THE_GARDEN

Chapter One

The Garden

A very long time ago a rabbit and a rooster stared at a man praying in a garden on a hill overlooking a valley. Across the valley to the West was a walled city. The two creatures could hear the sounds of men sleeping within the garden. The sounds mingled with the whispered prayers of the man who was robed in white. He was on his knees at the rear of the garden. His hands were folded and rested upon a large flat stone.

Reuel Rabbit wiggled his nose. Raphael Rooster scratched the gray sand of Rabbi Joachim's garden and cocked his head to one side. The rooster eyed the rabbit and said, "You have to help me!" Reuel wiggled his nose again as his ears fell over his back. Then he replied, "Why me?"

Raphael's feathers bristled. He stood up straight, flapped his wings, and bent over to quietly cackle in Reuel's left ear, "Because you are the fastest friend I know. Besides, I must be near the man in white at sunrise to announce the dawn. It is my duty. He told me to get the egg delivered to Hilda's by noon, the second day after tomorrow. Now I can't stay close to the man in white, crow at dawn and get the egg to Hilda's house by then. But you, my long-eared friend, are swift. You are nicely camouflaged. That's why you are the one to go down across the Kidron Valley to get through the hole in the city's northwest wall. The hole is on the north side of the human gate in the wall. The egg must be safely delivered and given to a man you will find in Hilda Hen's courtyard. The man will think that everything in his life is lost. Just lay the egg at his feet."

"Just lay the egg at a man's feet. You want me, a rabbit, to carry an egg across the Kidron, go around the city and find a hole in the northwest corner of the wall? Isn't that opposite a hill called the Place of The Skull? I don't get it! You want me, a rabbit, to sneak through the city's wall and lay an egg at a human's feet?" The rabbit shook his head and wriggled his nose. His ears stood up and flopped again. "I. . .I don't know." He paused. "This sure sounds stupid. Besides," he sputtered! "I'm afraid of the dark!" His whiskers twitched and trembled. His little bunny eyes looked like he would cry any moment. "Balls of thunder," the rooster cackled in a loud whisper. "It will be dawn in a couple of hours! You will have plenty of light by the time you reach the bottom. Besides that you'll have two days to find where Hilda lives. The man in white told me it was the house of Clopas. Just find the house of Clopas in the northwest corner of the city."

Reuel sighed, and trembled. "This doesn't make any sense," he said, twitching his nose again. The rabbit looked up at Raphael and asked, "Who is he to make such a request?" The Rooster's feathers ruffled a bit. He cocked his head to one side and asked Reuel, "You really don't know who he is?" The rabbit looked across at the man in prayer and back up at the Rooster, "Should I?" Raphael hung his head and softly scratched the ground. When he looked up, he stared directly into the rabbit's eyes. "Yes, you should. My Momma told me how my great-great-great-great-great grandparents were there when he was born."

"He was born here in Joachim's garden?" Reuel asked. "No," replied Raphael. "He was born to the southeast of here, in the place called Bethlehem. Well, actually in a cave where an innkeeper kept his animals." The rabbit's eyes widened a bit at the Rooster's tale. Raphael continued. "Momma said that great-great-great-great-great grandpappy crowed the most musical crowing of any rooster on the morning of his birth. The story has been handed down through my family for all these generations. And we were told by a Holy Messenger that a member of the family would have to crow for the Master Shepherd one day during a painful moment. It's a solemn responsibility. I knew that the family's time had come when he looked at me a couple of hours ago. He nodded and handed me this tiny egg. His voice was soft and strong. He said, 'See that this gets to Hilda Hen's Courtyard, in the House of Clopas on the second day after tomorrow.'"

Raphael looked at Reuel and then across the garden at the man in prayer. "Look at him. I just know that something terrible is going to happen to him and that his request is very important." The little rabbit glanced across the garden and thought he saw great drops of sweat upon the man's face. Shivers went up and down his spine. His small brown body shook and shivered for a moment. Finally he said, "Ok, I . . . I'll try!"

He gently picked the egg up in his mouth. He turned and looked at the man in prayer. Reuel blinked his eyes as he saw the man bow his head and tremble. The rabbit looked up once more at Raphael who nodded and motioned for him to hurry. Reuel didn't understand what the hurry was but distant voices drifting from outside the garden walls hinted at trouble. Raphael made a loud rasping whisper, "Go Reuel, go!"

The rabbit with the small egg held gently but firmly in his mouth took off through the garden. He went through the grass under the bushes toward the west wall, where the garden gate was. As Reuel moved closer to the wall and near the gate, the voices beyond the wall sounded closer and angry. Before he could reach the gate, the voices became quite loud. Suddenly, men and some women came up the path to the garden's gate. There were spaces between the stones of the wall and he caught glimpses of their faces in the flickering light of their lamps. Some of the faces looked terribly angry and mean, others confused and bewildered.

Reuel scampered under a bush next to the garden wall and not too far from the gate. He looked back into the garden to see the man in white, who was now wearing a red robe over his white garment. He was shaking the other eleven men who were still sleeping. A crowd burst through the gate and into the garden. The looks on their faces frightened Reuel. The leaders stopped and looked around. One of them said, "Ok, where is he?" The man in the robe stepped toward the crowd. They fell into a great silence when he confronted them. It was a very strange moment. Fear grew in the crowd as they faced the peaceful looking man wearing a red robe. He was so calm and peaceful in contrast to the tension radiating from the rest of the people in the garden.

Reuel peeked out from under the bush and saw a member of the crowd nervously step forward. He had a dark beard that came to a sharp point beneath his chin. The bearded fellow stepped toward the Master Shepherd. Reuel thought he saw signs of recognition on their two faces. The man's pointed beard twitched as he confronted the peacefulness of the man of prayer. Then he reached out and kissed the man of prayer on the cheek and said, "Yoshua." It was at that moment that the sleepers came up behind their leader. Behind him a burly redheaded fellow drew his sword and said loudly, "What have you done?" There was an exchange of words that Reuel didn't understand, when suddenly the redhead swung his sword at a member of the crowd.

Reuel jumped back against the garden wall as a human ear fell in front of him. The rabbit's mouth opened and the egg fell to the ground. It rolled out from under the bush. There was pushing and shoving, followed by shouts of defiance. It was then that the Master Shepherd raised his voice above the confusion and brought everything to a halt with the words, "Put your sword away! Let it be! This is not the time or place to lose your life with a sword in you hand." The man of prayer reached out and touched the bleeding spot where the ear had been.

The little rabbit's eyes widened in awe as the bloody ear before him faded away! Reuel looked up and out toward the man whose ear had been cut off. He withdrew his hand from the side of his head and in awe mumbled something. His ear was restored. The crowd gasped and became completely quiet. The only sound our little rabbit heard was the soft rush of human breath.

In that moment of the crowd's awed silence, Reuel Rabbit, terrified and shaking, made a dash out of the bush, picked up the egg in his mouth and scampered to the wall. He dashed along the wall behind the legs of a man who was holding a lantern. The man jumped in fear as the little brown rabbit went out the gate, across the path and down the side of the hill.

Raphael, who had circled the edge of the garden to keep an eye on Reuel, jumped atop of the wall and watched his friend disappear into the darkness below. "May Holy Messengers be with you," the rooster whispered under his breath. He then turned and looked at the bewildered man whose ear was healed. Raphael slowly shook his head and whispered, "I don't believe what I just saw."

Chapter 2

Cross The Valley

After crossing the path, Reuel ran down the early slope of the valley about a short stone’s throw. He was so shaken that he had to stop. He was afraid that he would drop the egg and break it or worse make a nervous chomp to break the shell. Reuel gently laid the egg in the grass and looked up toward the garden wall and gate. He saw the soldiers in the crowd pulling the Master Shepherd roughly by the arms back down along the path. Reuel also saw the men who had been sleeping in the garden running off in the opposite direction away from the crowd escorting the man of prayer.

One of the figures dashed into the bushes on the down side of the path as one of the members of the crowd tried to grab him. Reuel crouched lower in the grass next to the egg while he heard a sound of cloth ripping apart. A naked young man fell and jumped behind a bush across from him. A voice up on the path cried out, “Let him go! We got what we wanted!” The Rabbit saw a figure carrying a garment disappear to the south along the path. He turned to look at the naked young man who was staring at Reuel. He looked at the rabbit with a puzzled look on his face. His young eyes looked first at Reuel, then at the egg laying in the grass and back again at the frightened bunny.

The moon moved out from behind a cloud casting an eerie light on the side of the hill. After a quick glance up at the path, the young man cocked his head slightly, reminding Reuel of Raphael. He whispered, “Now you are a strange sight little fella. Don’t you know that rabbits don’t come from eggs?” Reuel, twitched his nose and whiskers and stared at the young man for what seemed an eternity. Reuel’s body felt frozen. Suddenly, he moved. Quick as any bunny ever born, Reuel scooped the egg into his mouth and took off through the undergrowth of the hillside. He heard the young man’s voice say, “Wait.” He couldn’t wait. Reuel ran and stumbled a few times, until he became afraid that he might break the egg. When he finally did stop, Reuel was half way down the side of the valley. He found a crevice between two rocks behind some bushes. There he gently laid the egg and fell asleep shaking and quivering.

Reuel awoke as the sun was peeking over the Mount of Olives to shed fresh light on the valley below and the eastern wall of the city. He twitched his nose and wiggled his ears at the sight of the Temple wall and the twisting road the made its way up the west side of the valley to the Golden Gate. He knew that he could not enter the city that way. Just below the rocks where he had slept was the road leading north and east up the west slope toward the low walls which extended north of the great temple. He began to wonder how he would be able to find his way past whatever lay around the north side of the temple and north wall of the city. “Oh dear me, me oh my, how will I ever get there?” he muttered and then froze as the flapping and flutter of wings settled on the rock above his tiny head. The large black feathered raven said, “Get where little fella?”

Reuel quickly tucked the egg under his chin and surrounded it with his forepaws. All he could think about was something regarding ravens liking to eat eggs for breakfast. The raven cocked his head to one side and then the other just like a robin listening for worms in the garden. He opened his yellow beak and repeated in a rough voice, “Get where?” There was a pause and the raven said, “What are you hiding from me rabbit?”

“N . . . n . . . nothing,” sputtered Reuel. “That wouldn’t be an chicken egg, would it?” said the raven.

Reuel trembled and said, “Please, I must deliver this egg to Hilda Hen’s courtyard somewhere in the northwest corner of the city.” The Raven said, “Must deliver? Must deliver, what is this some kind of a joke?” Reuel trembled even more and nervously answered, “No, no, not a joke! The Master Shepherd, the man in white, asked Raphael Rooster to see that the egg was delivered by the second day after tomorrow. He couldn’t do it because he was to crow this morning. He asked me and . . .and” “Caw Haw, Caw haw haw haw,” laughed the Raven. “I know Raphael and also the man. Hmmmm! If they want it done it must be done.” The raven cocked his head to one side and stared at the shivering rabbit for a moment. “You are going to need some help little fella,” he said. My name is Raphu and Raphu will help. You see where the road enters the lower wall, just north of the Temple?” Reuel, peeked around the rock, keeping the egg securely tucked under his chin. He looked north to his right and said, “Y-y-yes!” Raphu replied, “Well there are two pools on either side of the road after you pass the wall. The road then goes north past the Fortress of Antonia on the left. You’ll have to get around the fort and past the guards in order to reach the north wall. You know that the humans like to catch and eat rabbits don’t you?” Reuel looked up at Raphu and gulped, “Yes I’ve heard that, but Rabbi Joachim was always nice and friendly to all of us in his garden.”

“So I’ve heard,” cawed Raphu. “However, out here in the greater world humans are not like the good Rabbi. Soldiers especially look for extra goodies like you to supplement their diet.” Again Reuel gulped and Raphu continued, “My point is that there is great danger out here for a silly looking rabbit carrying an egg in his mouth.” The Raven paused a second allowing the thought to register with the rabbit. He then said, “I’ll fly ahead of you to see if it’s safe for you to cross by the fortress. It’s the shortest route, I’ll meet you at the entrance to the lower wall.” No sooner had Raphu spoken his last word then he was off with a rush of flapping wings heading across the valley.

Reuel shuddered and shook himself. He did not know quite what to make about the Raven. He knew that the bird was right about the danger. He just hadn’t thought about that when he told Raphael he would deliver the egg into the city. A promise is a promise he thought to himself. So he picked up the egg gently in his mouth and scampered down the rest of the hill to the road. It was still quite early. The sun was up only a little higher than when he had awaken. He looked south and north along the roadway. There were yet very few people on the road. Reuel hid in the tall grass at the east side of the road while an old man passed with his donkey in tow. What the old man failed to notice the donkey saw. The donkey stopped at the sight of Reuel in the grass holding the egg in his mouth. The old man almost fell backward at the sudden stop.”What’s the matter with you Daniel?” bellowed the old man. “Hee haw, Hee haw, haw hee haw,” was all that the man heard from Daniel. What the donkey said was, “A rabbit, a rabbit with an egg in his mouth!”

Reuel was frightened that somehow Daniel the donkey would get him caught. The old man yelled at the donkey, “Why do you do this to me? Sometimes I think you see ghosts. Come now, relax my friend. Please let’s go.” Daniel, shook himself and cast his eyes back at Reuel and hawed, “What are you doing rabbit?”

