask the crocodile to carry me across the sea!”
But he was doubtful whether the crocodile would consent to do what wanted. So he thought instead of asking a favor he would try to get what he wanted by a trick.
So with a loud voice he called to the crocodile, and said:
“Oh, Mr. Crocodile, isn’t it a lovely day?”
The crocodile, who had come out all by itself that day to enjoy the bright sunshine, was just beginning to feel a bit lonely when the hare’s cheerful greeting broke the silence. The crocodile swam nearer the shore, very pleased to hear some one speak.
“I wonder who it was that spoke to me just now! Was it you, Mr. Hare? You must be very lonely all by yourself!”
“Oh, no, I am not at all lonely,” said the hare, “but as it was such a fine day I came out here to enjoy myself. Won’t you stop and play with me a little while?”
The crocodile came out of the sea and sat on the shore, and the two played together for some time. Then the hare said:
“Mr. Crocodile, you live in the sea and I live on this island, and we do not often meet, so I know very little about you. Tell me, do you think the number of your company is greater than mine?”
“Of course, there are more crocodiles than hares,” answered the crocodile. “Can you not see that for yourself? You live on this small island, while I live in the sea, which spreads through all parts of the world, so if I call together all the crocodiles who dwell in the sea you hares will be as nothing compared to us!” The crocodile was very conceited.
The hare, who meant to play a trick on the crocodile, said:
“Do you think it possible for you to call up enough crocodiles to form a line from this island across the sea to Inaba?”
The crocodile thought for a moment and then answered:
“Of course, it is possible.”
“Then do try,” said the artful hare, “and I will count the number from here!”
The crocodile, who was very simple-minded, and who hadn’t the least idea that the hare intended to play a trick on him, agreed to do what the hare asked, and said:
“Wait a little while I go back into the sea and call my company together!”
The crocodile plunged into the sea and was gone for some time. The hare, meanwhile, waited patiently on the shore. At last the crocodile appeared, bringing with him a large number of other crocodiles.
“Look, Mr. Hare!” said the crocodile, “it is nothing for my friends to form a line between here and Inaba. There are enough crocodiles to stretch from here even as far as China or India. Did you ever see so many crocodiles?”
Then the whole company of crocodiles arranged themselves in the water so as to form a bridge between the Island of Oki and the mainland of Inaba. When the hare saw the bridge of crocodiles, he said:
“How splendid! I did not believe this was possible. Now let me count you all! To do this, however, with your permission, I must walk over on your backs to the other side, so please be so good as not to move, or else I shall fall into the sea and be drowned!”
So the hare hopped off the island on to the strange bridge of crocodiles, counting as he jumped from one crocodile’s back to the other:
“Please keep quite still, or I shall not be able to count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine….”
Thus the cunning hare walked right across to the mainland of Inaba. Not content with getting his wish, he began to jeer at the crocodiles instead of thanking them, and said, as he leapt off the last one’s back:
“Oh! you stupid crocodiles, now I have done with you!”
And he was just about to run away as fast as he could. But he did not escape so easily, for so soon as the crocodiles understood that this was a trick played upon them by the hare so as to enable him to cross the sea, and that the hare was now laughing at them for their stupidity, they became furiously angry and made up their minds to take revenge. So some of them ran after the hare and caught him. Then they all surrounded the poor little animal and pulled out all his fur. He cried out loudly and entreated them to spare him, but with each tuft of fur they pulled out they said:
“Serve you right!”
When the crocodiles had pulled out the last bit of fur, they threw the poor hare on the beach, and all swam away laughing at what they had done.
The hare was now in a pitiful plight, all his beautiful white fur had been pulled out, and his bare little body was quivering with pain and bleeding all over. He could hardly move, and all he could do was to lie on the beach quite helpless and weep over the misfortune that had befallen him.