Grandfather Mozai and the Rabbits, 
or "ded Mozai gulyaet v belom frake,"
a Russian fairy tale.

susyg: HEY MO!

susyg: i got a girl at work who is Russian to tell me the story of
  ded mozai

Mozai: Holy frejoles.  There's two Russians here who just say "it's a
  folk tale, you know, like Cinderella," and not much else.

susyg: no Larissa rocks, she loves explaining stuff

Mozai: I knew a Larissa in high school.  She explained... uh, female
  anatomy.  She was good at explaining things too, but I think she did it
  out of self-interest.

susyg: it is just a kids story and her English isn't super so her telling
  of it was pretty basic

susyg: But it goes something like this....

susyg: In the spring there melting snow always creates flooding

susyg: but this particular year the flooding was so bad that forests
  were flooded and all the hills had become little islands

susyg: in an attempt to survive the floods the poor little bunnies had
  run for higher ground and were now trapped on the little "island" mounds

susyg: so old Mozai (just and name like john or sacha) in his crumpled
  old hat and his white evening jacket and rowed out in his boat and went
  from island to island and saved all the little bunnies.

susyg: that is basically what she said (i embellished a bit )

Mozai: Embellishment makes for a good story. Crumpled hat and white
  coat, eh?

susyg: ya one of those hats with the ears like a hunters hat and one
  ear was pinned up but the other fell down

susyg: She said that often the story is called grandfather mozai and
  the rabbits