EVERNA The Morbit Trial - A Children Story by Runa Rain

 

THE MORBIT TRIAL Runa Rain

Stuart, the white fluffy morbit, trotted into the courtroom, clutching a large brown book in both hands.  He entered the courtroom. His long ears twitched slightly as he crossed the rows of benches of courtroom spectators chatting to his left and right.

This was Stuart's twenty-third case. The young morbit could have extended his record of failure if he lost again today. But he didn't care. Neither did the morbits around him. One day he would be a successful lawyer. So Stuart wasn't going to give up just yet.

No sooner had Stuart settled into his seat than the judge entered the courtroom, accompanied by two morbits in dark blue uniforms and black hats. The court guests stood up to face the judge. Stuart hurriedly stood as well, as a sign of respect for the judge.

The judge looked very old. He coughed several times as he walked to his high table. This old morbit should be retired, Stuart thought. But no matter what, there was rarely another morbit to take his place. At least until the old morbit left the world.

The judge sat at his desk. He tapped his gavel a few times and called out hoarsely, "Order, everyone! Court is now in session!" After that, the judge was silent for a while. It wasn't very clear, but his eyes seemed to be closed behind his round glasses. Stuart almost thought he had fallen asleep again, until the judge started to speak.

"Um, um... Allow the suspect to enter," the judge said to one of his blue-uniformed assistants.

"Let the suspect in!" The assistant shouted loudly.

The courtroom door reopened. A pair of morbits entered the room, their faces looking sad. A large black morbit escorted them to a small open booth to the left of the judge's desk. The suspects entered the booth and sat quietly inside.

"Um, um... Let the prosecution in," the judge said again to his assistant.

"They're already in, Your Honor," the assistant whispered with an annoyed look on his face. The judge had repeatedly asked him to call the prosecution into the courtroom. The Judicial Council had decided that all participants in the trial, except suspects and witnesses, must enter the courtroom before the judge. The reason for this is to avoid undesirable things.

For example, in the last case, the prosecutor, Mr. Tim, did not prosecute because it turned out that his radish was not stolen, but fell off his bicycle. The large radish rolled over and into his neighbor's house. Tim insisted that his neighbor had stolen it, but the neighbor got angry and accused him of falsely accusing him. So they agreed to take the matter to court.

The night before the trial, Tom, Tim's brother, came over to Tim's house to talk. Tom didn't know anything about the fuss. He accidentally told Tim about the radish he had seen fall into his neighbor's house earlier in the day. Tim didn't believe him at first, but his brother couldn't have lied to him. After all, his radish was back, so he didn't mind.

The next day, Mr. Tim forgot to tell the town council that he had not filed a lawsuit because he was busy harvesting his carrots. The judge and the audience had been waiting for him for hours. During that time, the judge fell asleep. When he woke up, he dismissed the court. It was an unpleasant day for many morbits, except for the Judge, who looked refreshed when he woke up.

From then on, the Law Council made a slight change to the court rules. If the plaintiff failed to appear after the judge had taken his seat, the judge had the right to dismiss the case immediately. If the plaintiff wanted to sue through the court again, he had to wait three days before he could file the same lawsuit.

"Oh," the judge said dryly after the assistant reminded him. He nodded, then banged the gavel once. "Plaintiffs, please file your claim."

Two gray-furred morbits stepped forward. "The Edwards' children have ruined our carrot crop," said one of the plaintiff morbits, almost in tears.

The audience shouted with emotion, some in shock. Any crime involving carrots is the most serious crime. The punishment was more severe than for other similar offenses.

"We were busy taking care of the children, so we didn't have time to keep an eye on the garden. The Edwards' children often play near our garden. I told them to keep an eye on their naughty children," the female morbit said, sobbing. Her male partner, the gray morbit, hugged her and patted her shoulder.

