Reading Notes: PDE Jataka Tales, The Hare That Ran Away- Part A

Little Hare (image source from Wikipedia)

Buddas came and go, but this Budda reborn into a Lion- he spends his life helping others. There was this nervous little Hare that was always nervous and worried that something dreadful was going to happen to her. She always repeats this saying, "Suppose the Earth were to fall in, what would happen to me?" She said this phrase so often that she thought it was going to happen one day. It was like she believed it was going to happen too. One day, she heard the slightest noise and it was a heavy fruit that had fallen upon a rustling leaf, which made her believe that the earth was falling in. The hare ran away so fast and told the older brother hare, "the earth is falling in, and I am running away." 

When the brother hare heard it, he told his other brother hare which his brother hare told others. It was a telephone game where everyone knew the earth was falling in. The deer heard it, the sheep, the wild boar, the buffalo, the camel, the tiger, and then the elephant. 

The wise Lion heard all this noise and asked what the big fuss was. There were no signs of the earth falling in so he had to get to the bottom of it. The source of the problem came from the Little Hare. He asked what made her think the earth was falling in? She explained how she saw it by the tree. The Lion took her back to prove to her that the earth was not falling in. He explained how the fruit fell and made a frightening noise, but it does not mean the earth was falling. 

Marie L. Shedlock, The Hare That Ran Away, Link