Year of the Rabbit!
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Why Crane Has Long Legs and a Red Crown
Once, long ago, Rabbit thought it would be nice to go to the moon to have a look around. But how would he get there? He would need the help of someone who could fly. Rabbit asked all the large birds, one at a time, to fly him to the moon. He asked Hawk. He asked Eagle. Hawk was too busy, and Eagle said he couldn’t fly that high. Overhearing the conversation, Crane offered to fly Rabbit to the moon. Crane knew he could fly higher than the other birds. Rabbit held tightly to Crane’s legs and up they went toward the moon. Rabbit became heavier and heavier to Crane as he flew upward and his legs began to stretch longer and longer. The physical effort to fly Rabbit to the moon was tiring Crane and his head turned bright red. Finally, they reached the moon and were rewarded with a delightful view of earth. To this day, Crane has long legs from the weight of carrying Rabbit such a distance and a red crown from the extreme physical effort to fly him to the moon.
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February 3, 2011 is the To mark the beginning of the Rabbit Year ICF presents here a folktale about a rabbit and a crane adapted from our new book, The Quality of Cranes: A Little Book of Crane Lore.
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