Rabbit used to have very small ears, just like his cousin, Squirrel.
Rabbit was very curious, and he liked to listen to everybody, and learn everything that he could.
He would listen to the frogs and the birds and the deer, and anybody else who would talk to him.
Sometimes, if a creature was very small, he would put it on his paw, and hold it close to his ears so that he could hear it better.
One day, Rabbit was walking through the woods, and he heard a small chittering noise. He paused and looked down, and he saw Flea on the path, speaking to him. Rabbit could not hear Flea very well, so he picked him up, and held him close to his ear, so that he could hear him better.
Now Flea, as you know, is a very hungry, and somewhat spiteful person, and so, as soon as he saw the soft pink flesh of Rabbit's ear, he jumped right inside and chomped down and began eating Rabbit's ear.
Rabbit started scratching and scratching, because the bite of Flea made his ear hurt and itch. Flea was deep inside the ear, though, and Rabbit could not get him out. He scratched as hard as he could, but all he did was end up pulling on his own ear, and making it stretch.
The constant itching was driving him crazy. He couldn't think about anything else. All he could do was shake his head and scratch his ear all day.
Rabbit kept scratching for many days, and his ear got longer and longer. After about a week, Rabbit's ear was longer than his whole head.
The itching stopped for a little bit, because Flea had gotten all he could out of that ear. Then, when Rabbit was asleep, Flea walked around the back of Rabbit's head, and jumped into the other ear.
Rabbit woke up with his other ear itching, and the same thing started all over again. After another week, when Rabbit's other ear was long and thin, Flea had gotten his fill. He jumped out of Rabbit's ear, and disappeared into the woods.
So that's how Rabbit got his long ears, and ever since then, he has been very careful who he listens to, and he tends to listen from a distance. Of course, he now has ears that are bigger than his head, so that's easier to do.