The Clever Little Hare – children’s treasures
The columnist Nazneen Gulamhussein Mukhtar (Arusha, Tanzania) is the headmistress of Yaadgare Murtazawi Madressa, She is a mother to five children and loves writing and reading. She always wanted to inspire children – her favourite audience. Writing has been her passion for as long as she can remember and believes that effective learning takes place through storytelling.
Once there was a Lion who used to make it a habit to kill one of the animals in the Jungle and eat it for his daily meal- He was very mean, always making surprise attacks, This continued for some time until all the animals were tired of him- and the Lion told them to bring him an animal every day so that he would not attack them- They had to agree, as they did not have a choice, and at 1st the Lion could not trust them- but when he saw that they brought him an animal every day, he started trusting them. Sometimes it was a very old pig, or at times it was a sick cow- but that didn’t matter to the lion- he was happy to eat whatever was brought.
Unfortunately, every day an animal had to be taken as a sacrifice- it was becoming very difficult. All the animals were living in fear- because their chance could come any time! Imagine that.
Once it so happened that the animals had a meeting about what they could do to solve this problem once and for all. All the animals gathered around were the big and tall ones like the elephant and giraffe and the hippopotamus and the little ones like the tortoise and the rabbits and the hare.
Now as the question was raised. The little hare came forward and said- “I have an idea of how we can solve our problem”.
The giraffe looked down at him saying- “you? You have a solution? Hey! Listen all of you! This little fellow has an answer to our problems”.
Hearing this the other animals who were bigger and stronger started making fun and laughing at the hare…
“Haaa….ho….hee…..hooooo……”.
The hare said- “I may be little- but remember Allah is the one who gives wisdom”.
The elephant came forward and said-” you mean you think you can outwit a beast like a lion?”
The kangaroo said- “you mean you have the guts to face him?”
The tiger said- “a little thing like you will be gulped down by the lion and you won’t even be a big mouthful!”
But the Hare insisted and said-
“You can laugh at me, and you can tell me all sorts of things, and tease me. It’s ok. But do any of you have another idea?”
No one could say anything. So the Hare said-
“I’m going to try my luck. I have a plan. If I succeed- and I manage to get rid of the lion- what will you give me?”
The camel said- “if you do that- then we will make you our King.”
The others also agreed saying..”hear hear! Let him go and face the Lion…we must all hide and see what is going to happen”
“Yes yes”…they all said “come on…lets go…”
Now the Hare started, and the other animals hid behind the hare, in bushes, or on trees, and when the Hare reached where the Lion was – he was roaring…..
“where is the food that I was promised? How dare the animals not bring it for me? I will kill them and eat them and make this the greatest of feasts ever!”
and he roared so loudly..that the animals, who were hiding nearby, started shivering and they thought- now it’s the end of the hare!
The Hare came forward….
The Lion said- “are you the animal they sent me today? You are so tiny! I can eat 10 of you!”
The Hare said- “we were bringing you a huge animal Mr Lion! But you know what happened? Just as we were coming, there was another Lion who took the big animal and ate it all up!” (This was a story he had invented acc to his plan)
“What?” Said the lion? “You mean there is another lion in my kingdom?
That will not do! No ways! No ways! Where is this Lion? I will fight it…I will bite it! I will thrash it! I will bash it! I will beat it..and I will eat it”
The Hare said- “let me take you to him Mr Lion”…and so the big Lion followed the tiny hare until they reached – a well.
“There he is! Shouted the little hare…there he was inside the water! Look at him, Mr Lion! Isn’t he huge!”
Now you know children- when you look inside the water- you can see your reflection…you know that right?
On looking down the well, the Lion saw in the water the reflection of himself -but he became so angry thinking this was the other lion who was taking away what was rightfully his,
and without thinking, he jumped inside the deep well! and you know what happened right? He drowned and that was the end of him!
The animals came out of their hiding places and cheered the Hare.
“Hip hip hooray….the hare is a jolly good fellow!
You are our King now!” they said. “we are ready to serve you and give you food every day!”Â
The little Hare laughed and said, “I don’t want to become your King, I’m too tiny! All I need every day is a few carrots- and I can get that for myself!Â
All the animals had a new respect for the tiny hare from then onwards.
Well children, did you like the story? You know never judge anyone by their size or looks! They might turn out to be the most clever ones! Â
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