Reuel put the egg down and said, “I’m on a mission for The Master Shepherd and I must deliver this egg in the city before noon on the day after tomorrow. Please don’t let the old man see me.” Daniel sort of muttered a hew haw that answered, “Ok little fella.” It was then that Reuel picked up the egg and scurried behind Daniel to the west side of the road and into the brush. The Old man caught sight of Reuel’s bushy white tail scampering ahead through the brush and stopped. “Ah,” he said, “Now my Daniel is frightened by rabbits. Sometimes you really surprise me. Why would a little brown rabbit frighten someone your size? Come we must get to the market soon.”

Reuel managed to get quite far ahead of Daniel and the old man. He climbed up the west bank toward the low wall. A couple of times Reuel thought he caught a glimpse of Raphu circling high in the air above the northeast corner of the temple. There was some deep grass against the wall at the gate in the low wall. It was there that Reuel paused and glanced back down the road where he could barely make out the old man and his donkey starting up the hill. The rabbit shivered and muttered to himself. He already felt a little tired after the climb.

He didn’t have time to dwell upon being tired because there was a flutter of wings and Raphu the raven settled above his head atop of the wall. The raven caw hawed softly, “You will see two pools one to your left and south next to the wall and another to your right and north. The road joins another road that runs north and south. To the south it heads to the north portico of the temple. To the north, the road runs between the Pool of Bethesda and the northeast corner of the Fortress of Antonia.”

Chapter Three

Past Golgotha to The Wall

Raphu paused for a moment and cocked his head toward Reuel hidden in the grass. “You must cross the road and get to the northeast corner of the fortress. There are guards posted at each corner of the fortress. You have to get past them. You then head straight west. You will cross another north and south road. That road ends south at the gate to the Second Quarter of the city. That gate is very busy and there are already many humans traveling the road toward that gate. There is a very small hole in the great wall. However, it is in that part of the north wall that actually runs south along the west side of the Second Quarter of the city.”

The rabbit trembled and answered, “This sounds confusing and very scary.” Raphu cawed, “I will try to distract the guards so they won’t notice you. Remember, you are doing this for Raphael and the Master Shepherd. Now I suggest you climb up the hill on the west side of the busy road and head south a little. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just travel south along the east side of the road. The road runs down the crest of the hill and soon you’ll be able see the hole to enter the city.” Reuel sighed and said, “Thank you.” The raven answered, “You’re most welcome. Shalom!”

Reuel scampered through the grass along the south edge of the road as it went between the two pools.

He had to hide in grass before crossing the road and heading toward the fortress. He was glad it was still early enough in the morning that not too many people were on this road. However, he did hear two men arguing about some trial held during the night by someone called Ananias. After they had passed him moving toward the portico gate to the temple, he ran across the road and toward the fortress which loomed in front of him.

The rabbit continued quickly along the base of the fortress until he reached its northeast corner. When he got there, he peeked around the corner. He immediately saw a soldier with a javelin. Behind the soldier was a door of some kind. There was no grass along the base of the fortress wall. That meant Reuel would have to make a dash for the grass and weeds just north of the guard. There was nothing else to do. So the rabbit rested a moment and gathered up his courage. He dashed toward the grass with the egg in his mouth.

The guard spotted him and yelled, “Hey a rabbit with an egg in its mouth!” The voice of another soldier inside the doorway said, “What?” That soldier stepped out next to the first one and said, “Are you crazy? Rabbits don’t eat eggs.” The First replied, “I don’t care. I saw it. It’s over there. Look, the grass is moving over there. It’s the rabbit.”

Reuel heard the voices of the soldiers and started to scamper faster through the grass.”The first soldier said, “I can get him!” Taking his javelin in his right hand he raised his arm to throw it at Reuel’s bushy white tail. It was then that a rush of wings descended above the soldiers hand. Raphu screeched and clawed at the soldier’s hand as he threw the javelin which soared awkwardly after the racing rabbit. Reuel heard Raphu’s voice screech, “Run!” The rabbit went as fast as his legs would take him and the javelin came to rest just behind him with a scrunching sound. Meanwhile the raven flew up and away from the soldiers.

The second soldier said in amazement, “What . . . what was that?” Looking up at the raven flying away toward the west, the first answered, “I’ll be damned if I know. Looks like a crazed raven. If I didn’t know better I’d say that it was trying to protect that blasted rabbit.” The other replied, “Why would it do that?” The first said, “I don’t know; maybe to protect the egg.” The second soldier laughed, “You don’t expect me to believe that the rabbit really had an egg in it’s mouth, do you?” The first said, “Oh shut up!” and stalked away back toward the fortress door.

