At the creation of the world, animals were in great friendship with each other, not chasing each other as they do now. The dog was particularly friendly with the rabbit.
It happened once that several animals gathered in a forest, built a big fire, played around the fire and had fun. One by one they were toasting their feet by the warmth of the fire.
The dog was sitting by the fire, toasting his feet, but suddenly the rabbit sneaked up behind him and playfully pushed the dog into the fire.
The dog gets angry, suddenly jumps out of the fire, sees that the fur has burned off his feet. He didn't need anything else, he got the rabbit's tail in his anger and bit it in two. Since then, the rabbit's tail is so short, and the dog chases the rabbit everywhere he sees it - even where he can't see it, but only smells its scent...
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 3)