Mr. Rabbit and Mr. WolfOne day Mr. Rabbit was walking near the hill; he heard someone crying out, " Help! Help!" He looked this way and that way, and he saw poor Mr. Wolf. A great stone had fallen on Mr. Wolf's back, and he could not get up. He cried, "Mr. Rabbit, take this great stone from my back or I shall die."Mr. Rabbit worked very hard and got the stone from Mr. Wolf's back. Then Mr. Wolf jumped up and caught Mr. Rabbit in his mouth.
"If you kill me," cried Mr. Rabbit, "I will never help you again as long as I live.""You will not live," said Mr. Wolf, "because I shall have killed you.""No nice person kills a person who has helped him," said Mr. Rabbit; "it is not just. You ask Mrs. Duck: she is very fat and she knows everything. She will say that no nice person would do a thing like that.""I will ask her," said Mr. Wolf, "and if she does not say what I want, I shall eat her too."So Mr. Wolf and Mr. Rabbit went to Mrs. Duck. Mr. Wolf said, "I caught Mr. Rabbit when he was sitting down near the hill. So I say that I should eat him. Now say what you think.""I took a great big stone from his back," said Mr. Rabbit; "So I say that he should not eat me, because I helped him. Now say what you think. "What stone?" said Mrs. Duck.
"A stone near the hill," said Mr. Rabbit.
"I must see it," said Mrs. Duck. "How can I say what I think if I have not seen the stone?"So Mr. Wolf and Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Duck went to see the stone.
"Now, put the stone just as it was," said Mrs. Duck.
So they put the stone back where it was.
"No," said Mrs. Duck, "that is not just as it was. You said that the stone was on Mr. Wolf's back."So they put the stone on Mr. Wolf's back.
"Now," said Mr. Wolf, "you see just how it was. What do you say about it?"Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Duck said, "We say that we are going home. And you may ask some other person to take the stone from your back. You look very nice like that; stay just as you are!" |