An Interview with the Jackalope

The keeper of the castle records, simply known as Tom Foolery, was sent out to seek an audience with the illusive Jackalope. I managed to sneak access to the audio before it (and T. Foolery) was locked up in the vaults, never to be heard or seen again…

‘An increasingly rare sight, the herbivorous jackalope (lepus cornutus, or “horned hare”) lives in small, isolated colonies throughout the wild regions of the Southwest. They are believed to be a hybrid descendant of a desert jackrabbit (lepus alleni, or “antelope jackrabbit”) and an extinct species of pygmy-deer (capromeryx minor, or “diminutive pronghorn”). This elusive crepuscular animal has very keen nightsight and exceptional hearing, and thus, is seldom seen…Its strange vocalizations can sometimes be heard on moonlit nights during their mating season, and at this time, males become very aggressive. This temperament has lead to the vernacular name “warrior rabbit”. related to the rasselbock of Germany, and the dahu des plaines of France, the Western jackalope can run at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. Coat coloration can vary from white or tan to tawny-brown, with horns up to nine inches across, two to three points are common. Its average weight is ten to twelve pounds, both sexes have horns, and standing erect, males can reach 24”, females up to 18”. With populations on the decline, little is known about their mating habits, and captive breeding programs have so far failed. A small colony of roughly 20 individuals lives high in the remote Panamint Mountain Range of Death Valley [located to the West of the Castle beyond the Woods], and one aging solitary buck has been photographed foraging near Darwin Falls.’
Panamint Springs Resort postcard

Calling Forth the Ash and the Bones is a Year and a Day long non-linear mythic experimentation with story. It is an emergent weaving of tales branching out from the death of a King and an Old Oak Tree that knows.

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with love
Elizabeth Jane

Image by Mo from Pixabay