Why the Rabbit Is Timid

A myth retold from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook

This myth comes from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook, first published in 1902. The collection gathers pourquoi tales—stories that explain why animals or nature look and act as they do—from cultures around the world. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The story offers a young child a glimpse of how people long ago used storytelling to make sense of the world: why rabbits startle and run, why their lips are split, and why the moon waxes and wanes in the night sky.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readers, about 4 to 5

Length

short · about 354 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

The Book of Nature Myths, Florence Holbrook · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.