The Lion and the Rabbit

The Lion and the Rabbit

Once upon a time there was a country named India. In the deep jungle of India there lived a ferocious lion. The lion killed animals for pleasure. The animals of the jungle made a bargain with the lion. It was agreed that one animal each day would willingly come to the lion's den to be his supper and, in turn, the lion would never hunt that day again. They held a meeting on this subject.

"I can't live like this anymore!"

"Indeed! We'd rather sacrifice ourselves one by one!"

"But how can we decide the order?"

"I have an idea! Let's draw lots!"

"Good idea!" "That's fair!"

All the animals agreed. At last they decided to draw lots.

"Go ahead!" "Oh~ Thank God!" "Mercy on us!" "Yahoo~"

"You don’t need to do this, you idiot!" "Oh…"

The first to go to the lion's den was the rabbit.

"Oh, no....!"

The poor rabbit couldn't sleep all night long and thought and thought and thought.

At dawn, finally a very good idea occurred to her!

"OK, I got it!”

In the morning, the rabbit went to the lion late.

"Why are you so late?"

"Oh, Great lion sir, I am so sorry. But I am late because of the other lion."

"The other lion? In my jungle? " "Yes, sir! It was very big!"

"Big~? Where is he?" "Over there! Oh, he looked really terrible!"

"Are you sure? Well, take me to this other lion!"

The lion got really upset. And the rabbit led him into a deep well.

"Here it is, sir." "Hmm, where is he?" "Inside the well, sir!"

The lion was really startled when he looked down inside the well. There was a really big and ferocious looking lion inside!

"How dare you! I alone am king of this jungle." "How dare you! I alone am king of this jungle."

But the lion inside the well stared and roared back even more fiercely. With that, he couldn't take it anymore. He became so enraged and charged into the deep well with a great splash!

"You'll pay for this!"

After all in the end, the lion could not get out of the well. All the animals in the jungle were happy with this joyous news. Thanks to the clever rabbit, they could live peaceful lives.

"Bravo! Bravo! Hahaha~"

bargain [ˈbɑ:ɡin] n.协议；廉价货make a bargain with sb. 与某人达成协议

den [den] n.兽窝, 兽穴supper [ˈsʌpə] n. 晚饭, 晚餐

in turn 依次, 轮流地hunt [hʌnt] vi.打猎

subject [ˈsʌbdʒikt] n. 问题sacrifice [ˈsækrifais] vt.牺牲

one by one 一个接一个willingly [ˈ wɪlɪŋlɪ] adv.愿意地;乐意地

draw lots 抽签go ahead 继续下去

thank God 谢天谢地mercy [ˈmɚsi] n.宽容, 怜悯, 仁慈

mercy on us 可怜我们idiot [ˈidiət] n.傻子, 白痴

occur to 被想起〔到〕I got it. = I've got it. 我明白[懂]了。

enrage [enˈreɪdʒ] vt.使暴怒charge into 冲进

splash [splæʃ] n.溅泼声pay for 为…付出代价

joyous [ˈdʒɔɪəs] adj.令人人喜悦的bravo [ˈbrɑ:vəʊ] int. 干得好！