Creighton University

What a delightful gift!  The artist's structuring puts the two animals together in an oval.  The woods surround and separate the two.  There seem to be many stories of the fox and the hare.  There is a story among traditional fables catalogued by B.E. Perry as Perry #333, Chambry #192, and Gibbs #596.  In this fable, the fox says to the curious hare 'If you don't know my arts, I will have you to dinner so that you can get a taste of my art.'  When the hare arrives, he finds that he is the dinner.  I would also add a widely known story, as it is retold online by Randall Craig: "An old master was with his disciple walking in the woods, when they observed a hare being chased by a fox. The student observed that it would not be long before the hare would be caught, and eaten by the faster (and probably smarter) fox.  The master replied that this particular rabbit would get away, and that they should stay and watch. Sure enough, after five-ten minutes of watching, the rabbit did get away, leaving a tired (and probably hungry) fox."  The moral commonly drawn is that the hare was running for his life, while the fox was running for his lunch.