After running for what seemed like and hour, Reuel stopped in some deep grass under a bush near the crown of a little hill north of the west tower. He gently laid the egg down and tried to catch his breath. Raphu fluttered onto a limb of the bush above Reuel’s head and cawed, “That . . . that was close little friend. I told you it could be dangerous. Those human soldiers really like to eat rabbits.”

Reuel sighed and answered, “Thank you.” The Raven replied, “It was nothing.” He made a cackling laugh and said, “It was kind of fun.” He raised his beak toward the west tower, “See them up there now!” Reuel peeked over the tall grass and saw soldiers having an obvious animated discussion. One of them was pointing out in their direction. Raphu said, “It’s the egg. They can’t begin to understand what a rabbit would want with an egg.”

It was late morning when Reuel got across the next road. It was indeed busy as Raphu Raven had said it would be. He managed to get across the road but not before a little girl saw him and called out to her father who was leading another donkey pulling a wagon with sheep locked in a cage. The sheep saw the rabbit with his egg. They started making lots of bleeping noises.

The little girl shouted, “A Rabbit with an egg . . . a rabbit with an egg.” The wagon of sheep’s noises annoyed the donkey who began to make her own fuss. “What kind of nonsense is all this?” cried the girl’s father. He began to scold her. Another traveler heading to market inside the city walls came up and said, “No, no Jacob. She did see a rabbit scurry across the road.” Jacob looked at the other traveler, who happened to be a woman he knew. He lowered his voice and said, “With an egg in it’s mouth?”

The woman replied slowly, “Well . . .no, I didn’t see whether it had an egg in its mouth but just because I didn’t see the egg, doesn’t mean it wasn’t holding one.” Jacob said, “Humph!” as they all saw the rabbit’s white bushy tail disappear over the rise in the ground to the west of them. “Enough of this, we must get to market or lose our spot in the market.”

It was getting close to high noon when Reuel reached the next north-south road which lead to the upper city. Back toward the east he could see that part of the north wall which ran along the west side of the second quarter of the city. It was just like Raphu had described it. He moved south along the east side of the road and kept looking for the hole that was supposed to be at the base of the wall. Reuel moved south and down the side of the hill which overlooked the wall. He stopped to rest and put the egg down. He heard some noise which made his ears stand up straight. It sounded like hammering.

The sound came from further down the hill. The hammering was accompanied by groaning. He checked the egg that rested next to his cheek. The Rabbit gently picked up the egg in his mouth and proceeded further down the hill, trying to keep out of sight of the gathering crowd of people on a separate crown in the hillside. He twitched his nose and peeked out from behind a large boulder to the south of the crown. He gasped and dropped the egg. It fell on his front paws to roll away from him down the slope near another large rock. His eyes widened as he watched soldiers raise up a large beam of wood with a crossbar. A man was tied to the crossbar and nails had been driven through his wrists.

Sibilius the Centurion, who was in charge of the soldiers, bellowed instructions. The vertical beam made a deep sounding thud as it fell into place in the hole that would hold it upright. The man screamed in pain. Reuel shivered. His fur bristled along his back. The hammering started once again. Reuel could not quite see what the soldiers were nailing down. Human groans and the sight of the other man hanging from the crossbeam gave the rabbit a good idea of what was happening.

The egg! Suddenly Reuel remembered the egg had rolled away from him. He looked down the slope and saw that it was where he had last seen it. It rested next to a large rock. He tried to shake off the horror of the human suffering he was watching and dashed toward the large rock. His movement caught the attention of the Centurion. “What was that?” Sibilius cried out. “What was what?” answered one of his soldiers.

Reuel picked up the egg and hid behind the boulder, away from the Centurion. Sibilius pointed toward the large stone and said, “Over there! Something or someone is behind that rock.” The whole execution had Sibilius feeling uncomfortable and on edge. The soldier, named Cornelius, shrugged his shoulders, picked up his sword and walked past the Centurion. When the soldier got to the stone he peered around it and looked down at Reuel, who froze motionless with the egg in his mouth.

“Well Sergeant, what is it?” the Centurion demanded. Cornelius looked at the rabbit and shook his head. “Well?” the Centurion cried. “It’s a rabbit, Sir!” The Centurion walked slowly toward the sergeant and said, “So, why are you looking so dumbfounded?” Cornelius replied, “It’s holding an egg!” Reuel thought to himself, “This is the end. I knew I shouldn’t have let Raphael talk me into this. I’m dead. I know it. I’m dead.”

