1a. How does the King Wolf make the citizens of the country deny the existence of rabbits?
2a. What do the monkey and his wife do when their daughter insists that the King Wolf must want pictures of the rabbits to keep nightmares away?
3a. What is the King Wolf doing each time he has a photograph taken?
1b. Why do you think the King Wolf wants the citizens not to talk about or acknowledge the existence of rabbits? How successful do you think this technique is?
2b. Why do you think the little monkey continues to speak about the rabbits even when her parents tell her to be quiet? Who else in the story does the daughter remind you of?
3b. Why does the King Wolf want pictures of himself throughout the streets and homes of his country? How is he trying to make the citizens of the country feel?
4a. Examine the character of the King Wolf by his words and actions. How do his actions help you understand the kind of person that he is? How does he feel about the citizens of his country?
4b. How do the King Wolf's words and actions reflect his own perception of himself? How does this contribute to his eventual downfall at the end of the story?
5a. Why do you think the rabbits go as far as they do to rebel against the King Wolf? Why don't they just remain in the ground, out of view, and pretend they do not exist as the King Wolf would like them to do?
5b. Imagine yourself as one of the rabbits in the story. How would you respond to the King Wolf's actions against you and the other rabbits? Would you understand why the other animals living around you are afraid to acknowledge your existence?
Parable. What is the moral in this story?
Characterization. Which of the characterization techniques does the author use most in "The Rebellion of the Magical Rabbits"? Which technique reveals the most about the King? the monkey? the fox?
1. Write captions for the monkey's photographs described in the story.
2. Imagine that you are the King Wolf. Write a brief speech to the citizens, explaining what you intend to do as their new leader.
3. Write a brief radio news report, informing the rabbit citizens of the invasion of the wolves.
Using Vocabulary in a Story. In small groups, write a collaborative story using the following words from "The Rebellion of the Magical Rabbits." If you wish, develop a parable together, deciding on a moral you wish to communicate.
Combining Sentences. One way of linking words and phrases in a sentence is to use a transition of cause and effect such as because. For example, I stayed home from school today, because I have the flu. In a sentence expressing cause and effect, the word because can be placed in one of two places. See the Language Arts Survey 3.23, "Working with Inverted Sentences," and 3.34, "Combining and Expanding Sentences."
Example I moved to Seattle, because I got a job there. Because I got a job there, I moved to Seattle.
Link the following pairs of sentences together using the word because.
1. In the story "The Rebellion of the Magical Rabbits," the wolf attempts to erase all rabbits from the land. He thinks that rabbits are his enemy.
2. Ariel Dorfman decided to write his story as a parable. He wanted his story to have a moral.
3. Ariel Dorfman was forced to leave Chile and live in exile. Augusto Pinochet wanted him arrested for writing about his ideas and beliefs.
4. The wolf puts pictures of himself in the homes of all the citizens. He wants them to feel like he is watching them at all times.
5. The rabbits rebel against the wolf's attempt to erase them. They want to express their existence and live freely.
6. The monkey tries to erase the rabbits from the photographs. He is afraid of the wolf.
7. The monkey began using old pictures of King Wolf. The rabbits appeared in all of the new pictures.
8. The monkey's daughter knows the rabbits exist. She sees them outside her window.
9. The monkey's daughter wants a picture of the rabbits. She misses them.
10. The monkey's daughter does not need a picture of the rabbits anymore. The world is full of rabbits.
