“How do you know this, Brother Deer?”
“Why, I did not hear it myself, but the Rabbits told me,” answered the Deer.
“Little Rabbits—little Rabbits,” said the Rajah Lion, “how do you know that the earth is falling in? Who told you this?”
Then each Rabbit pointed his paw at another Rabbit and said, “That Rabbit told me.”
Finally the Lion asked the little Rabbit who had first told the tale, “Is it true that you are the one who first cried out that the earth is falling in?”
“Yes, Mighty Rajah,” answered the little Rabbit, trembling with fear.
“Why, Brother Rabbit, what made you say that the earth is falling in? Is that the truth?” roared the Lion.
“Oh, yes, Mighty Rajah,” answered the little Rabbit. “I was asleep under a palm-tree and I awoke in fright and thought ‘What would become of me if the earth should fall in?’ Then, right behind me I heard a terrible bang! I was afraid to look around, for I knew that the earth was falling in. And so I ran away as fast as I could.”
“Well, little Rabbit,” said the Rajah Lion, “since you started all this running, you must come back with me to the place where you heard the sound, and we will see if the earth is falling in. All you other animals, wait here until we come back.”
So the big strong Rajah Lion took the timid little Rabbit upon his back, and away they went through the jungle. When they came to the very tree where the little Rabbit had slept, the Lion looked all about and there upon the ground he saw the large cocoanut which the monkeys had dropped from the tree.