He told his wife and children about the selfish old Crocodile, who was so full of dinner that he could not keep awake and who would not let a hungry little Rabbit nibble the leaves that he did not want himself. When the little Rabbits heard why they had no supper that night, they had a great deal to say about the Crocodile.
“That is all very well,” said the Rabbit, “but when a chicken is the judge, the cockroach gets no justice. We cannot depend on any one else to punish the Crocodile; we must do it ourselves. Come all of you and get dry grass and leaves, and we will go and lay them in a circle around the Crocodile while he is asleep, and then we will set them on fire. We’ll give him a fine scare.”
Then all the Rabbits wriggled with joy and kicked up their heels at the thought of what was going to happen, and they gathered many armfuls of grass and leaves and laid them in a circle round the Crocodile. The fire was kindled, and it began to blaze up and smoke. The Rabbits hid themselves in the bushes and kept as still as stones.
Crackle—crackle—snap-snap-snap! went the fire, but the Crocodile did not wake up.
Snap! snap! snap! went the burning twigs, but the Crocodile did not wake up.
The smoke began to get thicker and blacker, until at last they could not see the Crocodile, but they heard him cough in his sleep. Then he turned over, and coughed again.
“Haugh! Haugh! What’s the matter here? I can’t breathe!” grunted the Crocodile.
Then he choked, and coughed, and opened his mouth so wide that a live coal flew into it. At that he woke up completely. He made a rush to get away from the fire, but found it in front of him. He turned round, and saw it still in front of him, while at the same time it was behind him scorching the end of his tail. Then he made one big jump and got out of the circle of fire, and his hide was so thick that he was hardly burned at all, but he was badly scared and very angry. When he heard all the squealing and laughter of the Rabbits in the bushes, he was so angry he could hardly speak.
“Don’t you ever dare to come near the river again!” he shouted, and off he waddled as fast as he could go, to get into the cool water and put mud on his burned places.
