Stag of the Cabbages

Hares are wild creatures which have tended to live close to people on moorland and farmland. Yet even though we are such close neighbours, humans haven't ever managed to understand all of the hare's secrets. We appear to have complex feelings toward the hare – a mixture of awe, affection and fear.

To us, hares are mysterious and full of contradictions – all at once comical and regal. One minute timid, the next bold, verging on "bonkers." They are mostly solitary and nocturnal creatures.

For most of the year you'll not see a single one, then suddenly in the spring they'll appear in droves, brazenly leaping about the open countryside. Where do they come from? Where do they go?

– Zoë Greaves
Excerpted from Hare
Old Barn Books (2015)

Note: "The stag of the cabbages" is one of a number of imaginative names for the hare that Zoë Greaves gathers together in her book, Hare. Others include "the hare-kin," "the dew-hopper," "the swift-as-wind," and "the cropper of herbage."

See also the previous posts:
Strong-Hearted | A Curious Fact | A Unique Position | Elaborate Means

Images: M. Breuer/Gettys Images.