The Hare's Tail

In ancient, ancient times, the tails of hares were not at all like they are now. The first hare and his doe on Earth had beautiful, long, and fluffy tails. They were very proud of them, considered themselves better than all the other animals, and often played tricks to laugh at them. But one day, because of such a trick, the hares lost their beautiful tails and were left with short, stubby remnants. Here's how it happened.

Once, the hares were playing by the riverbank and saw a meadow with tender green grass on the other side. They wanted to cross over and feast on it. But even in those days, hares couldn't swim. What to do? They thought and thought, when suddenly they heard the water gurgling: it was an old turtle coming out to bask in the sun. The hares' eyes gleamed, and they began to question the old turtle:

- Auntie Turtle, Auntie Turtle! They say you have many sons and daughters. Is it true that you have such a big family?

- True, true, - the old turtle nodded happily.

- Since we're talking about big families, our hare family is actually bigger, and we have more brothers, - said the hare.

- Don't lie. Why do I always only see the two of you? - replied the turtle. She was, of course, right, as we mentioned that in the most ancient times, there were only this hare and his doe in the whole world.

- All our brothers are at home, - shouted the lying hares, - that's why you don't see them! Don't believe us? Let's count, and then we'll decide whose family is bigger!

- How will we count? - asked the turtle.

- Today we'll count your children, and tomorrow we'll count our brothers.

- Alright, - agreed the old turtle, - but how will we count?

- Call all your children here, let them line up in pairs in the river from one bank to the other, and we'll jump over them and count: one pair, two, and so on.

- Alright, - said the old turtle.

She called all her children, lined them up neatly in pairs, they stretched out their necks and lay on the water like floats. The hares began jumping from turtle to turtle, counting: - One pair, two, three…

And so they reached the other bank. The hares were delighted, jumped around joyfully, and shouted:

- Stupid, stupid, we tricked you!

But they rejoiced too soon. They had made it to the other side, but their tails were still trailing behind, and the hares hadn't managed to pull them up. The turtles closer to the shore heard the hares shouting, clamped their teeth onto the hares' tails, and began demanding to know how they had been tricked. The hares yanked themselves free and ran away, but their tails remained in the turtles' teeth. Since then, hares have had stubs instead of tails. And to this day, they say: A hare's tail will never grow back.

More fairy tales

• The Goddess of the Stove
• The Greedy Landowner
• How the Mountain Mouse and the City Mouse Visited Each Other
• The Magic Cauldron
• About the Bat