21. The Crow that Thought It Knew
22. The Hare that Ran Away

The Crow that Thought It Knew

Once a marsh crow lived by a pool when a famine made food so scarce that people would not spare food for the crows. One by one the crows left his famine-stricken land and flew into the woods.

At this time a town crow and his mate came to the same pool and settled there.

One day, as the newcomer was seeking food about the pool he saw how Viraka went down into it, caught some fish; and afterwards came up out of the water again and dried his feathers.

"If I start to serte the fishing crow, I can get plenty of fish too," thought the newcomer. So he drew near.

"What is it?" asked the marsh crow.

"I want to serve you!" was the answer.

The marsh crow said okay, and from that time the other served him and got a share of the first crow's catches for himself and his wife.

After a while he started to think, "The fishing crow is black, and so am I. There is so little difference between us. I will catch my own fish!"

He told the fishing crow that for the future he intended to go down to the water and catch fish himself.

The fishing crow said, "Good friend, you do not belong to such crows that are born to go into water and catch fish. Don't destroy yourself!"

But the city crow did not take the warning to heart.

Down he went to the pool, into the water; but he could not make his way through the weeds and come out again. There he was, entangled in the weeds, with only the tip of his beak above the water. Unable to breathe, he drowned.

His mate noticed that he did not return, and went to the fishing crow to ask news of him.

"Have you seen my mate, my sweet-voiced mate with a shining, black neck?" she asked.

"Yes, I know where he is gone," the fishing crow said, much composed:

He had not learnt to dive beneath the waves,
Had not learnt to do it well.
But he tried.
As far as I can see,
He got entangled in the water weeds,
Of a watery grave.

When the mate of the drowned house crow heard these tidings, she wept much and returned to city life.

The Hare that Ran Away

There was a little, nervous hare who was always afraid that something dreadful was going to happen to her. She always kept saying: "Suppose the Earth were to fall in, what would happen to me?"

She said this so often that in time she thought it really was about to happen.

One day, when she had been saying over and over again, "Suppose the Earth were to fall in, what would happen to me?" she heard a slight noise. It was only a heavy fruit that had fallen on a rustling leaf, but the little hare was so nervous that she was ready to imagine anything, and said alarmed: "The Earth is falling in."

She ran away as fast as she could. Soon she met an old brother hare who said: "Where are you running to, mama hare?"

And the little hare said: "I have no time to stop and tell. The Earth is falling in, and I am running away."

"The Earth is falling in, is it?" said the old brother hare and was astonished. He then repeated this to his brother hare, and he to his brother hare, and he to his brother hare until at last there were a over a thousand brother hares shouting: "The Earth is falling in." After a little, the bigger animals began to take up the cry. First the deer, and then the sheep, and then the wild boar, and then the buffalo, and then the camel, and then the tiger, and then the elephant.

Now the wise lion heard all this noise and wondered at it. He said, "There are no signs of the Earth falling in. They must have heard something." And then he stopped them all short and said: "What is this you are saying?"

The elephant said: "I said that the Earth was falling in."

"How do you know this?" asked the lion.

"The tiger told me so."

The tiiger said: "I had it from the camel," and the camel said: "I had it from the buffalo." And the buffalo from the wild boar, and the wild boar from the sheep, and the sheep from the deer, and the deer from the hares, and the hares said: "We heard it from that little hare."

The lion said: "Little hare, what made you say that the Earth was falling in?"

The little hare said: "I saw it."

"You saw it?" said the lion. "Where?"

"Over there, by the tree."

"Well," said the lion, "come with me and look again."

"No, no," said the hare, "I would not go near that tree for anything, I'm so nervous."

"In that case," said the lion, "I will take you on my back." He took her on his back and asked the other animals to stay where they were until he and the hare came back. Then he showed the little hare how a fruit had fallen on a leaf and made the noise that had frightened her.

The hare said: "Now I see the Earth is not falling in."

The lion said: "Shall we go back and tell the other animals?" And they went back. The little hare stood before the animals and said: "The Earth is not falling in."

All the animals began to repeat this to one another and soon walked their way. Meanwhile, the lion and little hare heard their words more and more softly: "The Earth is not falling in," "The Earth is not falling in," until the sound grew so faint they could not hear it any more.

✑ Compare a Hans Andersen tale