The six little white morbits sitting in the front row of long chairs shook their heads. The seventh morbit, the diminutive youngest, didn't seem to understand what was going on. She smiled sweetly, showing her two front teeth, and wiggled her short legs, which hung a good distance off the ground.  Surely the bunny wouldn't be able to get off the chair without the help of another bunny.

The judge simply nodded, then invited the pair of gray morbits to return to the prosecutor's chair.

The prosecutor rose from his chair. He waved both palms of his hand, as if to make his long black coat shine even more. He adjusted his bow tie, then saluted the judge. He approached the defendants' booth.

"Your children ruined Robin's garden, didn't they?" asked the prosecutor with a glare. 

"I don't think so," the male white morbit replied doubtfully.

The prosecutor glared instead at the female white morbit, who just shook her head.

"Your Honor, please call the first witness," the prosecutor said.

The judge nodded to his assistant, who called out, "The first witness is in!"

A middle-aged morbit in a checkered shirt entered the courtroom. Smoke billowed from his cigar. The judge immediately began to cough. One of the morbits in the blue uniform approached the first witness and glared at him. The witness grinned, then sheepishly handed his cigar to the blue-uniformed morbit.

"You're fined two dozen carrots," the blue-uniformed morbit said sternly.

The witness could not hide his disappointment. His mouth was wide open. He would have put out his cigar had not the big black morbit in front of him told him to hurry into the courtroom. Finally, he clamped his mouth shut and staggered into the open booth to the judge's right. He should have quit smoking a long time ago. I don't know how many times he'd been fined for his bad habit.

 "First witness," the prosecutor interrupted. "Did you see what happened?"

In a hesitant tone and manner, the witness replied, "I saw Edward's children enter the garden and jump here and there. But being sleepy, I fell asleep in my rocking chair. When I awoke, the garden was in ruins!"

"How long were you asleep?" the prosecutor asked.

The first witness thought for a moment. The mound of his den was high and directly opposite Mr. and Mrs. Robin's house.  He liked to relax in his burrow every day. From there, he could see all of his neighborhood. She finally nodded.

"Not for long. Maybe just a few minutes," the witness replied.

"How do you know you didn't sleep long?" interrupted Stuart.

"I saw Mrs. Beatrice drying the pink sheets," the first witness said confidently. "Before I went to sleep, she took the big sheet from the tray. And when I woke up, the clothesline was clean and she was putting the last clothespin on the sheet."

"Okay, that's enough," the prosecutor said. "Your Honor, may we call the second witness?"

The judge nodded. The assistant in the blue uniform called the second witness.

The second witness entered. Yes, it was Mrs. Beatrice, the Robin family's neighbor. Her lace apron was still attached to her long skirt. She seemed to have been in such a hurry that she forgot to take off her apron. Her body was so curvy that it was a little difficult for her to enter the door of the room, which was not too big.

"Second witness, were you at the scene when the incident occurred?" the prosecutor asked ramblingly.

"You could say that," Mrs. Beatrice replied ungraciously.

"Did you see the little morbits destroy Mr. and Mrs. Robin's garden?" the prosecutor asked.

"I was busy with my laundry, so I didn't pay much attention," said Mrs. Beatrice. Like most morbit families, Mrs. Beatrice had a large grassy yard and a carrot patch. So even though she was the neighbor, she might not have noticed what was going on in the neighbor's garden, even though she was in her own grassy yard at the time.

"Hmm..." the prosecutor muttered. "If I'm not mistaken, the Robin family's house is just up the hill. So is the house of Mr. Teddy, the first witness."

Madame Beatrice nodded.

"So whoever went to their house must have gone through your house," the prosecutor said.

Again Mrs. Beatrice nodded.

"So you must have noticed someone going towards your house at that time, right?"

She nodded again. Of course she should have known, because her clothesline faced the road.

"Did you see another morbit?" the prosecutor asked.

This time Mrs. Beatrice shook her head.

The prosecutor smiled. "Your Honor, I think we know who did it."

The judge just nodded.

