There was once a beautiful forest near a mountain, in which there was a fountain of fresh water. Whenever thirsty, the rabbits living in that forest would go to the fountain of fresh water and so they were very happy to be living there. But one day a group of elephants came and chose that forest for their place of living. They would drink from the water of the fountain and while doing so, they would make the water muddy. This made the rabbits very sad because they didn’t want to drink dirty water. So, the rabbits decided to find a solution to their problem. They talked together about that and then the most intelligent of them who was an old rabbit said that he could do something to make the elephants leave that forest forever. He said: “Tonight I will go up the mountain and talk to the elephants. I hope my plan will work with them.”

And at night, the intelligent rabbit went to the mountain and said in a loud voice: “O elephants! Know that I am an agent of the moon and have been sent by the moon to talk to you. The moon has commanded that no elephant should come near the fountain because the fountain belongs

to the rabbits and the rabbits are the friends of the moon. So, go away from the fountain, otherwise, the moon will make you blind. If you think I am telling a lie to you, come to the fountain tonight.”

The elephants talked together about the words of the old rabbit. Some of them laughed, while some others were afraid. At night, the king of the elephants said: “Tonight we will go to the fountain to see if the rabbit was right or wrong. I will go near the fountain myself first. You stay away.” The king of the elephants walked towards the fountain and got close to it. He looked at the water and to his surprise saw the picture of the moon in it. He told himself: “The words of the rabbit are right up to the point.” Then he put his legs in the water and was again surprised to see the moon (the picture) moving. He thought the moon was angry and so might make him blind. He said to himself: “The rabbit was right. The moon is angry with us. We had better run away or we will become blind. My eyes are already seeing the moon dull and shaky”

The unwise elephant didn’t know that it was his own trunk that had caused waves in the water and not the moon. And he did not know that his seeing the picture of the moon dull was because he himself had put his legs in the water and made it muddy. He quickly went to the other elephants and said: “Friends! The rabbit was quite right. We had better leave this forest just now and look for another fountain.”

The rabbits thanked the old rabbit for his intelligent plan.

By: Ayda MirzaalizadehIllustrated  by: Amirhamed Pajtar