Rabbit slept under a coconut-tree, and a coconut fell on his head.
"The sky's falling!" Rabbit shouted. He jumped and ran.
"What's wrong?" Deer asked.
"End of the world! The sky's falling!" shrieked Rabbit, and Deer ran with him.
They met Fox. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Rabbit panted, "Sky falling! End of world!"
Now Rabbit, Deer, and Fox were running.
Monkey, Leopard, Elephant... all running!
Lion stopped them. "Who says it's the end of the world?"
They pointed at Rabbit, and Rabbit took Lion to the tree.
"A coconut fell down!" Lion roared. "It's not the end of the world."
~ ~ ~
You might recognize this story as "The Sky Is Falling," a folktale told around the world (lots of examples here)... and which was also told by the Buddha as a story of one of his past births. As the Buddha explains at the end of the Daddabha-Jataka, he was the lion in this story, and he uses the story to mock some ascetics who are following a path without virtue or merit. They need the Buddha to enlighten them, just as the Rabbit needed the Lion.
Of course, the world is ending; it is always ending... but the coconut falling is not the end of the world, even if "everyone" thinks that it is. There are always coconuts falling, some much louder than others; just go online and read the news — you'll find a lot of rabbits and coconuts, but not so many lions, alas.
No comments:
Post a Comment