Why Does Rabbit Have a Short Tail?

Like many African cultures, the Swahili culture teaches through story. Our language tutor told us this story in a mixture of English and Swahili. I've tried to keep it as close to the East African English as I can. -Shauen

"Baba," said the boy, "why does Rabbit have a short tail?"

Baba answered:

One day the animals in the bush saw that there was no water. King Elephant called all the animals together and asked, "What should we do?" One of the animals suggested they dig a well. All of the animals agreed that they would bring their tools the next day and they would dig a well. The next day all of the animals came and dug - all except Rabbit. They dug and dug and they made a very fine well, with good, clean, cool water. They all drank water and washed and were happy that the water was good.

That night, after all the animals had gone to bed, Rabbit came to see what they had done. When he saw that they had dug a good well, he wanted to drink and wash. Rabbit drank until he couldn't drink any more. And he splashed and he swam in the well until he was tired. Then he went back home.

In the morning, the animals came and saw that their well was dirty! "How did this happen?" they asked. After they had cleaned up the well, King Elephant asked for a volunteer to stand watch the next night and see what was happening. Monkey volunteered. So when the animals had all gone to bed, Monkey stayed awake, leaning against the base of a tree and keeping watch.

After dark, Rabbit came along and called out "Hello, hello, hello, hello!" Monkey replied, "Hello, Rabbit. How are you?" "Oh, I am so fine, thank you. How is your family?" "My family is good, thank you," said Monkey. Rabbit said to Monkey, "Monkey, your hair is so long and nice. Let me braid it for you." Monkey agreed that it would be very nice to have good braids in his hair. So Rabbit came behind Monkey and swoop-swoop very quickly tied Monkey's hair in a knot behind the tree! Monkey could not reach around to undo the knot and even to move pained him. Meanwhile, Rabbit enjoyed himself at the well again, splashing and swimming in the water. After he was tired, Rabbit went home.

The next morning the animals came to the well and saw Monkey tied to the tree. Monkey explained what happened. All of the animals were very mad but they knew they would not be able to catch Rabbit in his home. So King Elephant asked who would keep watch the next night to stop Rabbit. Tortoise volunteered, "I will keep watch."

That evening, as the other animals were going home, Tortoise took his big machete, went to the  well, and pulled himself inside his shell to wait. After dark, Rabbit came again to the well, "Hello, hello, hello, hello!" But there was no reply. Rabbit was suspicious and he called again, "Hello, hello, hello!" Still, there was no reply. Rabbit looked around here and there to see if anyone was guarding the well. He didn't see anyone at all, but still he was suspicious. So Rabbit went to sit on top of the large rock beside of the well and wait a few minutes to see if anyone would come. Rabbit's long fluffy tail hung over the side of the rock.

Tortoise knew that Rabit had sat on top of him. He could see that Rabbit's tail hung there. Very slowly, he pulled his machete out of his pocket and swoop - he cut off Rabbit's long tail!

That is why Rabbit has a short tail.

What is the lesson of the story? Everyone should work.

Don't ask me why the other rabbits have short tails - I don't know.