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| Retold
by : H.P. Raingsy. |
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| Once
there was a very cunning hare. He loved adventures
and was always getting in and out of mischief,
but he was so smart that the other animals
respected him as the wisest of them all-to
the point where he sometimes acted as a judge
when the other creatures had disputes. But
he did not always abide by the law, and enjoyed
playing tricks, especially on people. Nearby
his home near a forest track, an old woman
lived. She scratched a meager living by going
to market to buy bananas and selling them
to her neighbors for just a little more than
she had paid.The hare watched the old lady
pass by him every day, a basket of bananas
on her head. With each day that passed, he
longed to eat those bananas more and more.He
thought every day about ways he could trick
her. "Maybe, if I make a loud, frightening
noise, the old woman |
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will think I am
a ghost, drop the bananas and run for her life,"
he thought. "But no-I am not big enough to be loud
enough...
Sure enough, the next day when the old woman found a fat
hare lying beneath her path, she shouted with delight
before bending down and studying her catch closely. The
hare held his breath. "Is he dead or just stunned?"
she asked herself. "No, he is surely dead. He isn't
breathing, but still warm! Maybe dogs chased him. He will
make a delicious stew anyway. "She popped the hare
in the basket on top of her bananas, put it back on her
head and went on her way. "I'll save half of this
big hare for tomorrow and look for lemons for a stew,"
she told herself as she walked. But little did she know,
the hare was sitting in the basket the whole time, eating
bananas one by one very happily. When she reached home,
she lowered the basket. Quicker than she could think,
the hare burst out and began running, disappearing before
she could even cry out in consternation. But worse was
to come. She looked into the basket and saw a litter of
peels-and no bananas." That must have been Judge
Hare in my basket!" she wailed. "Only he could
have cheated me so cleverly. He may be a good, wise judge,
but when he starts playing tricks, he's a very bad hare.
Doesn't he know that just one wicked trick turns a good
person into a bad one?" But Judge hare was much too
far away to hear the old woman's cries. He had disappeared
into the forest, stuffed with bananas, and was already
planning his next adventure. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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