Extra Credit Reading - Part A of Eastern Stories and Legends
The Hare That Ran Away
There was a small hare who was simply scared of the world. This caused the hare to stay ten toes down and observe its surroundings, "diligently."
The hare began to question a hypothetical situation...
"Suppose the Earth were to fall in, what would happen to me?"
The hare repeatedly asked the same question to itself, which basically made it paranoid.
One day, the hare heard a small noise. The small noise was caused by a fruit that fell from a tree. The hare believed that the earth was falling in. The hare stated, "the earth is falling in." As the hare frantically ran from the falling earth, it ran into the older brother hare and also began to act frantically because the other hare kept saying the earth is falling in. At the end of it, the hare caused several animals like deers and elephants to run away frantically as well. They ran into a lion, who is believed to be a reincarnated Buddha, and the lion questioned why everyone was ferociously running away. The lion was told the story and asked the hare to join him for an exploration of the scene. Arriving at the scene, the lion explained to the hare that the noise came from a fallen fruit from a nearby tree. They returned to let the rest of the paranoid animals know that it was a false alarm. The message was passed on just how it arrived.
The Monkey and The Crocodile
One day a strong and well built monkey resided by the Ganges river. A pair of crocodiles, husband and wife, spotted the monkey and began to crave its organs. The crocodiles planned to fool the monkey into coming into the water because monkeys are land animals and crocodiles are not, obviously. The husband approached the monkey on a bank of the Ganges and began to ask why he is resides on the side of the Ganges with less fruit. The crocodile attempted to persuade the monkey that he would basically be better off on the other side of land, but the monkey explained to the crocodile that there is no way for him to cross the wide river. Being a nice and civil animal, the crocodile offered the monkey a ride on his back to get across. As they were coming across the river, the crocodile began to go deeper into the water. The monkey questioned the crocodiles actions. The crocodile explained to the monkey that he is going to feed his heart to his wife crocodile. The monkey got out of the situation by explaining that his heart, the organ the wife wanted most, was hanging on a tree. The crocodile fell for the trick and took the monkey back to land. Once the monkey was in a secure tree and free from danger, the monkey explained to the crocodile how he deceived him. The crocodile left with sorrow in his face.
Bibliography: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock
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