The Young Rabbit and the Cow
Once upon a time there was a large family of rabbits who lived together in a beautiful forest glade. One day their old king said, "I want to make a feast before I die, but I have no meat. If only someone would give me a cow! If I had a cow, I would kill it and give you all a great feast, my children."
One young rabbit exclaimed, "Your wish is my command, O King! I will find a cow for the feast."
The other rabbits all laughed at him, "How will you find a cow?" they said. "You are only a little rabbit! Even if you did get a cow, you have have to bring it here through the forest, and all the big animals be lying in wait. They would take the cow from you, and there would be nothing you could do about it."
But the young rabbit said, "Just you wait and see! I have a plan to get a cow and bring it back here, but I will need your help: if you will do as I ask, then we will all enjoy the king's feast together."
Still laughing, the other rabbits agreed to do whatever the young rabbit told them, and he ordered them to build a big hut with a high fence all around it. "While you build the hut and the fence, I will go look for something special to put in the hut!" The little rabbit then bounded away into the forest.
When he returned, he was carrying a hollow log which was full of bees. The rabbit had sealed the log shut tight, which made the bees very angry. They were very big bumble bees, and as they buzzed angrily, bzzz bzzzzz BZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZ , it was like the noise of a whole crowd of people, even though they were only bees inside a log. The rabbit took this log and placed it inside the hut.
Next, he traveled beyond the forest to the valley where the humans herded their cattle. He hopped up boldly to the chief cowherd and said to him, "I come with a message from my king! He is planning a great feast, and he requires from you the bigger and most beautiful cow in your herd. Give me the cow! If you do not, then he will declare war, and you will all be killed."
The cowherds all laughed at the rabbit's words because they did not fear the rabbit or his king. "You are most amusing, little rabbit!" said the chief cowherd. "And yes, you shall have your cow, but you must earn it. Stay with us for a week, and every evening when we return here to our camp you must tell us tales of the forest and sing songs for us, entertaining us every night for a week. If you do that, I will give you your cow."
The rabbit was delighted with the cowherd's proposal, and every evening when the sunset had faded and the soft shadows lay on the hills, the cowherds would all settle round the fire and listen to the stories which the rabbit told them, and they learned from him the songs of the forest. For a whole week the rabbit stayed with the cowherds. Then the chief cowherd said, "You have truly earned your reward, rabbit! Choose your cow and take it to your king."
The rabbit chose a beautiful cow with long sharp horns, and he set off for the forest, driving the cow ahead of him with a long reed.
Just as the other rabbits had warned him, the big animals of the forest wanted to take the rabbit's cow away from him. The first animal he met was the hyena.
"You there, Rabbit! Give me that cow," snarled the hyena, "or else!"
"Hello there, Hyena!" replied the rabbit, unconcerned. "I was just on my way to your house. My king wishes you to attend him at once, at his new house in the forest. Perhaps you have seen it? it has a tall fence around it. He wishes to honor you with a great feast!"
Flattered by the rabbit's words and enticed by the promise of a feast, the hyena squealed with delight and followed the rabbit.
As the hyena and the rabbit journeyed through the forest they next met the lion. "You there, Rabbit and Hyena! Give me that cow," roared the lion, "or else!"
The rabbit explained about the king and the feast. "I was just on my way to invited you to be one of the guests of honor!" he said. The lion grunted with satisfaction and followed the rabbit and the hyena.
Next they met the buffalo. "You there, Rabbit and Hyena and Lion! Give me that cow," bellowed the buffalo, "or else!"
The rabbit explained about the king and the feast. "I was just on my way to invited you to be one of the guests of honor!" he said. The buffalo snorted with pleasure and followed the rabbit, the hyena and the lion.
Next they met the leopard. "You there, Rabbit and Hyena and Lion and Buffalo! Give me that cow," growled the leopard, "or else!"
The rabbit explained about the king and the feast. "I was just on my way to invited you to be one of the guests of honor!" he said. The leopard purred with approval and followed the rabbit, the hyena, the lion, and the buffalo.
