Everyone knew that the rabbit was a trickster. One day he asked the crab to help him plant carrots. The crab was sure the fellow would try some trick, but he agreed.
So, they planted the seeds and watered them and tended the beds till the carrots began to grow. The harvest was soon ready. The rabbit had made two neat piles of carrots and called sweetly, “Dear friend, please take the bigger pile. I’ll take the other one.”
The crab was alert. Whenever the rabbit spoke very sweetly, the crab was sure he was up to some mischief. So, he looked closely at the two piles.
“Aha! the rabbit has put some of the rotten carrots in the bigger pile and he has kept the best ones in the little one!” The crab realised. He replied very humbly, “No rabbit, I’ll take the small pile. You can have the bigger one.”
This did not suit the rabbit at all. He had to think quickly. So he said, “Let’s play a game. We’ll have a race and whoever reaches the carrots first, may choose the pile he wants to have. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
The crab thought about it and agreed to the competition. The rabbit looked at him and said, “I’ll tell you what I will do. I am known to be a very fast runner. You stand ten paces in front, so you have a better chance of winning against me.”
“No, no!” said the crab, “We’ll have a truly fair race only if we have the same starting point.”
The rabbit was only too pleased. He and the crab took their places and the race began. The crab was waiting for the right moment. As soon as the rabbit took off, the crab snapped at his tail and hung on to it.
The rabbit had no idea that the crab was hanging on to his tail behind him. He simply leaped and hopped his way to the carrots. As soon as he reached there, he turned around to see where the crab had been left behind.
The crab promptly dropped off his tail and crawled to the smaller heap of carrots.
‘Well, well!’ thought the rabbit, ‘I can’t even see the crab. He’s left far behind!’ So he called out, “Hello, friend! Where are you?” He was startled, when the crab’s voice said, “Right behind you, my friend!”
For once the rabbit had been tricked at his own game! He could do nothing but let the crab take the best carrots after all.
