Raising Hare

Winter is bitterly cold, and snows blanket the ground for the entire first two months of the new year. A hare gives birth, feeds and protects her young leveret (a baby hare), but is forced to leave it when she forages for food. The tiny creature patiently waits for its mother, but freezes in terror when it hears the approach of an advancing hound.

Chloe hears the sound of barking and then a man. There is no reason for a dog to be nearby, so she goes outside to investigate. She lives alone in a small house surrounded by farmland, streams, hedgerows, and stands of trees. Growing up in the country, she heard stories of poachers and hunters sneaking onto their neighbors’ land with their dogs, and she wonders if someone is trespassing. On the other hand, it is equally possible that a neighbor’s dog, excited to be out in so much open space, bounded away from its owner. Perhaps this is what happened, and the human voice she heard was someone looking for their dog. Right in the middle of a path, she finds a leveret. It is alone and unsheltered. The author wonders why: Leverets are typically tucked away in a burrow while their mothers search for food.