We were halfway down the village when a hare darted out from a front garden. A black Labrador shot after it in pursuit. As though witnessing an Aesop’s fable, we watched the hare sprint up the street while the rather chubby dog huffed and puffed in chase. Breathless, heaving and shouting, the dog’s owner appeared and likewise gave chase – the Aesop’s fable had become a children’s story. Dog and human soon left behind, they quickly admitted defeat. Wise choice, hares can reach speeds of 35mph. We walked on, but the now-vanished hare had left its little bit of mystery on the village street. Perhaps it is their large, expressive ears, perhaps their penetrating, amber eyes, but humans have always found hares numinous. Nowhere is this seen more forcibly than in th