One would think that by this time Master Rabbit must have had enough of
helping, but all the stories of him show that he never gave up anything
which he had once begun. So he simply said to the old man, "Catch hold
of me round the waist;" and when this was done he gave another leap,
and brought the prisoner out. But the man, being heavy, had slipped
down, and almost broken Rabbit's back. So it came to pass that since
that day Master Rabbit has had a very short tail and a slender waist.
The old man was on his way to marry a young girl. But she was in love
with Mikumwess, the forest fairy. However, the old man married her, and
invited Master Rabbit to the dance, which in old times made the
ceremony. And the guest dressed for the occasion by putting ear-rings
on his heels--for Rabbits or Hares dance on their tip-toes--and a
beautiful bangle round his neck, and he danced opposite the bride. Now
the bride had on only a very short skirt, and in crossing a brook it
had got wet. So that as she danced, it began to shrink and shrink,
until Master Rabbit, pitying the poor girl, ran out and got a deer-skin,
and hastily twisted a cord to tie it with. But it seemed as if Master
Rabbit's efforts to oblige people always got him into trouble, for he
twisted this string so rapidly and earnestly, holding one end of it in
his teeth as he did so, that he cut his upper lip through to the nose,
for which reason his descendants all have hare-lips to this day.
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