There was a beautiful lake in the heart of a forest. Lots of fish and birds and other creatures lived there, in the lake and around it. A heron also lived there. He was old now and too weak to catch fish. Often he had to sleep hungry; so he became more and more weak. But that did not stop him from being very cunning.
One day, he made a plan to be fool all the creatures there so that he might eat them without too much effort. He stood on the banks of the lake and cried loudly. All the creatures were puzzled.
“What happened, Uncle Heron? Why are you crying?” asked the fish and the turtles, the crabs and the frogs.
“I have been very bad, eating so many fish. Now I have decided I will never eat them again,” said the heron.
“But what makes you cry?” they wondered.
“Oh, that is because an astrologer told me that there will be no rain for twelve years here! This lake will dry up and all of you, my childhood friends, will die! The big animals are going to another part of the forest where there is a bigger lake that never runs dry. What will you all do now? Oh, oh….” wept the heron.
“Can’t we go there too, Uncle Heron?” asked the frightened creatures.
“Oh, yes. I can carry you there on my back if you like,” said the heron. The creatures agreed and so the heron began to take them one by one. But the wicked heron used to take them, not to any lake, but to a rock where he killed and ate them up.
Now one day, the heron took a crab. He had eaten lots of fish. Today he would eat the crab! As they flew along, the crab looked down and suddenly he saw the rock with lots of bones all around it. He realised that the heron had befooled all of them. The crab quickly grabbed the heron’s neck in his claws and killed him.
When he got back to the lake, the other creatures crowded around him. They had been waiting for the heron to come and fetch them too. “Where’s Uncle Heron? When will he take us too?” they asked.
“You idiots!” exclaimed the crab,” He befooled all of us! There is no astrologer and no other lake. He was just taking us away to eat us! I have killed him and we are safe now!”
