_In the Forest. Evening. Huge trees with thick gnarled roots. At the
base of one of the trees, Time or a lightning stroke has hollowed a sort
of chamber. Rising slopes carpeted with heather. Rabbit holes. Mosses.
Toadstools. Stretched between two ferns, a great cobweb, spangled with
water-drops. At the rise of the curtain_, RABBITS _are discovered on
every side among the underbrush, peacefully inhaling the evening air. A
time of serene silence and coolness._