All those animals said to the cock, "You, cock, are not the equal of the
hare. What sort of cunning have you to match yourself against the hare?"
The cock replied, "I know very well that I can get the better of the
hare. Now I am going off to see him, and you will all hear the news of
what has passed between the hare and me very soon."
So the cock set forth and went to see the hare.
The hare asked him, "How is it that you have never before walked out to
our house here? To-day is the first time that I have seen you, oh cock."
The cock answered, "Your words are true. I have never yet walked as far
as your house. To-day I have come to ask your friendship, for I have no
friend. That is why I want your friendship. We will get on very well
together, and now I am going to return home. I will prepare food for
you, and to-morrow you must come and see me and we will have a talk."
The hare replied, "It is well. To-morrow, if Allah pleases, I will come
to your house."
The cock then returned home and told his wives, "To-morrow my friend the
hare is coming, so get food ready for him. When the hare comes I will
sit in the courtyard and hide my head under my wing. Serve up food to
the hare, and when he asks, 'Where is my friend the cock?' show him his
friend and say, 'There is his body lying in the courtyard, but he has
sent his head away to have audience of the Sultan, and to speak his
cases for him.' Tell the hare like that."
So next day, when the hare came and asked for his friend the cock, the
cock's wives took him, and showed him the cock where he was lying with
his head under his wing, and they told him, as they had been taught,
that his head had gone away to speak his cases for him before the
Sultan. Then they took him on to the verandah and bade him sit down and
await his friend and eat the food that was ready for him.
That hare was very astonished, and said to himself, "My friend the cock
must indeed be strong if he can send his head by itself all the way to
the Sultan's, to speak his cases alone without a body."
They set much food before the hare, and he ate there in the verandah.
Presently the cock came round the corner and said to the hare, "Oh, my
friend, I am indeed sorry that I was not here to greet you, but I had to
send my head away to speak of some very important matter to the Sultan."
The hare said, "It is well, my friend. I saw your body lying out there
in the courtyard, and now that your head has returned it is indeed
well."
Shortly after that the hare took leave of the cock, and said to him, "I
am now going home, and to-morrow you must come and eat with me."
The cock agreed, and the hare went off. When he arrived at his house he
said to his wives, "Prepare food, for to-morrow my friend the cock comes
to see me." So they prepared food for the cock, and next day the hare
said to them, "My friend the cock is very strong, he can send his head
all alone to the Sultan's. Now I want you, my wives, to cut off my head
and put it on one side, and when the cock comes show him my body, and
tell him that I have also important cases at the Sultan's, and have sent
my head off to see to them."