Harry Starts a Family

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There was a rabbit named Harry. All the male rabbits in his forest were named Harry. He wanted to change his name but didn’t know what to change it to.


Harry was very adventurous. He was also very tired of the same old boring green stuff all rabbits ate. So he started hiding under the trees surrounding a campground. After a group of humans left a campsite, Harry would rummage through their garbage looking for new things to eat.


One hot, drowsy day he was outside an occupied campsite hoping the humans would leave. He fell asleep. Next thing he knew a girl had grabbed him and carried him to their campsite. He was very scared but the family seemed nice and liked having him around. Even better, they fed him.


One night they put him on top of the TV they were watching. Surprised, they saw that the picture improved. That’s where we got the term “rabbit-ears.” (Have your parents explain)


Harry had a favorite food. He realized the humans called it Nachos. He decided to change his name to Nachos. You are what you eat.


Nachos started looking around to find a female rabbit to start a family. He was interested in one rabbit named Harriet. But he thought she wasn’t very serious and kind of flighty. He was worried she would be hare today, gone tomorrow.


Another day when he was hanging around the campsite, he saw another rabbit also hanging out. Her name was Febe. She seemed very intelligent, not harebrained like the other rabbits.


So they decided to start a family. They knew that rabbits had lots of baby rabbits. What to name them? They thought they would have trouble remembering a lot of names. So they decided to only use one name for all of them. But what? After trying many names, they decided to combine their two names. All their little rabbits would be called Febenacho! And, fortunately, Febe had learned to count by watching humans. So they numbered their offsprings - Febenacho 1, Febenacho 2, etc.


Up in the tallest oak tree lived a very wise old owl  He knew a lot because he watched YouTube through the windows of houses at night. He formerly lived in a laurel tree but got tired of the stupid Laurel and Owlie jokes. (ditto)


Anyway, he spent his days and nights observing the other animals in the forest. He was especially interested in the mathematics of how rabbit families grew. He saw a pattern. He called it the Febenacho Theory. 


You can read about his theory at mathisfun.com. Click on Fibonacci Sequence. Don’t get hopping mad that some stupid editor misspelled Owlie’s theory.


For a little more humor (without any math), you might enjoy Ribbet Wins a Ribbon.


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