Sibilius stepped up to where Cornelius was standing over the rabbit and he gasped. “Why, I don’t believe it. A rabbit with an egg in its mouth.” The sergeant shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s a strange day, Sir. We’re executing a man who seems innocent of anything along with a real murderer and a thief, and now we see a rabbit with an egg in its mouth. Maybe it’s an omen of some kind.”

The Centurion looked at the Cornelius and at Reuel. He spoke quietly, “I’m not a religious or superstitious man, Sergeant. We have a job to do. Let’s finish it.” He was a leader of a hundred men in the Roman army, but the sight he had just seen disturbed him deep down inside. It was beginning to gnaw at his conscience that he had to execute the man called Yoshua Ben Yoseph. He turned and walked away back toward where the rest of soldiers were raising up a second man. The vertical beam of the cross fell with another deep thud into its hole. That man released a sound of agonized pain. Reuel was terrified. However, when the Cornelius and the Centurion walked away toward the executions, he made a dash for another rock a little further down the slope.

Reuel peeked out from behind the new rock in time to see the third man being executed. He dropped the egg again as his mouth opened wide in amazement. He recognized the man as the man of prayer who Raphael called the Master Shepherd. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to kill someone who could do such wonders as restore an ear, as he saw the fellow do in the garden. Reuel realized that something was wrong. The man in white or Master Shepherd was a good man. He had to be. Only a good person would behave the way this fellow had in the garden. Reuel looked at him and saw the change in his appearance. He had thorns about his head. His white garment was torn and filthy and barely hung from his shoulders with blood stains around many torn shreds. The red seamless robe was in the hands of another soldier. It also looked covered with dust and grime. The man of prayer looked filled with pain and yet somehow calm.

Reuel wiggled his ears as he heard the Centurion call out to the soldiers. “Bring me Ben Yoseph’s robe.” The soldier carrying the robe frowned and cautiously replied, “We should toss dice for it!” Sibilius frowned. His discomfort with this execution held back the inclination to assert his rank. While the sergeant and the rest of the squad stared, the Centurion squirmed in his soul. Finally he grumbled, “So be it!”

The little brown rabbit eyes watched in amazement and horror as the man from the garden was robbed! The fur on his back bristled in fear as they laid him upon the beam and crossbar. The soldiers ripped his garments off his back leaving Yoshua almost completely naked. His upper body was bare and filled with bloody welts from having been beaten. His legs were filthy with mud, blood and bruises. They secured his arms with ropes, and began nailing his wrists and feet to the beams.

All the while, Yoshua Ben Yoseph did not cry out. Reuel was sure he saw him wince, but he did not cry out. The little brown rabbit wanted to run, but he couldn’t pull himself away from the horrible executions. He listened while the other two men appeared to curse the one from the garden. Then Reuel shook his head as he decided that the two men were arguing out of their pain.

Raphael’s Master Shepherd, who hung on the cross between the two, said something to the fellow on his right. Whatever he said, it calmed the man down and Reuel heard only the name Yoshua. The one on the left cursed and then fainted in pain. “Yoshua.” thought the rabbit. “The humans about the city used that name for their children every once in a while.” Reuel thought for a moment and stood his ears up straight as he recalled, “Yoshua. It means ‘rescuer.’” His little brown eyes looked up at the human in the center of the other two men and wondered how inappropriate it seemed for him to be called ‘Rescuer.’ Reuel Rabbit felt tears creep into the corners of his eyes. Something was terribly wrong.

The Centurion cast a look back at the boulder and saw the rabbit move down the hill and disappear behind another rock. He felt a tingle go up his spine and turned to look at Yoshua, Raphael’s Master Shepherd, hanging from the cross. He didn’t like the way the Governor and the local Tetrarch had treated this man. As he had listened to the things said by everyone and the man himself, he could not figure out what he had done that deserved death. “Somehow this man has disturbed the balance of politics in this forsaken corner of the Empire,” he thought to himself. He looked around and saw the crowd increasing. “Look at the so-called holy men of the city,” Sibilius thought. “They’ve come to taunt the man.” An anger began to grow in the belly of Sibilius the Centurion. “Sergeant! Make that crowd back away!”

Reuel couldn’t hear as well from his spot further down the hill. The crowd that gathered soon obscured his view. However, he was sure that he heard Yoshua say something about forgiveness. “I wonder why the Master Shepherd needs to be forgiven,” the rabbit whispered to himself. He paused and thought, “He couldn’t be forgiving everyone around him? Could he?” Then it struck Reuel that the man on the cross was doing exactly that. Another shiver went up and down his furry back. Unbeknown to the rabbit, the Centurion felt a chill at the very same moment.

It was really very overwhelming. Reuel kept wondering why he let himself get into all of this. He looked down at the egg between his forepaws and considered what was worse; he carrying an egg to Hilda Hen’s House in the city or the human called Yoshua Ben Yoseph being killed for no good reason. At least from the rabbit’s point of view, a human who restored the ear of another human, as he had seen in Rabbi Joachim’s garden, didn’t deserve to be executed.

Suddenly, the rabbit heard Yoshua cry out in an anguished voice over the mumbling voices of the crowd. It sounded from his distant vantage point that Raphael’s Master Shepherd was asking in agony why ‘His Majesty,’ was leaving him alone. Reuel didn’t really know very much about ‘His Majesty.’ He knew very little. However, if there was any real Emperor of the Universe, he was very far removed from the life of a little brown rabbit. Reuel’s thoughts were interrupted by a shout from the crowd. They were crying out something about someone named Elijah. The fur on his back crawled and he shivered. “Why am I here?” he mumbled to himself.

Fear and fascination kept Reuel still behind the rock. It was like some strange rabbit nightmare as time ticked away until about the fifteenth hour of the day. At the moment that Reuel Rabbit asked himself ‘why,’ for almost the hundredth time, Yoshua Ben Yoseph, Raphael Rooster’s Master Shepherd, raised his voice up to cry, “It is finished!” Reuel climbed atop of the rock, sat up on his hind paws and gazed up the hill over the heads of the crowd. He saw the man of prayer say something too softly to be heard at a distance. Then the man dropped his head into eternal silence. The crowd hushed. The silence was broken only by distant thunder. The sky flickered with what the rabbit’s momma used to call “sheet lightning.” The Centurion uttered something about a “god.” Reuel felt a deep and profound sorrow. He picked up the egg and moved slowly away from the place of the skull.

Frightened and confused the rabbit made his way further down the hill. The sky grew dark and it thundered. The air suddenly became cooler while great drops of rain fell kicking up dust on the dry hillside. Reuel hurried to find shelter. The rain grew heavier and rivulets of brown water caught up with him. He became soaked and feared dropping the egg. He crossed the road that lead up to the place of the Skull and came to a stone wall. He found a break in the wall and crawled under the loose stones. He laid the egg down in the cool dark corner of space between the stones. He snuggled up against the high side of the crevice and watched a trickle of water pass by and out into the open space beyond the wall. Reuel felt exhausted. His little brown coat of fur was wet and all askew. His eyes became heavier and heavier. He slept!

The bunny awoke to the sounds of men’s voices. He peeked out of the crevice in the wall toward the side off of the road. The rain had stopped. He saw two soldiers carefully carrying what looked like a body wrapped in a white shroud. The ground was damp and the sounds of the soldier’s feet squished along the path. Reuel stuck his head out of the wall to get a better look. Behind the soldiers came two older men walking with their heads hung low. Following the old men were three women and a very young man, who Reuel thought looked familiar. When he got his head half way out of the crevice, he saw that he was gazing at another garden.

The party of humans carrying what looked like a body circled to the left where the path in the garden came upon a steep side of the hill. Reuel looked at his egg in the corner of the shadows of the crevice. “It’ll be safe here,” he thought. Very quietly, the rabbit moved out and down the slope of the garden to get a better look at what the humans were doing. He found a rock with a bush growing in between him and the people. The bunny pushed himself up onto the rock and peered through the branches and leaves. He saw a huge round stone shaped something like the stone that covered the well in Rabbi Joachim's garden.

Reuel watched the humans place the body in the tomb. In the short moment that seemed like an eternity, he realized that it was Yoshua’s body. His rabbit ears drooped at the sound of the great stone being rolled into place. The scraping and thud registered a deep sense of loss with the rabbit. There was grief in the air and Reuel’s twitching nose sensed its aroma. He lowered his head and turned back toward the niche in the stone wall where he had left Raphael’s egg.

When he wiggled back into the space the egg reminded him of the Master Shepherd as he appeared in Joachim’s garden. Reuel became filled with a feeling that it didn’t matter anymore. He stared at it remembering that the rooster had said that Yoshua wanted the egg delivered safely to a man he would find in Hilda Hen’s courtyard. At the thought that the Master Shepherd wanted the egg delivered, another shiver went through his furry brown body. He didn’t understand it but in spite of his sense of loss he knew that the egg must be delivered.

So Reuel waited until the humans left the tomb and garden before deciding to move further down the hillside and search for an opening in wall of the city north of what appeared to be another gate into the second quarter of the city. He had not noticed that gate. Watching the death of the Master Shepherd had distracted his attention away from his search for the hole in the city wall. He looked at the amount of people coming in and out of the gate and thought it would be much too dangerous to try going that way. The hole, he had to find the hole.

