Cambodian parable Once upon a time there was a Rabbit, very modest and polite. One day, having eaten plenty of cabbage in the peasant's garden, he was getting ready to go home when he suddenly noticed a fox. She was returning to the forest. She had failed to steal a chicken from the farmer's yard, and she was very angry and hungry.
The Rabbit's heart trembled. Run, but where? And the Rabbit rushed headlong towards the cave. He did not know that another formidable danger was waiting for him there - a Snake had settled in the cave.
The rabbit, however, was well brought up and knew that he was not supposed to enter someone else's house without permission. “I need to say hello,” he thought, “but with whom? With a cave, of course!” And, sitting down on his hind legs, the Rabbit politely said:
- Hello, good cave! Please allow me to enter.
How happy the Snake was when he heard the Rabbit’s voice! She really loved rabbit meat.
- Come in, come in! - she answered, wanting to deceive the Rabbit.
But the Rabbit understood perfectly well from his voice who he was dealing with.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said. - I completely forgot that the rabbit is waiting for me! Goodbye! - and rushed to run away as fast as he could.
The Rabbit galloped into his hole and thought that politeness never hurt anyone.
The snake curled up into a ball and grumbled:
“It would be better if I didn’t answer him!” Oh, these polite rabbits! He should have asked permission to enter!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru