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At first the tiger did not answer, so the hare then called, “Does not our lord see the great danger approaching? Let our lord look at the sky.”

The tiger looked up and saw the dark clouds coming slowly, slowly on, covering the whole sky; his laughter stopped and he soon began to get very frightened.

After a while, when it had become still darker, he called to the hare: “O friend, what is the matter with the sky? What is going to happen?”

Then the hare replied: “Our lord, the sky has fallen where you see it is dark; that is far away, but in a few minutes it will fall here and everybody will be crushed to death.”

The foolish tiger was now frightened half to death and called to the hare: “O friend, I have treated you badly in trying to kill you. Do not be angry and take revenge on me, but take compassion on my terrible condition, and graciously tell me how to escape this danger, and I swear that I will never try to harm you more.”

It was the hare’s turn to laugh now, but she only laughed quietly to herself, for she was afraid the tiger would hear her, then she said, “Down here our lord’s slave is quite safe. If our lord descends, he too will be safe,” and before the hare had hardly finished, the cowardly tiger made a jump for the hole the hare had made and joined her at the bottom of the trap.

But the hare was not out yet and she began to plan how she could get out herself and yet keep the tiger in. At last a happy thought struck her. She sidled up to the tiger and began to tickle him in the ribs. The tiger squirmed and twisted first one way and then the other, first to one side and then to the other; at last he could stand it no longer and catching the hare he threw her out of the trap and she landed on solid ground.

As soon as the hare found she was safe, she began to call at the top of her voice: “O men, come! come! I, the hare have deceived the tiger and he is at the bottom of the trap. O men, come! I, the hare call you. Bring your spears and guns; bring your swords, and kill the tiger that I have tricked into entering the trap.”

At first the men did not believe the hare, for they did not think that an animal so small as the hare could deceive the tiger, but then they also knew that the hare was very clever and had much wisdom, so they brought their spears and their guns, their swords and their sticks, and killed the tiger in the trap.

Thus did the hare prove that though small she was full of wisdom, and although the tiger was bigger, stronger, and fiercer than she, yet she, through her wisdom, was able to kill him.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

PUC. Curry.

ZAYAT. A place built for the accommodation of travelers, also used as an assembly place for worship, especially during religious feasts; they are usually built near monasteries.

PARAH. (Burmese, payah ) a god; an image of Gautama Buddha.

KAM. Luck.

MAU. To be skillful.

AMAT LOeNG. The chief amat or chief counselor of a prince.

SOIE. The Indian ” viss “; a weight equal to about three and a half pounds avoirdupois.

CHATTIE. A cooking pot, usually made of earthenware.

HUeK. A deep rent in the earth with steep sides; a ravine; a torrent usually runs in it during the rainy season, but it is dry in the hot season.

HPEA. Spirit or supernatural being.

AMAT. A minister of State.

HSAN. A rice bag.

NANG ME PRAH. A queen.