A SILLY RABBIT

Buck was a very silly and foolish. He was so timid that he would get scared of the ·silliest of things. One day, Buck was sleeping under a coconut tree. In his deep sleep, Buck dream a terrible dream. He saw that the whole Earth was cracking up!

Now some naughty monkey were playing atop the coconut tree, under which Buck lay asleep. The monkeys jumped and hopped on the tree. Suddenly, there was a huge" THUD" It was the sound of a big coconut that fell onto the ground, just next to where Buck was sleeping. Buck started up at this noise and sat straight, pricking his ears. "What could that sound be?" wondered he. And at that very moment, another coconut fell just behind Buck and shook the ground. Not bothering to look behind, timid Buck cried, "Oh, Oh, Oh! It seems that the Earth is cracking up ! My dream seems to come true!!"

With this thought in his mind, Buck jumped up, grabbed his tall hat and ran as fast as he could, All the while Buck kept muttering "Oh, Oh, Oh,!" Another rabbit, called Fluffy, was enjoying the afternoon sunshine, lying on a hammock, with his goggles on. Fluffy saw Buck runriing as if some hound was after him.

As Buck running by, Fluffy called after him, "Buck, why are you running so fast?" "don't ask me!" Buck cried, panting and still running. Curiosity got the better of fluffy and he ran after Buck, begging to know what was the matter . Buck said "Don't you know? the Earth is all breaking up"

Hearing this, Fluffy became panicky. He threw away his goggle and off he ran, after Buck. The next rabbit they met followed them as well when he heard that the Earth was all breaking up. And in his way, one rabbit after another joined them , until there were hundreds of rabbit running as fast as they could go As these hundreds of rabbits were running, they passed by a deer, who was grazing in the meadows. When the deer raised his head to see what the matter was, the rabbits all cried in unison. The deer could not understand because all the rabbits spoke together. He panicked and followed the rabbits.

A fox saw this big crowd running. Ahead of this big marathon ran Buck, crying "oh, oh, oh" When the fox asked Buck the reason, he said, "Why, don't you know that the world is cracking up and coming to an end? If you want to save your life, run along with us." So the fox too, joined the race.

On and on they ran; and very soon an elephant joined them. Next it was arhino, who was following them. The peacock, who was dancing in the wild, saw the huge crowd running, all screaming, "The world is coming to an end!!!" And the peacock too joined the marathon. 

All these animals ran past by a lion's den, screaming, "All the world is coming to an end. Run to save your life." The lion came out of his den and was very surprised to see all the animals running, with a look of fear over their faces.

'I wonder what these fools are up to ? there must be some terrible mistake or some gossip,' Thought the lion., So, he ran to the foot of a hill right in front of the running animals, and roared three times. Hearing the loud roar of the King of Beasts', the procession stopped at one. " Why are you running so fast?" asked the lion. "Oh, King lion," they answered him, "the Earth is all breaking up !"

"Who saw it breaking up ?"asked the lion. "I didn't," said the elephant. " Ask the fox. He told me about." "I didn't" said the fox. "The deer told me about it." And when the deer was asked, he said, it was the rabbits. One after another, the rabbit pointed to the other, saying, "I did not see it, but another rabbits told me about it".

At last, the lion came to Buck. Buck mustered up his courage and came forward to the lion and said "0 king, I was sleeping under a coconut tree and was dreaming that the world was breaking up, when I heard a big " THUD"! And then, there was another "THUD", and the ground near me shook!! thought that the world was cracking up , and I run away."

"Then," said the lion, "you and I will go back to the place where the Earth began to break up, and see what the mather is." So , the lion put Buck on his back, and away they went, like the wind. The other animals, meanwhile, waited for them at the foot of the hill.

When the lion and Buck reached the spot where Buck was sleeping, the lion went round the place and saw two huge coconuts lying by. Then he looked up the coconut tree and saw two monkeys atop, looking down at them. It didn't take long for the clever to understand the whole incident.

The lion said to Buck, "Why, you fool! Jt must have been the  sound of the coconut falling to the ground that you heard! And the Earth shook because those two coconuts fell onto the ground!!"

Then the lion went back to the other animals, and told them all about what had actually happened. All the animals laughed at their own foolishness and returned home.

- The END -