Small Number and the Four Rabbit Holes
Small Number and the Four Rabbit Holes
Written by Veselin Jungic & Mark MacLean
Illustrated by Bethani L'Heureux
My name is Small Number. This is a story that I heard from my grandmother and that she heard from her grandmother. It is about a coyote, a raven, a rabbit, and the four rabbit holes.
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Story Transcript
My name is Small Number. This is a story that I heard from my grandmother and that she heard from her grandmother. It is about a coyote, a raven, a rabbit, and the four rabbit holes.
Every day Coyote goes hunting. Coyote leaves his den in the early morning, makes a big circle through the forest and comes back to the den in the evening.
At the very edge of the forest there are four rabbit holes in a straight line, a few steps apart from each other. Since Coyote is very hungry in the morning, he always checks only one rabbit hole before entering the forest. This rabbit is very smart, but I will catch him one day, says Coyote. But, many days have passed and Coyote couldnt catch the rabbit.
One morning, when once again Coyote couldnt find the rabbit, he heard Raven laughing from the top of the tree, Cr-r-ruck, Cr-r-ruck, Coyote! The rabbit is smarter than you are! Cr-r-ruck, Cr-r-ruck!
Coyote was very hungry that morning and Ravens words made him angry, Maybe the rabbit is smarter than I am, but I am much smarter than you are!
Cr-r-ruck, Cr-r-ruck, laughed Raven. You are an old, hungry, and angry Coyote who cannot catch the rabbit.
Let me see how smart you are. If I tell you that every night, the rabbit sleeps in the hole that is next to the hole where he slept the previous night and if you keep checking only one hole every morning, in how many days will you catch the rabbit?
Coyote looked at Raven, then looked at the rabbit holes, and then looked up at Raven again. Raven, you think that you can trick everyone, but you just told me how to catch the rabbit, said Coyote and slowly entered to the forest.
Question: In how many days will Coyote catch the rabbit?
Credits and Acknowledgements
Written by: Veselin Jungic, 間眅埶AV and Mark MacLean, UBC
Voice: Bethani LHeureux of the Cree Nation
Illustrator: Bethani LHeureux of the Cree Nation
Sound: David Brigden, 間眅埶AV
Music: Barry Cardinal of the Bigstone Cree Nation
Animation: Angela Meyers, Vancouver, BC, and David Convery, Vancouver, BC,
Producer: Veselin Jungic, 間眅埶AV
Director: Angela Meyers, Vancouver, BC
Special Thanks To:
- Betty Wilson of the Tlaamin Nation
- Ozren Jungic, Ottawa, ON
- Pam Borghardt, Coquitlam, BC
- Participants of the Math Catcher Workshops
- Department of Mathematics, 間眅埶AV
- Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia
- Faculty of Science, 間眅埶AV
- Office for Aboriginal Peoples, 間眅埶AV
- Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences
- The IRMACS Centre, 間眅埶AV
Acknowledgment: The story Small Number and Four Rabbit Holes is inspired by the puzzle Are you smarter than a cat? published by Alex Bellos in The Guardian on July 3, 2017.