“The Odessa Chronicles” is a book of stories which generally cover the various adventures of four “interesting” characters, one of which is Jaxon … a Jackalope!

A Jackalope is generally defined in dictionaries as “A mythical animal depicted as a hare or rabbit with horns, said to exist in parts of North America.”  How did we create him? Below is part 1 of the story in the book “The Creation of Jaxon!

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Once upon a time, many years ago, and while the Creator was populating the earth with creatures, there was so much work to be done that an apprentice was eventually trained. Creating creatures was very skillful work and, under the direction of the Creator, he gained a lot of experience and eventually became very good at it.

The apprentice decided that, late one night, he would make a creature for himself. He knew this would have to be a secret, as the Creator often made it quite clear that all potential creatures must be pre-approved, and then only created under direct supervision.

He wanted to combine the agility and jumping abilities of a jack rabbit, with the tenacity and weaponry of an antelope. The unfortunate result was a creature with limited agility because of its horns, and a level of tenacity that would be scorned by other animals because of its small size. The apprentice broke the Creator’s first rule, which was that all creatures had to have sufficient skills to ensure their survival. He immediately realized that his creature (he called a Jackalope) would not survive very long in this new world. Much as he wanted to keep his creation a secret, he did eventually decide to tell the Creator what he had done, as he really hoped that his Jackalope could be saved.

As can be imagined, the Creator was very disappointed that the apprentice had made such a selfish decision to make himself a creature, and posed two questions: “What right do you think you have to create life without understanding all that is involved? What right do you think you have to create this poor creature, who cannot possibly survive in this environment?”

The apprentice was very ashamed of what he had done. He had wanted a creature for himself, but had not considered the possible problems that might come with not knowing all that was necessary. He now looked at the poor little Jackalope and cried, because he saw no future for it. The Creator saw that the apprentice was punishing himself sufficiently, and was pretty certain that he would not do it again, and so he rested his hand on the apprentice’s shoulder and said, “Your Jackalope will live. I have a plan. You can go home now, while I see what I can do here.”

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The rest of the story will be posted on Friday of this week. For further information about “The Odessa Chronicles”, please click the book cover over in the column on the right. It is available from all the usual on-line book retailers, as well as direct from Friesen Press Bookstore. Enjoy!