The Boastful Hare

Once upon a time in the forest there lived a hare. His life was very easy in the summer but very hard in the winter and he used to have to steal oats from the neighbouring farms. When he came to a farmer’s barn one day he found a crowd of hares already waiting there. And he started to preen himself and boast: “What great big whiskers I have, what great big paws I have and what great big teeth I have. I'm not afraid of anyone.” The other hares told old Mistress Crow about the boastful hare. She went out to look for him and found him sitting under an old fallen tree. The hare took fright and said, “I shan’t boast any more, Mistress Crow.” “What have you been boasting about?” “I was saying what great big whiskers I have, what great big paws I have and what great big teeth I have.” Then she tweaked him gently by the ears and said, “Now don’t you go boasting again.” One day as old Mistress Crow was sitting on a fence some dogs seized hold of her and started tugging her to and fro. | The hare looked on and said, “However can I help old Mistress Crow?” And he jumped out of the bushes. When the dogs spotted the hare they dashed after him letting old Mistress Crow free, and she hopped back onto the fence. A few days later old Mistress Crow met the hare once again and said, “Well done, young hare. You're not boastful at all, and there’s much that you'd dare.”