135. Why Rabbits and Snake Don't Mix

Rabbit often went to the brook to drink water. One day, he saw snakes there.

“That red snake must live on the left bank,” he said to himself, “and the brown snake lives on the right bank.”

When Rabbit saw that the snakes did not know each other, he giggled.

“I can play a good joke on them,” he said.

​

Rabbit hopped to the left bank and told the red snake, “I bet I can tug you right out of this brook.”

“You can’t. You are small and weak!” the red snake said. “I won’t budge an inch.”

“Let’s have a contest then,” Rabbit said. “I will get a long vine. We can each take an end. We will see who can tug the hardest.”

​

Rabbit swam to the right bank. He set up the same contest with the brown snake. Then Rabbit got a vine. He returned to the left bank and gave an end of the vine to the red snake.

“I’m going to swim to the right bank,” Rabbit called. “When I get there, I’ll give a yell. That’s the sign to start tugging.”

Rabbit gave the other end to the brown snake. He restated the rules for that snake. Then he hopped off to sit under a big tree to see what would happen next.

“Tug!” Rabbit yelled. “Tug now!”

Both snakes leaned back and tugged with all their might.

Rabbit sat back to watch them tug.

​

“Wow,” said the red snake. “Rabbit is not as weak as he looks!”

“How can that small rabbit tug so hard?” the brown snake asked.

The snakes kept tugging. Rabbit snorted.

“What was that sound?” each snake asked. Both snakes swam into the brook to find out what had made that snorting sound.

When they saw each other, the snakes gasped. They knew that Rabbit had tricked them, and they got very mad at him.

“You tricked us, Rabbit!” hissed the red snake. “That was unwise. You may not drink at this brook again! If you do, we will both bite you!” And to this day, rabbits stay away from snakes.

​