After a while, they came to the new hut that the rabbits had built in the forest, the one with a high fence all around it.
"Wait here," said the rabbit to his guests, "until I call you," and he drove the cow inside the fence. Then rabbit went into the hut and began beating the hollow log with his reed so that all the bumble bees buzzed together even more angrily than before: BZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZZZZ. The animals waiting outside the fence crouched down in fear for they thought there was a crowd of people inside the fence and, even though they were big animals, they were afraid of people, especially crowds of people.
Meanwhile, the other rabbits were also frightened when they saw the big animals so near. "What have you done?" they said to the little rabbit. "Why have you brought them here? The leopard will tear us to pieces while the buffalo tramples us with his hooves, then the lion will eat us, and the hyena will get the scraps."
But the little rabbit was unconcerned and said calmly, "Just bring me a basket and an axe and a big carving knife and a little pruning knife," he said, and the rabbits brought the things he asked for. The the little rabbit appointed another rabbit to keep hitting the hollow log with the reed. "Keep hitting it," he said, "and when you hear me yell, hit it even harder!"
Then the little rabbit took the basket, the axe, the big knife and the little knife and went back out to where the animals were waiting, still trembling at the sound they heard coming from inside the fence. The bees were buzzing even more loudly, and the animals were growing even more frightened.
"Don't worry, my friends!" said the rabbit. "Those are just all the people who have come to the feast and who are impatient for the food to be served. You will all get plenty to eat, I promise; you just need to do a favor for my king before the feast can begin."
Then the little rabbit turned to the lion and gave him the basket. "You must bring water for the cooking pot in this basket," he said. "Take it to the stream and bring it back full.
Next he turned to the buffalo. "Take this axe," he said, "and go chop firewood, but it must not come from a tree. You must chop firewood from a rock."
Then he gave the leopard the little pruning knife and said, "Go into the forest and use this to cut some bamboo. But make sure it comes from a bamboo that has no joint! The king needs a long straight bamboo without a single joint in it."
Last of all, he gave the big carving knife to the hyena and said, "You have the honor of butchering the cow and then skinning it with the royal knife. But be careful: if you taste so much as a drop of blood, you will be executed."
So the animals went away, wanting to complete their tasks as quickly as possible so that the feasting could begin.
The lion ran to the stream and dipped the basket into the water, but every time he pulled the basket out, the water poured through all the holes. Oh no! The lion was scared, thinking he had failed the king of the rabbits, so he dropped the basket and ran away.
The buffalo found a big rock and tried to chop firewood from it using the axe, but when he hit the rock with the axe, the blade broke in two! Oh no! The buffalo was scared, thinking he had failed the king of the rabbits, so he dropped the axe and ran away.
The leopard searched through the forest looking everywhere for a bamboo that had no joint. She traveled for miles and miles, and then she realized the sun was setting. Oh no: she would never find what she was looking for in the dark! The leopard was scared, thinking she had failed the king of the rabbits, so she dropped the pruning knife and ran away.
Meanwhile the hyena began her task. First she butchered the cow, and then she began to skin it, wielding the knife with great skill. After she had been at work for a while, she found it hard to grip the knife as her paws were covered in blood. She then put down the knife and licked her paws to clean them. Then, having tasted the blood, the hyena could not resist: she began tearing into the flesh of the cow.
The little rabbit, who was hiding nearby, saw what the hyena was doing and shouted loudly, "The hyena is eating the king's meat! Come quickly, everyone! THE HYENA IS EATING THE KING'S MEAT!" As the little rabbit shouted, his comrade beat the hollow log even harder, and the bees buzzed as loudly as an army of warriors. The hyena thought the people were coming out to kill her, so she dropped the knife and ran away, and she did not stop running until she was miles and miles and miles away.
Then the rabbits made a great feast for their old king, and they also chose the clever young rabbit to be the new king and rule the rabbits. In preparing the feast, the little rabbit showed that he not only had wisdom but that he was also calm in the face of danger, just as every king should be.
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