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Once upon a time the rabbit’s tail was long, but now it is short. And this is how it happened.
A rabbit one day sat by a swamp, looking at the juicy plants on the other side. They were the only things to eat that he could see. He wanted to cross the swamp, but he could not swim.
Just then a lazy old alligator poked his nose above the water.“I might ask him to take me across,” said the rabbit to himself,“But I am afraid that he is too proud to carry me, because he can walk and swim, too. Perhaps I can get across the swamp by playing a trick upon him. I will try it.”
“You look warm, Friend Rabbit,” said the alligator, “Why don’t you come into the water? It is cool here.” Now the alligator knew very well that the rabbit could not swim.
“I am not warm at all,” said the rabbit, “but I am a little hungry. You see, there are a great many rabbits in the world.There are hundreds and hundreds of them. So, of course, it takes a great many green leaves to feed us. Oh, yes! Friend Alligator, we are a very large family. There are many more rabbits than alligators.”
“How foolish you are!” cried the alligator, angrily. “Why,there are thousands and thousands of alligators in the world!There are more than a hundred alligators in this swamp! Can you find a hundred rabbits in the woods?”
“Certainly I can!” said the rabbit, “I’ll count the alligators,and then you may count the rabbits. Call the alligators together.Make a line of them across the swamp so that I can hop out upon their backs and count them.”
So the old alligator called and called. Up from the swamp came alligators, big ones and little ones. The old alligator made them into a line right across the swamp, just like a bridge.
“Now count them, Friend Rabbit,” he said, “If there are not more than a hundred alligators here, you may eat me!”
The rabbit hopped upon the alligator-bridge. As he went from one to another, he counted them, “One, two, three, four, five.” and so on, up to a hundred. Yes! There were more than a hundred.
By the time he had counted the last alligator, the sly rabbit was on the other side of the swamp.
“I’ll call the rabbits together some other day, when I am not so hungry,” he called back to the old alligator. “Good-bye! Who is foolish now?” he said with a laugh.
But the rabbit laughed too soon. For one of the alligators caught the end of the rabbit’s tail in his great jaws, and bit it off.
Since then rabbits’ tails have always been short.
(Old Southern Tale )
swamp : a spongy wetland
afraid : scared
sly : tricky
A) Answer the following questions.
1) Why did the rabbit want to cross the swamp?
2) Why did the rabbit say the alligator was too proud to carry him across the swamp?
3) How do we know that the rabbit is sly?
4) What mistake did the rabbit make after he got across the swamp?
5) What lesson can we learn from this story?
B) Opposites—Write the opposites to these words in the story.
1) thirsty-h _ _ _ _ _
2) long-s _ _ _ _
3) cold-w _ _ _
4) smart-f _ _ _ _ _ _
5) fronts-b _ _ _ _
C) True, False, or Not Given—Read these sentences carefully. Write T (true), F (false), or NG (not given) for each.
1) _____ The rabbit carefully counted the alligators.
2) _____ The rabbit made the alligators angry.
3) _____ The rabbit had a long tail.
4) _____ The rabbit was very thirsty.
5) _____ The rabbit found food on the other side of the swamp.