Once upon a time in the country of Mauritius there lived a king who had a large swimming pool. According to his doctor's orders, the king bathed in it every morning. And then one day he came to the pool and saw that the water in it was dirty and he couldn’t swim. The king called the watchman and scolded him. He came the next day - the water was dirty again, and on the third day the same. The king grabbed the watchman by the shoulders, shook him and said:
- Do you want me to get scabies in this pool? If the water is dirty tomorrow, I will deal with you!
The watchman was very frightened and when evening came, he took his weapon and hid in the reeds near the pool. The night was pitch dark, completely moonless. When the cannon fired at the appointed hour, he heard someone's approaching steps: tok-tok-tok. I looked and it was a hare jumping! The watchman was just about to raise his gun, and the hare was already nearby and said to him:
- Hello, hello, watchman! I am so glad that I finally saw you - I have been looking for you for a long time to treat you to something very tasty. Try this honey, which my relatives sent me from the Three Islands, and tell me: have you tried anything similar?
The watchman took the calabash with honey from him and took a sip:
- Yes, very tasty!
And, without taking his mouth off the calabash, the watchman drank everything that was in it. It is unknown what herb the hare mixed into the honey, but the watchman was immediately overcome by sleep, and he lay down near the pool and began to snore. The hare laughed, took off his clothes and dived into the water.
This hare was a big prankster. Having bathed enough, he climbed out of the pool, broke off a long branch and, stirring it in the pool, stirred up the silt that lay at the bottom. The water in the pool became like chocolate, and the hare, happy, galloped away.
Early in the morning the king came to bathe, and it is impossible to describe how angry he was when he saw the dirty water! The watchman was still sleeping near the pool; the king grabbed a stick, the same one with which the hare stirred up the water, and well, beat the watchman! He woke up, jumped to his feet, ran into the forest and never returned.
The king ordered to blow a trumpet and announce: “A watchman is needed to guard the royal pool. The pay is eight piastres a month, half a bag of rice and provisions from the store. But if the watchman guards the pool poorly and pollutes the water in it, his head will be cut off.”
The animals heard this and got scared. Nobody wanted to become a watchman - not a rooster, not a dog, not an owl. Three days have passed. Every day, when the hare came to bathe, he stirred up mud, and the king did not know what to do: he had not washed for seven days. And his body began to itch.
On the fourth day, his minister came to the king and said that he had found someone willing to guard the pool. The king said:
- Let him come in!
It turned out that it was an ordinary turtle. The king looked at her and became angry:
- So you are the one who undertakes to protect my water from those who pollute it?
- I am, Your Majesty.
- Do you know the condition? If the water is dirty, I will cut off your head!
- Yes, Your Majesty, I know. Then you will cook curry out of me, because turtle meat is very tasty - but this will not happen! You better tell your cook to pluck the chicken for you.
- Okay, godfather, we'll see tomorrow morning. Start work in the evening. The turtle went to his friend and asked her to anoint her shell with resin. At sunset she went to the pool, hid on the path along which the hare was supposed to pass, and began to wait.
Tok-tok-tok - the steps of a hare were heard. The hare saw something black in the middle of the road, stopped and began to look. The turtle had previously hidden its head under its shell. The hare looks - the black thing does not move. I approached carefully closer - the black thing did not move. He looked around and thought - the black one sat there, motionless - he sat there, motionless - a turtle like a stone. Then the hare calmed down, stopped being afraid and said:
- Wow - a stone! Now I already know this for sure. Hey, look, everyone, what a great guy our king is: it was no less that he ordered the servant to put a bench near the pool so that I would have somewhere to sit and take off my pants before swimming in his pool!
The hare laughed and sat on the turtle, which he mistook for a stone. The turtle moved, the hare felt it and said:
- So this is how servants work in the country of Mauritius - they forgot to straighten the legs of my chair!
The hare wanted to get down to put wedges under the bench, but he couldn’t - the resin held him tightly. The turtle stuck its head out of its shell:
- Well, godfather, what do you say? I think you got it this time.
The hare was sunbathing, but he had to save himself, and he said to the tortoise:
- Are you planning to joke with me, godfather? I’m telling you in a good way: let me go, do you hear? Don't make me angry!
The tortoise set off and carried the hare to the king. She only said:
“Talk as much as you want, if it makes you feel better.”
“I’m starting to count: one, two... Won’t you let me go?”
Bam! - The hare hit her with his hind paw, and the paw stuck. Bam! - another one stuck. The turtle, not paying any attention to this, continued on its way. then the hare said:
“Hey, listen, my front paws are stronger, you better let me go!”
The turtle did not answer him. Boom! - the hare hit with his left front paw. Boom! - hit with his right hand. Both stuck, and now all four paws of the hare were grabbed, like a pig being carried to the market by a Chinese. However, the poor fellow, still hoping to be saved, began to threaten the turtle:
- Listen to me carefully, I’m talking to you for the last time. All my strength is in my head, my head is like an iron hammer! If I hit you with it, I'll flatten you like a ripe papaya. Let me go now!
But this time the turtle did not answer him. Then the hare raised his head as high as he could and hit the shell with all his might. Bom! The hare's head was also stuck.
And finally, they reached the royal palace - the tortoise laughs, the hare cries.
The king saw the hare stuck to the tortoise, and although he was very angry, he could not help laughing. The turtle tells him:
- Here it is, Your Majesty! You will not have a turtle for dinner, but a hare; hare in wine is very tasty.
The king pulled out a saber, cut off the hare's head and ordered him to be taken to the kitchen. And then he shouted to his servant:
- Hey, I'm going for a swim! Come on, wash me - I'm very dirty!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru