The Rabbit in the Moon

Long ago, in a forest in India, there lived four friends: a rabbit, a monkey, an otter and a jackal. During the day they went about their own business, and in the evenings they met to talk. The rabbit was the smallest of them, but he had the kindest heart. He always said to his friends, "If someone in need comes, let's share what we have."

One evening an old, tired traveller came into the forest. "I'm very hungry," he said. "Could you give me something to eat?"

The monkey at once climbed the trees and picked ripe mangoes. The otter dived into the river and brought back fish. The jackal found a bowl of milk. They all put what they had brought in front of the old man.

But the rabbit was very sad. He only ate grass, and an old man could not eat grass. "I have nothing to give," he thought. Then his eyes lit up. He asked his friends to gather some wood and light a fire. He turned to the traveller: "I have no food to give you. But I can be your food." And he got ready to jump into the fire.

At that very moment the old traveller reached out and caught the rabbit gently. "Stop, little friend!" Suddenly the traveller's face began to shine. He was really the wise spirit of the sky, and he had come to test the hearts of the forest creatures. "Your heart is bigger than the whole forest," he said. "Let this kindness never be forgotten."

The traveller took a handful of light from the mountain and drew a picture of a rabbit on the Moon. Then he set the rabbit back down beside his friends.

Ever since then, if you look carefully at the Moon on a full-moon night, you can see the shadow of a rabbit sitting there. In India, in Japan and in China, children still point at the rabbit in the Moon and tell this story.

Tonight, look at the Moon and try to find the rabbit. Then close your eyes; the kind little rabbit is waiting for you in your dreams.