THE
MOUSEDEER THE
&
CROCODILE
Mouse deer was the most ingenious animal. He had a lot of sense to solve the problems. The animals in the woods often looked for him for a help when they got into trouble. Although he was a smart animal, but he was not arrogant and it made him having so many friends.
One day, he was looking for food outside the forest. It was the dry season so that the food in the forest was reduced. Mouse deer had to walk so far under the heat of the sun. Because he was so thirsty, he pulled into a river to relieve thirst of his throat.
After he drank the water in the river, the deer proceeded to walk down the river. After walking for more than an hour, deer found a fruit garden. However, it was across the river so that the deer had to swim to cross the river which was so wide. As said previously that he was a very intelligent animal and has a solution for every problem. When he was thinking about how to cross the river, he saw a bunch of crocodiles were basking near the river. Sunbathing was the habit of the crocodile and they always did that every day. When looking at crocodiles, he got an idea. He then approached a sleeping crocodile and said “Hi my friend, how are you today?�
Crocodile replied, “I am good my friend, what makes you come here?” “I bring a very good news for all the crocodiles in the river.” Said the deer. The crocodile then was curious and asked again, “what news you want to say my friend?” He replied, “I was ordered by the King Sulaiman to count all the crocodiles in this river, King Sulaiman wanted to give a gift to all of you.”
After hearing what was said by deer, crocodiles eventually ordered all his friends to line up on the river. Meanwhile, the deer could cross the river by pretending to count the number of all the crocodiles.
A few minutes later, the deer came across the river, and the crocodile collect their promise, “Mouse Deer, you have calculated all the amount of crocodiles that are here, now give us the gift that promised by King Sulaiman.” Instead of giving gifts, deer said “I forgot that the promised gifts have been given to the crocodiles in another river.” Hearing what the deer said, all crocodiles in the river was very angry. They were so revenge on the deer and vowed not to release the deer if they met some day.
The deer is the most clever and friendly animal in the jungle. No wonder he has so many friends. Follow his journey with the crocodile in this story.
This fable is based on Indonesian folklore.