The Rabbit’s Soil by James Tian (Tian Yu)

The Rabbit’s Soil
James Tian (Tian Yu)


  In the forest, whoever had stronger muscles could eat more food, while those with little muscle, or even no muscle, could only endure hunger and search for any opportunity to steal food.
  The rabbit had little muscles. He saw the helplessness and anger of beings like himself, and he also saw the paradox of muscular beings—the strong are always strong only by comparison, so there’s never a strongest. Therefore, the muscular beings were also very angry…
  The rabbit had a burrow, and he also had a brain. He knew that there were many clods of earth inside and outside the burrow, so he made use of his characteristic of being able to send his shrill voice very far, and shouted—if soil were used in place of muscles to determine the distribution of food, then at least, if he himself had little soil, he wouldn’t have to blame himself…
  This sentence was heard by the entire forest in an instant. The beings with no muscles and little muscle seized upon this straw of salvation and quickly made use of it and put it into practice. Meanwhile, the muscular beings were tearing each other apart, and upon seeing this, they too abandoned their teeth and began collecting more clods of earth everywhere…
  A method that works isn’t necessarily beautiful, but it’s enough to spread quickly. The method became widespread, and the rabbit secretly rejoiced and admired his own wisdom. Just as he was preparing to announce that he was the “wealthiest” individual under the new rules, he discovered that many other beings, including members of his own kind, were digging the soil outside his burrow.
  He was very angry and cried out loudly: Do you have nowhere else to go? Why are you digging the clods of earth beside my burrow?
  Those beings gave him a sideways glance and said: Open your eyes and look. The earth has already been dug up everywhere. On what grounds should your place be an exception?
  The rabbit looked around and saw that the earth had already been dug until it looked like a beehive. The rabbit was anxious and shouted: Then there have to be rules, too. This is outside my burrow, my soil.
  Those beings gave him another sideways glance and said: No soil has your rabbit’s name on it…
  The rabbit said: But I was the one who came up with this idea…
  Those beings laughed and said: At the time, we only heard “a voice”. We didn’t hear “a voice with a mark”.
  The rabbit had nothing to say. He could only step forward to resist, but only then did he discover that he wasn’t as strong as these beings who had come here—they had “muscles”.
  The rabbit was both ashamed and annoyed. He immediately once again made use of his characteristic of being able to send his shrill voice very far, and shouted—the amount of clods of earth should be determined by Heaven; some beings are born with many, while others have very few. In the future, the amount of clods of earth should determine “the size of power”, and it should no longer be “muscles”…
  This sentence was again heard by the entire forest in an instant… The rabbit thought that this time it would be enough, but the next day he was struck awake from his sleep. When he looked, he discovered that his burrow had been dug down and collapsed…
  He could no longer endure it and went to argue, only to discover—now, in terms of the amount of clods of earth, his own power was weak; in terms of the amount of muscle, his power was still weak. Before, his power had only been weak once, and there had still been opportunities to steal food. Now, somehow, his power had become weak twice, and the opportunities to steal food were becoming fewer and fewer…
  The rabbit was desperately hungry. He found a stone cave and hid inside, carefully thinking about what had happened. Before he fainted from hunger, he found the difference: his original model design had been “amount of soil = size of power > amount of muscle”, but the living beings were all alive, and the freely changing nature of their characteristics had turned it into “amount of muscle + amount of soil = size of power, while the amount of muscle in turn determines how much soil there can be”…
  Before he passed out, he saw the stones that no living being had any interest in. With the last trace of strength he had, he thought: If I can still wake up again, then I’ll use stones… to replace the clods of earth…