Reuel reached the bottom of the hillside just north of the road that ran east toward the city and a gate. That gate was busy with humans coming and going. The rabbit stared up at the northwest wall of the city and at the gate. The wall south of the gate made a right angle turn back westward. Reuel tried peeking out from behind a rock to look south along where the wall made another right angle south toward another gate. He also thought he could see another pool next to the city wall. He felt a little confused now. Which gate was the Northwest Gate and which was not the Northwest Gate?

The road above the Place of The Skull ran south toward the other gate into the city. He thought a moment about trying to enter the city through that gate, but changed his mind at the sight of the people and chariots that appeared to be moving in and out of the city. Actually, there weren’t as many chariots or donkeys and horses as he had expected. Still, it seemed like a dangerous idea to attempt entering the city by either gate.

He did not understand the importance of the day to the people of the city. He wished that he knew as much as Raphael did about the humans. As he stared at the city’s gate, Reuel noticed that it was mostly soldiers that were entering and leaving the city. In spite of the distant sounds of the soldiers and few others at the two gates, Reuel slowly became aware of how quiet it was. He almost felt that if he moved any closer to the city he would make too much noise and attract attention to himself. He remembered the sergeant’s voice when he said, “It’s a strange day, Sir. We’re executing a man who seems innocent of anything along with a real murderer and a thief, and now we see a rabbit with an egg in its mouth. Maybe it’s an omen of some kind.”

The memory made Reuel even more fearful of bringing attention to himself. “I guess I do look silly and strange carrying an egg in my mouth,” he thought. It was then that the little rabbit remembered what Raphael had said about the hole in the wall. He had said it was north of the Northwest Gate. He cocked his head to one side and wiggled his nose. He thought about it and a memory gradually came to him that his dad and other rabbits from the warren had told stories about an old animal entrance to the city. He recalled something about it being very small and good only for very small creatures like himself.

He wiggled his nose again as his ears fell upon his back. “Where did Daddy say the hole was?” After what seemed a long time during which Reuel became worried that he’d never make it into the city and find Hilda’s courtyard, his father’s voice came to him. He remembered something about the place being indeed north of the Northwest Gate but Northeast of The Skull.

Reuel turned and looked back up the hillside. It did look a lot like a human skull stuck in the ground. He glanced up the incline that rose up to the base of the city’s wall and slowly ran his eyes along the wall surface that was north of the gate. Nothing, he saw nothing. “I’ll have to get closer,” Reuel thought.

If anyone had been interested as they walked down the road toward the Northwest Gate and looked north across the dry and rocky incline that rose to meet the high city wall, they might have seen the strange sight of a little brown rabbit making quick dashes from rock to rock, holding an egg in its mouth. Fortunately for the rabbit no one on the road noticed.

When Reuel got near the base of the wall he stopped and looked both south and north. The sky was growing darker and seemed like it might rain again. He moved a little to the north and looked some more. He saw no hole in the wall. He moved south past where he had first come up from the hillside to the west. He looked and looked, but he found no way through the wall. He began to shake and shiver. What if he couldn’t discover the way into the city to find Hilda’s courtyard? Suppose he failed? His mind became dizzy with fear and his ears drooped down the sides of his back. The low rumble of thunder filled the air high above the city. He was about to panic when he uttered a rabbit prayer, “Oh, Master Shepherd, what am I to do? I don’t want to let you or Raphael down.” Tears formed in his eyes and he let the egg sit between his forepaws.

Reuel stared at the egg and watched his own tears fall upon it. He stared at the tears and it slowly became darker. Again there was the rumble of thunder. Lightning crackled to the north and then the rain started falling. It came down harder and harder. Trickles of water started running around him. Reuel shivered. It became darker than he ever remembered it being during a storm. Reuel thought to himself, “the sky is crying!” Water splashed over his forepaws and the egg wiggled and slipped away down the slope away from the wall.

He didn’t think. He just took off after the egg as it moved with a stream south and down toward the hill. Reuel’s heart beat faster and faster. The egg bobbled on the little stream of water and hit something that tossed it on to a clump of grass. Reuel rushed up to the egg to hold it tight between his forepaws as the water streamed past him and the rain continued to pour. He was frightened but little Reuel was determined not to lose the egg. He cried again, “Oh, Master Shepherd, what am I to do? I don’t want to let you or Raphael down.” Reuel’s tears joined the rain drops that had suddenly turned soft to fall over the egg sitting between his forepaws.