a story from Japan.

[from AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TALES, Kingfisher 2008.  Copyright, Saviour Pirotta and Macmillan Ltd, 2000]

 

A hare wanted to travel from the island of Oki to Tokyo but he had no money to pay the ferryman.  What could he do?

The king of the crocodiles spotted the hare sitting forlornly on the jetty, waving his bushy tale.  ‘Tasty,’ he said to himself and stuck his head out of the water.   ‘Good evening, little rabbit.’

‘How dare you call me ‘little rabbit’,’ snapped back the hare.  ‘The proper way to address me is your majesty.’

‘Your majesty?’ laughed the crocodile.  ‘Only a king like me is referred to as your majesty.’

‘I am a king too,’ lied the hare who was the son of a lettuce farmer.  ‘Please have some respect.   I have far more subjects than you.’

‘That can’t be true,’ sneered the king of the crocodiles. ‘There are more salt-water crocodiles in the channel between Oki and mainland Japan alone than there are hares in the whole world.’

‘Are there?’ replied the hare.  ‘Call them to the surface. Let’s see them.’

The king of the crocodiles started swishing his tail, which was his way of calling his subjects and, in less than it takes a dentist to pull out a rotten tooth, the sea was teeming with crocodiles, all baring their teeth.  There were so many of them, the hare couldn’t see a single drop of water between Oki and the mainland.  

‘I still say there are more hares in the world than crocodiles,’ he said firmly.

‘How can you be sure?’ roared the king of the crocodiles, starting to lose his patience. 

‘I’m not sure,’ snapped the hare. ‘We can only settle the argument if we count first all your subjects, then mine.’

‘Go ahead and count,’ said the king of the crocodiles.  ‘I’m tired of arguing.’

‘I can count much quicker if your subjects form an orderly line,’ suggested the hare.  ‘That way we’ll be sure not to leave any out.’

The king snarled an order and the crocodiles hastily joined tail to snout all the way from Oki to mainland Japan. The hare hopped on to the back of the first one and started counting.  ‘One, two, three four…..’ 

Before the king of the crocodiles realised he’d been tricked, the hare had crossed the channel on the backs of the crocodiles and was safely on the mainland.

‘Why, you’re not a king at all,’ he howled.

‘No,’ said the hare cheekily, ‘but I am obviously cleverer than you.  Thank you for building me a bridge.’

The king of the crocodiles snapped at him but only managed to bite off his long bushy tail.  The hare laughed and set off for Tokyo, to see the temples.   

       Ever since then, hares have always had a short tail.