"Yes, O Lion, it is," said the Rabbit. "I was asleep under a palm-tree. I woke up and thought, 'What would become of me if the earth should all break up?' At that very moment, I heard the sound of the earth breaking up, and I ran away."
"Then," said the Lion, "you and I will go back to the place where the earth began to break up, and see what is the matter."
So the Lion put the little Rabbit on his back, and away they went like the wind. The other animals waited for them at the foot of the hill.
The Rabbit told the Lion when they were near the place where he slept, and the Lion saw just where the Rabbit had been sleeping.
He saw, too, the cocoanut that had fallen to the ground near by. Then the Lion said to the Rabbit, "It must have been the sound of the cocoanut falling to the ground that you heard. You foolish Rabbit!"
And the Lion ran back to the other animals, and told them all about it.
If it had not been for the wise King of Beasts, they might be running still.
Away they went like the wind.