How the Hare Swam Across the Sea

Once upon a time, there lived a hare who had a cherished dream—to swim across the sea and visit a distant island. But the little hare didn’t know how to swim, and he didn’t have a boat either.

The hare thought and thought, and finally came up with an idea. One day, while walking along the seashore, he saw a shark and asked:

"What do you think, shark, who has more friends—you or me?"

"There’s no question about it, of course, it’s me," said the shark. "All the sharks in the seas and oceans are my friends."

"And how many friends do you have?"

"I don’t know," the shark pondered. "A lot, very many, but exactly how many—how should I know? I’ve never counted them."

"Let’s count them," suggested the hare.

"But how can we count them?" the shark wondered.

"You can call your shark friends to our shore," proposed the hare. "If they’re your friends, they’ll surely come. The sharks can lie side by side on the waves, stretching all the way to that island over there. Then I’ll count them."

"Well, aren’t you clever!" the shark marveled.

The next morning, she called all her friends, and the sharks lined up side by side from the shore all the way to the island.

"Go ahead! Try counting my friends!" the shark shouted to the hare.

The hare climbed onto the shark’s back, stood there for a moment, thinking, and then began hopping from one shark’s back to another, loudly counting:

"One, two, three, four..."

He kept counting until he reached the coveted island. There, he jumped onto the ground and shouted:

"Ha! I’ve fooled you, silly sharks! I couldn’t care less how many friends a shark has! I just wanted to get to the island! And you fell for it!"

The sharks got angry and rushed toward the island, but the hare was already safely on land—good luck trying to catch him now. However, one shark managed to grab the hare by the tail and tear off a tuft of fur.

The sharks swam away. The hare sat on a rock, stroking his torn tail with his paw. "Well, well," he thought. "Now how am I supposed to get home? How will I cross the sea?"

It was getting dark, and the hare felt scared on the unfamiliar island.

The spirit, the owner of the island, heard the hare’s bitter weeping and approached him:

"Why are you crying, little hare? Did you think you could trick the sharks? And what happened? That’s no way to behave! You could have just asked the shark, and she would’ve carried you across the sea! Go to sleep now, and we’ll figure something out in the morning."

The next morning, the spirit said:

"Do you promise not to deceive anyone anymore? Will you apologize to the shark?"

"Yes," said the hare.

"Take my boat," said the spirit, the owner of the island, "and return home."

The hare returned home, apologized to the shark, and from then on, he never deceived anyone again.

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How the Hare Swam Across the Sea

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