Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales, Part B

 How the Rabbit Killed the Lion

Story source: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).


Plot:

Long ago the King of the beasts was the lion. So great was he that all animals came to kowtow or praise him every day.

One day a rabbit was so comfy he decided not to go praise. 

Suddenly the lion was there in fron of him demanding accountability for the rabbit's actions.

The rabbit lied (to save his life) and said it saw a devil and ran to hide so he could not go and kowtow. 

The rabbit said that the devil challenged the lion to see who the true ruler of the beasts is. 

The lion said he would go and fight the devil.

When he got to the water he saw his own reflection. The rabbit said that his reflection was the devil. So the lion jumped in to fight the 'devil' and drowned.

Thoughts:

Well, this story seems to me to speak about the nature of slothfulness. At the root of it, the problem was laziness. Eventually, because this rabbit was lazy, the king of the beasts died. I think this speaks volumes to the dangers of slothfulness. It also shows the significance of the power of hte individual. If someone so small can take out a king then who is to say anyone has more power than the other? If I were to rewrite this I might pick another sin and see if I can manipulate the story to highlight the dangers of other sins as well.



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