Vaughan Tomlinson has put a sick twist on what was already a pretty depraved custom: wearing a rabbit’s foot on a chain for good luck. In the cartoon, the rabbit is wearing a severed human foot the size of the rabbit’s entire body on a chain around his neck.
I first focused on the weight of the human foot, which would likely cause the rabbit significant neck pain: “It’s good luck for my chiropractor.”
I next suggested that the bunny is wearing the foot, not for good luck, but for some other reason:
- “This has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with revenge.”
- “I’m not superstitious. I’m psychotic.”
My most disturbing caption was inspired by North American folklore: “And it doesn’t work unless you cut it off while he’s still alive.”
Now let’s see how you did:
Many of you suggested that the rabbit’s wearing the human foot for the same reason a person wears a rabbit’s foot:
- “Sometimes, you have to make your own luck.”
- “What makes you think I’m superstitious?”
- “You won’t be so skeptical after I win Powerball.”
- “Where can I buy a lottery ticket?”
Here’s a clever but depressing reference to animal testing: “It’s to ward off cosmetics companies.”
Anyone who’s read the Peter Rabbit stories or seen Aardman Animation’s brilliant “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” knows that rabbits are notorious for sneaking into vegetable gardens and wreaking havoc. However, this next entry implies that humans are the real pests: “This will keep ’em out of your garden.”
Several of you suggested that the rabbit is seeking retribution:
- “It’s not for luck. It’s for revenge.”
- “What’s good for the goose…”
- “They started it.”
- “Tit for tat.”
This next entry, which takes a well-known phrase and gives it a fresh meaning within the context of the drawing, alludes not just to retribution but to the weight of the severed foot: “Revenge weighs heavy on me.”
This caption also alludes to the size and weight of the foot, which, it turns out, is not much of a good-luck charm: “It mostly brings chronic neck pain.”
Some people not only wear or carry a rabbit’s foot but rub it for good luck—a custom the rabbit is understandably reluctant to follow: “I just can’t bring myself to rub it.”
I didn’t expect to see any Jewish jokes, but here’s one that also serves as the week’s best and most gruesome pun: “It’s my lucky rabbi’s foot.”
There were a lot of “ankle bracelet” jokes, but this was the best: “It’s an ankle necklace.”
This entry suggests the rabbit once worked with a magician: “That’s the last time he pulls me out of a hat.”
And finally, here are four strong captions that don’t fit neatly into any particular category:
- “I was going to dye it blue, but I thought it would look tacky.”
- “I told him I got it from the last guy who chased me.”
- “I found it just sitting there in a bear trap.”
- “Now, like us, he hops around.”
This week’s winner is, “It mostly brings chronic neck pain.”
Lawrence Wood has won The New Yorker’s Cartoon Caption Contest a record-setting seven times and been a finalist four other times. He has collaborated with New Yorker cartoonists Peter Kuper, Lila Ash, Felipe Galindo Gomez, and Harry Bliss (until Bliss tossed him aside, as anyone would, to collaborate with Steve Martin). Nine of his collaborations have appeared in The New Yorker, and one is included in The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons.