(_From Louisiana Creole Tales_)
ONE time the rabbit and the ground hog went out to walk together. The
rabbit wore his blue coat with brass buttons, for it was a fine day,
and cocked his hat gayly over one eye, but the ground hog was content
with his old fur overcoat, and galoshes to keep his feet dry.
They walked along until at last they came to the seashore, and there
they saw the elephant standing and talking to the whale. "Look!" said
the ground hog; "that is a wonderful sight, for I reckon those are the
two biggest animals in all the world."
"Let's go close and hear what they're talking about," said the rabbit.
"No, no," answered the ground hog. "They might not like it, and if I'm
going to be impolite I'd rather be impolite to animals that are more my
own size."
However, the rabbit was determined to know what two such big beasts
talked to each other about, so he stole up close to them unnoticed, and
hid back of a clump of grass to listen.
"Of all the beasts that walk the earth not one is as great as I am,"
boasted the elephant. "The ground trembles at my tread; the trees shake
and the other animals are afraid and hide lest I should be angry with
them."
"True, brother," answered the whale. "On the other hand, there is not
a fish in the sea that compares to me in size. I swallow hundreds at
one gulp, and when I lash the waters with my tail it is like a storm."
"And that is true, too," answered the elephant. "Brother, how would it
be if we proclaimed ourselves kings of the earth and sea, and made all
of the other fish and animals our subjects?"
"That would be a fine scheme," the whale agreed, "and then we would
make them pay us tribute."
The elephant was pleased with that idea, too. "Good! good!" he
trumpeted. "That is what we will do."
So the two beasts talked together, each one praising himself and the
other, and saying how great they were.
The rabbit listened until he could bear it no longer, and then he stole
back to the ground hog, his whiskers trembling with rage.
"Well, what were they talking about?" asked the ground hog.
"All their talk was of how great and powerful they were," answered the
rabbit, "and they say they will declare themselves kings and make us
pay tribute. But I will show them a thing or two before that."
"What will you show them?" asked the other.
"I have thought of a trick to play upon them, and it is a trick that
will make them feel so silly they will forget all about making kings of
themselves."
The ground hog begged and entreated the rabbit not to think of such
a thing. The whale and the elephant were too big and powerful for a
little rabbit to try to play a trick upon them, and if he did, they
would surely punish him. But the rabbit would not listen to him, and at
last the ground hog rose and buttoned up his overcoat. "Well, I'm not
going to get _myself_ into trouble," he said. "I'm going home, I am,
to look through the closets and get some tribute ready for them." So
home he ambled, and did not mind one bit when the rabbit called after
him that he was a coward.
But the rabbit made haste to the house of a neighbor to borrow a coil
of rope he knew of, for that was the first thing he needed for his
trick.
He got the rope and came back and hid in some bushes by the roadside.
Presently he saw the elephant come swinging up the road. He had
finished his talk with the whale and was now on his way home. He looked
very pleased with himself, and was smiling and idly breaking off the
little trees with his trunk as he came.
The rabbit sprang out of the bushes with the coil of rope over his arm,
and ran toward the elephant, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Help,
help!"
The elephant stopped and looked at him with surprise. "What is the
matter, Rabbit?" he asked.
"My cow! My cow has fallen into the quicksands down by the sea, and no
one can get her out. Oh, dear good kind Master Elephant, if you would
but help me! You are so great and strong and wonderful that it would be
nothing at all for you to pull her out."
The elephant was very much pleased with these compliments to his
strength. "Yes, I will help you," he said good-naturedly. "I am indeed
very great and powerful. Come! Show me where she is."
"No need of that," answered the sly rabbit. "Do you stand here and hold
this end of the rope, and I will run and tie the other end around her
horns. When all is ready I will beat a drum. As soon as you hear that
begin to pull and you will have her out in a twinkling."
The elephant agreed to do this; he took hold of the end of the rope
and stood there, waiting and thinking how strong he was, and how the
animals were obliged to come to him when they needed help.
Meanwhile the rabbit ran down to the seashore with the other end of the
rope. The whale was still there resting on the sand-bar, and thinking
how great and powerful _he_ was.
"Help! help!" cried the rabbit as soon as he was near enough for the
whale to hear him.
The great creature turned, and looked at him lazily. "What is the
matter, Rabbit?" he asked.
"Oh, dear good Master Whale, I am in great trouble. My cow is stuck in
a marsh and no one on land is powerful enough to pull her out. But you
are so strong and wonderful that it would mean nothing to you to get
her out for me."
The whale was pleased at these words, but he said, "I am quite willing
to help you, but I do not see how I can do so. I cannot leave the sea
nor travel on dry land."
"No need of that," answered the rabbit. "I have tied the other end of
this rope around her horns. If you will but take hold of this end you
can pull her out in a twinkling."
The good-natured whale was very ready to do this. "I must not pull too
hard," he said, "for so great is my strength that I might not only jerk
her out of the marsh but all the way into the sea so that she would be
drowned."
"Yes, you must be careful about that," answered the rabbit, and then he
ran up into the bushes where he had hidden a drum and beat it loudly.
As soon as the elephant heard the drum he began to pull on the rope. At
first he did not pull hard, for he thought it was an easy task he had
on hand. But the whale, holding the other end, started to swim out to
sea, and the elephant found himself pulled down toward the shore. He
was very much surprised, but he tightened his hold and began to use his
strength.
And now it was the turn of the whale to be dragged toward the shore.
"This will never do," he thought to himself, and he beat the waters,
and swam with all his might, and the elephant began to lose ground.
So the two creatures strove together. First one was dragged along and
then the other. They thought they had never known of such a strong cow
before. But the rabbit up in the bushes laughed and laughed until he
thought his sides would split. He rolled upon the ground and the tears
ran down his furry cheeks, and still, the more the huge beasts strove
and grunted, the harder he laughed.
At last the great elephant put forth all his strength. He dug his feet
into the solid ground and braced himself. The whale in the sea had
nothing to brace itself against, and so at last it was pulled up on the
shore. Then the elephant turned to see what sort of a cow it was that
weighed so much, and there it was no cow at all, but his friend, the
whale, who lay there gasping and panting on the beach.
The elephant ran down to him, and the first thing he did was to push
the whale back into the water again. Then they began to talk and
explain to each other how it all happened. When they found what a trick
the rabbit put upon them they were furiously angry, and consulted as to
how they could best punish him.
"I," said the whale, "shall send word to all the fish in streams and
rivers, and tell them he must not be allowed to drink one drop of
water."
"And I," said the elephant, "will send word to all the creatures on
the earth that he shall not be allowed to eat so much as one blade of
grass."
And now the rabbit was in a bad way, indeed. If he went to the river
to get a drink the fish and lobsters gathered in a crowd and drove him
away. If he tried to eat, some animal or other was there to prevent
him. It seemed as though he must soon die of hunger and thirst. His
trick was like to cost him dear.
He was hopping along a path very sadly one day, with his ears drooping
and all the spirit gone out of him, when he came across a dead deer
that had been torn by the dogs. The rabbit stopped and scratched his
ear and thought a bit. Then he set to work and very neatly stripped off
the deerskin and drew it over his own body. Then he set out for the
main road, limping and uttering cries of pain as he went.
Presently whom should he see but the elephant swinging along the road
toward him.
The rabbit cried out still louder, and made out as though he could
scarcely drag himself along for his wounds.
"What has happened to you, friend Deer? And who has wounded you in this
way?" asked the elephant.
"Oh, that Rabbit! That Rabbit! And I was only doing as you told me."
"The Rabbit?"
"Yes; oh, indeed good Master Elephant, he is very terrible. He came to
eat in the woods where I was and I tried to drive him away, because you
had told us all to do that, but as soon as I spoke to him, he threw me
down and beat me and almost tore me to pieces, as you see."
"That is strange," said the elephant. "I did not know he was as strong
as that."
"Oh, yes; he is small, but he knows much magic. No one could stand
against him, not even you. And he is very angry. He says he is going
to tear you to pieces too, and the whale, and he only left me alive so
that I might come and tell you."
"But he could not kill _me_!" cried the elephant.
"His magic is very strong. I am afraid, now that he is angry, that he
will kill all the animals in the world, and keep it for himself."
Now the elephant really began to be afraid. "Oh, well, it was only a
joke that the whale and I played on him. Go back and tell him so. Tell
him it was only a joke, and that I am not angry with him now. Then tell
him he may eat wherever he pleases, for I would not want to annoy such
a little animal as he is."
So the rabbit, still speaking like the deer, said he would, and,
moaning and limping, he turned and crawled back the way he had come.
But when he was safely out of sight, he fell down in the dust of the
road and laughed and laughed till he was sick with laughing.
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