A little rabbit fell asleep under a coconut tree. Some monkeys were sitting in the tree, and, while the rabbit slept, the monkeys droppeda coconut. It fell to the ground with a great"It fell to the ground with a great thud."
thud, just behind the rabbit. This wakened the rabbit, and made him jump.
"Dear me, the world is breaking up!" thought the little rabbit. He did not look to see what had made the noise, but ran away as fast as he could. Another rabbit saw him leaping along, and called to him. "Where are yougoing?" he said.
The little rabbit would not stop. "I can"t stop to tell you," he called; "but come along as fast as you can!" And, when the second rabbit caught up with him, he said, "Run as fast as you can; the earth is breaking up!"As they ran along, they met another rabbit, and the first one called to him, "Run, run, run; the earth is breaking up!" So the third rabbit ran with them.
They met many other rabbits who came out of their homes to see who was leaping past so fast. And, when they heard that the earth was breaking up, all of these rabbits began to run, too, just as fast as they could.
"The lion roared loudly three times."
By and by, a deer came out of the wood to see what was the matter.
"Why are you all leaping along together and going so fast?" asked the deer. And, when he heard that the earth was breaking up, he ran with them.
Next, a fox ran along beside them and said, "Why are you running so fast? ""Come along," said the deer; "the earth is breaking up." Then the fox went with them, and they ran, and they ran,and they ran.
They met an elephant, and the fox called to him: "The earth is breaking up!" So the elephant ran, too.
The lion, the king of the beasts, saw them running, and heard them cry: "The earth is breaking up, the earth is breaking up!""This cannot be true," thought the lion, and he ran till he got ahead of the other animals, and then roared loudly three times.
The animals all stopped suddenly when they heard the roars of the lion.
"Why are you running so fast?" the lion then asked.
"O Lion, king of the beasts, the earth is breaking up!" said the elephant.
" Nonsense; did you see it breaking up?" said the lion.
" No, I did not see it; but the fox told me all about it," said the elephant.
Then the lion said to the fox: " Why did you think the earth was breaking up?""The deer told me," said the fox.
"Who told you the earth was breaking up?" said the lion to the deer.
"The rabbits told me about it," said the deer.
The lion asked one rabbit after another, but no one had seen the earth breaking up. At last he came to the first little rabbit, who was hiding behind the others.
"Did you see the earth breaking up?" said the lion.
"No-o-o, I did not see it; but I heard it," said the little rabbit. "I was asleep under a coconut tree, and I was wakened by the sound of the earth breaking up !"The King of Beasts and the Rabbit.
"Come," said the lion, "we will go back and see the place where the earth began to break up."So the king of the beasts carried the frightened rabbit on his back, and ran back to the coconut tree, and the other animals followed him.
When they came to the coconut tree, the little rabbit on the lion"s back called to the lion to stop.
"This is the place," he said. " Here is the spot where I fell asleep."The animals went and looked around the tree, There, on the ground, was a large coconut.
"That is what you heard," said the lion; " you heard the coconut fall to the ground, and thought the earth was breaking up!"The little rabbit felt very foolish.
" How glad we are that the wise king of the beasts stopped us and brought us back here!" said the other animals. "The fear of one little rabbit made all of us run away!"Author.-The author is not known.
General Notes.-This is a fairy tale from India, but it is differently told in different countries. Perhaps you remember " The Sky is Falling, " in which the actors are Henny-Penny, Cocky-Locky, Ducky-Daddle, and others. Who are the actors in this little story? Which was the wise one? How did he show his wisdom?
