"Well, I have nothing else to offer tonight," Dandilion said, thinking to himself. "I can't think of any other stories. Bluebell?"

"Not tonight," the buck shook his head. "I'm not in the mood for a story."

It was dark but the rabbits were restless - they hadn't been out all day. In fact, it had been storming terribly all day for two days and the rabbit in the honeycomb were all anxious for a story - sadly, their story-tellers couldn't conjure one for them. 

"I've got one for you," Bigwig turned from where he had been staring out into the rain. The rabbits could all see his nose was wet from the driving storm. He hopped down among them, and all were quiet - never had Bigwig taken up a story. "It's the Origin of the Black Rabbit."
Everyone was quiet.

"I don't believe I've heard of that one before," Thethuthinang whispered to Hyzenthlay, who she was sitting by. 

"I don't think you have, either," replied Bigwig. "Because I've only heard it once myself."

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"We all know there was a time when the world was still young. Among the rabbits there was no quarrel, of course, with anything else. Frith was shining warmly on them, but as the rabbits started to multiply and food ran short, there was nothing Frith could do - animals suffered starvation but could not die, as there was nowhere for them to go later. So they simply suffered. El-ahrairah didn't know what his people were causing, but Frith had not yet blessed the animals with claws and fangs. And so he made his plan to bless the animals, but knew that if they didn't stop being after attack, they'd only exist in eternal suffering.

"After this, Frith hit upon it: He could put an end to the suffering and created another place. (A few glances were sneaked toward Fiver's burrow.) A place far beyond the reach of normal beast and man - and this was where the rabbits would go. I don't think very many animals that you see in this world know much about that place - no doubt that fellow Silverweed did, and I bet Fiver's seen a good deal more of it than he'd like. But that's aside the point - Frith created this place and realized that death would not claim the rabbits without a keeper, and so he began a hunt about the world in order to find his death-keeper.

"The rabbit that Frith found was a young buck hardly more than three months old - not even old enough to have left his warren, which was his plan when he was able. This little buck was very clever and made a great leader to his friends. He was happy - very much so. 

"The little buck had black fur and blue eyes - there was no rabbit like him in all the world. And he was chosen by Frithrah himself to act as this keeper of death. Frith went to him, and he said, 'Young rabbit, I have a proposal for you.'

'Yes, my lord,' the young black buck said, 'Anything you need.'

Frith told him privately of his plan - that the world could only carry so many rabbits, and the weight had grown too heavy. He told the black rabbit of what his job would be - and the black buck feared it. 'My lord,' he said, 'I don't know if I can carry such a weight and live in such a world.'

'But I think you can,' Frith told him. 'I will bless you, young prince - the world that you will rule is ever-expanding, and if the rabbits of this Other world grow too many, they can be sent back. I believe you arethe only one who can handle this task, little prince. And if you don't, they will continue to suffer.'

The rabbit thought this over for quite some time and then said, 'I will do it, my lord.'

"And so Frith blessed him. He touched the young buck's forehead and said, 'Young Inlerah, I bless you this blessing:' -" And Bigwig closed his eyes, as if recalling the phrases to the exact word - "'Be prince of the moon and stronger than the sky itself to hold the spirits of all that pass you. Vengeance of the unwanted dead shall be yours, and the power to take all those you wish - take them, and may they only be taken by you. Be blessed with the power to send away those who do not belong in death, but touch not those who come alive - be blessed, too, with the ability to keep a warren - the warren which you always wanted, a second chance for those who lost their first. May you always end the sufferings of the living and let them find peace. ...Be it so.'

"And at these words, Inle was sent to the Other Place, and with the white mark on his forehead of a prince. He found himself at the foot of tall rocky spires, and the moon shone huge and white above him. Never had Inle ever seen the moon so big, nor has any other rabbit. The light of Frith doesn't shine there, and Inle lived alone for many days. But he found, then, that when rabbits came to him, it was in many ways. Some came as mewling kits, who he took in himself and gave a second chance if he could. But some he had to send back, for he could see something in them that didn't belong in Inle's realm just yet."

There was a pause, as if Bigwig was working something complex out in his head.

"When does came, they cried out for their litters. When owsla bucks came, they were frantic and fearful that they did not save their chief. And this was the greatest weight that Inle bears - and he hurt. He felt trapped by this, but never could escape it. And all he could do was send them to the fields of the realm.

"As it was, though, Inle's blessing wasn't misplaced. Eventually, it came to be that he did keep a warren. When does, still full of milk came, he kept them in his own burrows, and when kittens, not even with eyes opened, he gave the kits to the does. And when young promising bucks, who he had planned to see years later, after dying boldly or in old age came, it was Inle's owsla they joined.

"But Inle was not happy. And he is not happy. When he takes a life, he doesn't enoy it. When El-ahrairah came to him, he was moved by El-ahrairah's suffering for his people. 
Inlerah is not our enemy - he is a prince under Frith and a giver of second chances."