The Wise Hare

There once was a little hare whose parents had died a long time ago. 

The little hare was brought up by his grandmother. The grandmother here was very old and couldn't work. So the two hares were very often hungry. 

The little hare roamed around the river near the home where his grandmother lived. Once a wizard came near the river to drink some water from the river. The little hare heard the words of the wizard and memorized it though he did not know what the words did.

Sometime later the hungry little hare decided that he would go to the river to catch some fish for breakfast. 

His grandmother wanted to stop him because she was sure that no hare could catch a fish. But the little hare was adamant so the grandmother let him go. 

Before sending him the grandmother taught the little hare how to set the net in a pond to  catch fish.

The little hare followed the instructions of his grandmother and laid a net near the pond and waited the whole night. He was very excited when the next morning he pulled out the net and saw countless fish stuck in the net. He was very happy when he saw that every inch of the net was filled with fish. Realizing that he could not carry all of them, the little hare threw many of the fish back into the water and carried what he could.

The old hare was shocked to see so many fish. 

The little hare however was not done. “Clean the fish. I will go and get some fire to cook the fish.”

The old hare was now shocked because no one who had gone to get fire from the other end of the forest had ever come back successfully. But the old hare did not say anything because she had not expected the little hare even to get so much fish. 

The little hare went to the river and was wondering how to cross it when he remembered the words of the wizard which he had heard.

The hare muttered the words and he was shocked when he saw that whales popped up in the water and the whales laid themselves as stones to help the little hare cross the water. 

Once the hare reached the other side, the little hare felt that he no longer needed the whales. 

The little hare was shocked when the whales disappeared from there. 

However on reaching the other side the little hare was spotted by some children. The little hair was too busy staring at the whales for him to act properly and he was caught by the children. 

The children caught the little hare and took it to their tent to cook the hare and eat it for a meal. 

The grandfather of the children wanted to kill the hare first. 

At that time the frightened little hare closed his eyes and wished that a fire would fall on the tent when the children had brought him which would help the little hare escape.

A little log fell in the midst of the tent and everyone fell back. 

The sparks from the fire which the children’s grandmother was building fell on a net in the tent. 

The hare ran out of the hole of the tent and carried the net with him. 

This time he reached the river but he did not have time to call the whales because the other humans were following him. 

The little hare wished himself across the river. 

The hare then jumped into the air and he was surprised when he landed safe on the other side of the river. 

The old hare was shocked when she saw the blazing net which the little hare had brought with him to cook the fish. 

“How did you jump across the water?” The grandmother asked the little hare. 

“I jumped.” 

The grandmother realized that the little hair was wiser than her and asked no more questions.

Adapted from Lang's fairy tales