Lion and rabbit story
Today we hear the story of a clever rabbit. You know that all kinds of wild animals live in the forest. The king of the forest is a lion. The lion is a carnivore and he kills and eats all kinds of animals to satisfy his hunger. A very big lion lived in a dense forest. He used to go hunting every day and killed many animals and ate them. Due to this, all the animals in the forest started fearing that if the lion continues to hunt like this, then one day will come when no animal will survive in the forest.
Just as fire spreads in the forest, so this thing also spread throughout the forest. The animals of the forest called a meeting. It was decided in that meeting that some measures should be taken to stop the lion. All the animals expressed their opinions. In the end, they decided to go to the lion and talk to him about it. The next day a group of animals approached the lion. When the lion saw the animals coming toward him, he panicked and thundered, “What’s the matter?” Why are you all coming here?”
“King, we have come to you to make a request. You are the king of all of us and we are your people. When you go hunting, you kill a lot of animals. In this way, our number is decreasing. If this continues, no one will be left in the forest except you in a few days. How can a king live without people? If we all die, you won’t be king either. We want you to always be our king. We request you to stay at home. Every day one of us will come to you as your food, then you kill him and satisfy your hunger. In this way, you will not have to go out for food and work hard. In this way, both the king and the animals will be able to live happily. The lion felt that there was truth in the talk of animals. He thought for a moment and said, “That’s good. But remember, if on any given day you do not send me full food to eat, I will kill and eat as many animals as I feel like. The animals had no choice so they accepted the lion’s condition and went to their respective homes.
From that day onwards, an animal was sent to feed the lion every day. For this, one animal was selected in turn from all the animals living in the forest. A few days later it was the turn of the rabbits. A small rabbit was chosen for the lion’s food. He prayed to God and said, ‘O Lord, it is foolish to die at the hands of this lion. You tell me some way to save my life so that everyone gets rid of this crisis forever’. The rabbit was as small as it was clever. It went out to be the lion’s food. There was a well on the route he was going. The rabbit saw his shadow in the water when he looked into the well. By God’s grace, he came up with a plan. The rabbit slowly moved around and walked towards the lion’s house.
When he reached the lion, it was too late. The lion was in a bad condition due to hunger. When he saw only a small rabbit coming towards him, he was angry and thundered,
The little rabbit said respectfully, “Sir, please listen to me. Don’t blame me and other animals. Everyone knew that a small rabbit would not be complete for your food, so they sent six rabbits. But on the way, we found another lion. He killed five rabbits and ate them.’’
On hearing this, the lion roared and said, “The other lion? Where did you see him?”
The rabbit said, “Sir, he is a very big lion. he came out of a large cave built under the ground. He was going to kill me too but I said to him, you don’t know what stupidity you’ve done. We were all going for our king’s meal, but you have eaten all his food. Our king will not tolerate such things. He will come here and kill you”. At this, the lion asked, ‘Who is your king? I am the king of this forest only. All the animals here are my people. I can do whatever I want with them. Bring the fool you call your king before me. I’ll tell him who the real king is”. Saying this, the lion sent me here to bring you.’’
Listening to the rabbit, the lion was very angry and started thundering again and again. The whole forest trembled with his terrible thunder. The lion said “Take me to that fool right away. Unless I kill him, I will not rest. Let’s take me to him.’’
The rabbit showed the way and took the lion to the well and said, “My king, that evil lion lives in this cave under the ground. When I saw him, he was standing outside here. Seeing you coming, he seems to have gone and hidden in the cave. Let me show you.’
The rabbit came near the well and asked the lion to look inside. The lion looked inside the well and saw his shadow in the water. Seeing the shadow, the lion started roaring. When the lion was roaring facing the well, hearing the echo of his roar coming from inside the well, he felt that the other lion was also roaring. He jumped into the well to kill the enemy immediately. As soon as he jumped, he first hit the wall of the well, fell into the water, and drowned. In this way, the little rabbit returned home by killing the lion. Hearing the news of the lion’s death, a wave of happiness spread among all the animals of the forest. All the animals in the forest started cheering the rabbit.
Learning from the Lion and rabbit story:
The Lion and rabbit story teaches us that wisdom is strength.