Stuart was deep in thought. If the judge banged the gavel, it would be all over. Stuart hadn't even done anything yet! The judge grabbed the gavel on his desk.

Stuart frantically raised his hand. "Objection, Your Honor!" he shouted in a rather loud voice. Stuart himself was a little surprised by the sound of his own voice. It was the first time he had dared to interrupt the judge who was about to end the trial.

The many eyes on him made the hair on the palms of his hands a little wet.  Stuart cleared his throat to compose himself. "Your Honor, the witnesses did not see the incident first hand, so there could be other factors..."

"Such as?" the judge asked.

"Wind or..." Stuart answered a little hastily.

"There are no high winds this time of year," the prosecutor interrupted. "Your Honor, there's no need to waste time. "

"Mrs. Beatrice may not have seen them, but that many morbits must have been at least noisy, don't you think?" asked Stuart.

Mrs. Beatrice looked doubtful.

"The damage to Robin's garden was quite extensive. The plants were trampled and crushed," Stuart said. "Did you hear any such commotion?"

Mrs. Beatrice was still silent.

"Was there anything at all that caught your ear?" urged Stuart.

"Just the children laughing and joking," she finally replied briefly.

"That's it?" asked Stuart, narrowing his eyes. "They were laughing and joking while they were deliberately destroying Robin's garden?" asked Stuart.

"They didn't intentionally..." Mrs. Beatrice's words trailed off. She didn't seem to dare look Stuart in the eye.

"Not intentionally?" repeated Stuart.

Mrs. Beatrice looked glum and was silent for a long time. Edward's morbit children looked equally glum, their ears hanging down. Except for the youngest, of course, he seemed calm and yawned occasionally.

"This is not important. A perpetrator is a perpetrator," the prosecutor insisted. "Mrs. Beatrice's answer is clear."

"But..."

The prosecutor held up his palm to Stuart, signaling him to stop talking. "Mr. Stuart, you've wasted enough of our time," he said haughtily. "Your Honor, please..." the prosecutor continued, his tone urging the judge to bang the gavel.

The old judge nodded, then his thin hand began to slowly raise the hammer.

"Tu... wait a minute...!" exclaimed Stuart. "Ms. Beatrice, you're lying!" Stuart demanded.

"Mr. Stuart, you've gone too far!" The prosecutor looked really angry this time. "You are a morbit with no manners. You disrespected His Honor by interrupting him so many times!" The prosecutor spoke while pointing at the judge.

Stuart looked down in confusion. His hands were clenched into fists. He might have cried if it hadn't been in front of so many people. But what upset him most was that this morbit court was unfair. As a lawyer, he didn't feel very useful. Stuart took a deep breath and let it out. He was determined to get his heart out this time. Who knew what his fate would be after that.

Stuart said aloud, "Even if the little morbits are the culprits, I think it's important to know the cause of their actions. I don't think the morbit court procedure is right. Only the end result is important, without looking at the process. That's not fair. Outside factors could have been considered to mitigate their punishment. I think that would have been more fair.

The audience began to get noisy. They seemed to be arguing, back and forth. Some morbits nodded, others shook their heads. Others were confused and just watched the reactions of the other morbits.

The prosecutor smiled sarcastically. "Attorney Stuart, are you really desperate because you always lose the trial?" The morbit who was much older than Stuart just shook his head.

"Everybody calm down!" the judge shouted, banging his gavel. "Mr. Stuart, even though you're young, I think you have a pretty good grasp of the current legal and judicial rules, don't you?"

Stuart nodded, then looked down again.

"Do you have anything to say before the court closes?" the judge asked, raising a long white eyebrow. "I don't want to be interrupted again."

"I just wanted to ask Ms. Beatrice. She says she didn't see it happen, but how does she know the morbits weren't intentional?" Stuart's voice was low, but still audible to everyone in the courtroom.

The judge sighed. "Very well, if you have nothing else to say," the judge said, not really paying attention to Stuart. He raised his gavel again.

"Well, it wasn't all your fault," Mrs. Beatrice interjected before the judge's gavel could hit the table. "My clothesline blew into Robin's garden in the wind."

Mrs. Beatrice's face began to turn red. "Those kind morbits helped me catch the pink sheet. But unexpectedly, when they caught my sheet, a strong wind blew it away and took the morbits with it. They fell and rolled around in the carrot patch, but eventually they managed to get the pink sheet back into my hands." After she finished speaking, Mrs. Beatrice burst into tears.

The judge wept, as did most of the audience. But the trial had yet to end. The gavel fell and the Edward family morbits were found guilty. Of course, the Edwards had to accept the punishment. All the produce from Edward's carrot garden had to be given to Robin's family for a year. That meant they couldn't eat any carrots for a year! Oh, that's very painful for morbits. And they couldn't commit any more crimes, or their punishment could be extended for another year.

The trial ended, and all the spectators went home. The judge also left the room, led by his two bodyguards. This left the prosecutor and Stuart. The prosecutor just looked at Stuart and smiled as he left the courtroom.  Stuart was the last to leave the room, thinking it's time for him to change careers.

==oOo==

Stuart watered his short carrot plants and smiled with satisfaction.

Stuart used to get paid enough for carrots that he didn't need to plant any more. Now that he was a lawyer, he wouldn't have much time to grow carrots. In fact, he would rather work as a lawyer than grow his own carrots. But what else could he do, he wasn't a lawyer anymore.

A little morbit ran happily into Stuart's garden, calling his name.

"Hey, hey, slow down, Poe," Stuart said as he approached the morbit.

The morbit held his chest as he panted. After he calmed down a bit, he started jumping up and down. "Stuart... Stuart... ," he said cheerfully. "The Law Council has changed the court rules!"

Stuart shook his head. One long ear bent.

"Remember your last case?" Poe asked.

Stuart gave a small nod. Actually, it wasn't something he wanted to remember forever.

"Since the trial of Edward's case against Robin, many morbits have agreed with your opinion. Some of the members of the Law Council as well. They held a vote this morning and... would you like to know the result?" asked Poe.

Stuart's answer didn't matter. The morbit boy wanted to tell him the answer anyway. "The cause of the offense can be considered for leniency."

"Really?" asked Stuart incredulously.

"Of course. My ears can't hear wrong," the morbit boy said, stroking his long ears proudly.

"Are you eavesdropping again?" asked Stuart, narrowing his eyes.

"Ahahahha... not on purpose," Poe said shyly. Poe's father was a member of the Law Council and the naughty morbit liked to eavesdrop on the council meetings.

"You'll like this one." Poe whispered in Stuart's ear. "The Edward family's sentence has been commuted. All they have to do is give one-sixth of their produce to the Robin family for one year."

"It's a secret. It will be announced tomorrow." The morbit's mouth broke into a wide grin. "And here is a letter for you, saying that as of today you are appointed to the Law Council. You are summoned to report to your new office today."

Stuart received the letter. He was so happy that he was speechless. He was so happy that he unconsciously hugged Poe very tightly. Fortunately, he realized before Poe was out of breath.

"Wow, I'm so sorry Poe! Thank you again!" Stuart then hurriedly changed his clothes. He smiled at himself in the mirror, wearing a suit he hadn't worn in a long time.

 

Morbit: Morbit is the term for a type of rabbit-human mutant in the Everna World. Morbits are three times the size of a normal rabbit and slightly smaller than a dwarf. They look more like rabbits than humans. Morbits are different than the more human-like mutant morbit race called Vorpal.

Since all the rabbit-humans in this story are morbits, this is a historical story in Everna, not a fable. The location of this story is in the Land of Lore, Aurelia Continent.

This story was entered in the Castle of Fantasy Monthly Story Contest on Goodreads.com, August 2015 with the theme of Children's Fables.

This story will be included in the Everna Saga Anthology: The Light Bringers.