The hare and the elephant's mother

The hare and the elephant's mother story

One morning a hare went to look for food. He saw a tree trunk, covered with sticky gum. When he jumped up on the tree trunk, his tail and legs stuck to it. He could not get away.

Just then a baby elephant came along, looking for water. He liked to drink from the pond near the sticky tree trunk.

The hare was clever, he thought of a plant to set himself free. He called out, “Little elephant, don’t drink my water! A great god, Lord Indra has asked me to guard it.”

The baby elephant was too frightened to drink. He ran back to his mother. “Mother” he said, I went to drink
at the pond and I saw an animal on a tree trunk. He was guarding the water. He would not let me to drink. I was frightened of him and ran away. Oh, mother, I’m so thirsty!”

The elephant’s mother was angry. She took the baby elephant back to the pond. When she saw the hare on the tree trunk she cried out, “It’s only  a little hare!” now she was even more angry.

“You stopped my child from drinking here,” she shouted, “I shall kill you.”

“How dare you talk like that!” the hare replied. “Lord Indra told me to guard the pond, so nobody can drink while I’m here.”

The mother elephant was so angry that she wrapped her trunk around him and pulled him off the tree trunk.

“If you really want to kill me,” the hare said, “don’t throw me on the ground. Hares don’t die that way. Throw me up in the air, then I’ll die,”

The elephant was so stupid that she threw him up in the air. When he landed on the ground, he ran away into the forest.