One day all the animals gathered for a council, but the boa constrictor did not come. They sent an antelope after him. The antelope galloped up to the boa constrictor, but was afraid to come close, stopped short of its tail, and began to shout:
- Hey, boa constrictor, all the animals have gathered in the square, waiting for you!
And she quickly ran back.
The animals waited for the boa constrictor, waited, did not wait, and sent a mongoose after him. But the mongoose was also afraid of the boa constrictor and did exactly the same as the antelope.
Not waiting for the boa this time either, the animals sent a fly after him. The fly flew to the boa constrictor, saw that he was sleeping, and made such a noise that the boa constrictor woke up. Not understanding what was going on, he was frightened and quickly crawled into a mouse hole.
When the mouse saw the boa constrictor, it froze:
- Oh, why did this monster crawl into my hole? We need to run away from here, otherwise there will be trouble for me and my children!
She gathered her belongings, grabbed the children and jumped out of the hole through the emergency passage.
At this time, a honeyeater flew past. She saw the mouse and said to herself:
— A mouse with children runs out of a hole in broad daylight. This is no accident.
As she flew, she kept looking around and looking back at the mouse and did not notice how she ran into an antelope with acceleration - right between its legs!
- Oh, trouble! - the antelope shouted. “Someone shot at me and hit me between the legs!”
Out of fear, she rushed forward so much that she ran into a tree. And there were ants sitting on the tree. From the blow they flew down and fell on the elephant, and out of fear they began to bite him. The elephant also got scared, ran wildly and stepped on a crab that was sitting by the source. The crab died, and the source immediately dried up*.
All the animals became very angry.
—Who is to blame for the death of the crab? - they began to ask. “The crab did us good, gave us water.” And now he's dead and we don't have water anymore.
Turtle said:
— The elephant is to blame for the death of the crab.
The animals called the elephant and shouted at him:
- Hey, elephant, what have you done? Why did you kill the crab?
The elephant replied:
- Dear brothers, have mercy on me! I was bitten by ants so much that I woke up scared and ran wherever I could.
They called the ants and asked:
- Why did you bite the elephant?
- Spare us! - said the ants. — We sat quietly on the tree. Suddenly an antelope flew at him and hit him so hard that we fell right on top of the elephant. We immediately began to bite him so that he would wake up and not waste time. After all, if an antelope is running from someone, you need to be on your guard, otherwise you will get into trouble.
The antelope was called and she said:
— Dear brothers, caution is nothing to be ashamed of. A honeyeater flew at me, right between my legs. I thought that someone had shot at me, and I galloped away.
“Come on, honey badger, come closer,” said the animals. - Why are you flying without looking?
“Mr. animals,” answered the honeyeater, “and you, Mr. Judge Turtle!” Listen to what I tell you. Have you ever seen a mouse carry children and all its belongings out of a hole in broad daylight?
“No,” said the animals.
“So, it was like this,” the honey badger continued: “I saw that the mouse was running out of the hole with the children and all its goods.” As I flew, I kept looking at them and flew between the antelope's legs, just to warn it. After all, it’s not without reason that a wise proverb says: “A mouse crawls out of a hole, which means you’re in danger.”
They called the mouse and told her:
“You never crawl out of a hole in broad daylight.” What happened to you this time? The mouse replied:
- Oh, dear brothers, listen to me! All this happened because of a boa constrictor. As long as I have lived, he has never crawled into my hole. Seeing him so close, I was afraid that there would be trouble for me and my children. So I took them, took all my belongings and ran away.
Then they called the boa constrictor and said:
- You're too big to climb mouse holes! What did you need there?
And the boa constrictor replied:
“I was sleeping, suddenly flies swooped in, a herd made noise and hit me on the cheeks with all their might. Woke up, I got scared and climbed into a mouse hole. Don't execute me without guilt!
We got to the fly.
“Come here,” the animals told her. - How did you get the idea to swoop down on a boa constrictor when he was sleeping peacefully, and even hit him on the cheeks? Did we send you for this?
“No,” said the fly.
- Why did you do that?
The fly was silent, not knowing what to answer, and the verdict was pronounced: “The fly is to blame for the death of the crab. For this, from now on and forever and ever, she will remain without a tail.” That's why the fly doesn't have a tail.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru