Once upon a time, there was a rabbit named Robert. He weighed about four pounds. Poor Robert was infected with a foot-long tapeworm named Tommy. Robert’s energy was so drained by Tommy that he was napping when a half-dozen ticks that hopped on him. He spent even more time sleeping when Tommy Tapeworm added a few more segments.
Robert Rabbit knew that Tommy Tapeworm and all the ticks was bad for him. He said to himself, “Carrying this huge tapeworm and all those ticks is going to made it hard for me to get away from Freddie Fox.” He tried to explain that to Tommy Tapeworm. Tommy didn’t care.
Robert’s friend, Rupert, didn’t have a tapeworm. One sunny day in April, Robert and Rupert Rabbit were happily eating some newly-sprouted clover. They were so busy eating they didn’t see Freddie Fox sneaking up on them. Suddenly, they saw him, and hippety-hopped away as fast as they could.
Robert Rabbit, weighed down with Tommy Tapeworm and the ticks, couldn’t hop as far or as fast as Rupert. The slower rabbit was caught, and painfully ripped apart by Freddie’s sharp claws and teeth.
As he raced away, Rupert hoped he would never get a tapeworm.
Tommy Tapeworm didn’t care that Robert Rabbit was painfully killed. As Tommy and his many, many segments lay there in the pile of offal. It was all that remained of Robert Rabbit, whose exertions had given life, itself, to Tommy Tapeworm. “This animal is much bigger than that stupid rabbit. I’ll be able to add more segments than ever!”
Unfortunately for Tommy, Freddie Fox’s mother had told him, “The only rabbits we can catch are slowed down by tapeworms. Be sure not to eat any of their offal, or you’ll get one, and the hounds will be able to catch you.”
Both Robert and Tommy were killed by Tommy’s unthinking greed.
