celebrated until after a year and a day,” for she thought in that time
she should hear something of her dear huntsman.
The animals, however, were still lying sleeping beside their dead
master on the dragon’s hill, and there came a great humble-bee and
lighted on the hare’s nose, but the hare wiped it off with his paw, and
went on sleeping. The humble-bee came a second time, but the hare again
rubbed it off and slept on. Then it came for the third time, and stung
his nose so that he awoke. As soon as the hare was awake, he roused the
fox, and the fox, the wolf, and the wolf the bear, and the bear the
lion. And when the lion awoke and saw that the maiden was gone, and his
master was dead, he began to roar frightfully and cried, “Who has done
that? Bear, why didst thou not waken me?” The bear asked the wolf, “Why
didst thou not waken me?” and the wolf the fox, “Why didst thou not
waken me?” and the fox the hare, “Why didst thou not waken me?” The
poor hare alone did not know what answer to make, and the blame rested
with him. Then they were just going to fall upon him, but he entreated
them and said, “Kill me not, I will bring our master to life again. I
know a mountain on which a root grows which, when placed in the mouth
of any one, cures him of all illness and every wound. But the mountain
lies two hundred hours journey from here.” The lion said, “In
four-and-twenty hours must thou have run thither and have come back,
and have brought the root with thee.” Then the hare sprang away, and in
four-and-twenty hours he was back, and brought the root with him. The
lion put the huntsman’s head on again, and the hare placed the root in
his mouth, and immediately everything united together again, and his
heart beat, and life came back. Then the huntsman awoke, and was
alarmed when he did not see the maiden, and thought, “She must have
gone away whilst I was sleeping, in order to get rid of me.” The lion
in his great haste had put his master’s head on the wrong way round,
but the huntsman did not observe it because of his melancholy thoughts
about the King’s daughter. But at noon, when he was going to eat
something, he saw that his head was turned backwards and could not
understand it, and asked the animals what had happened to him in his
sleep. Then the lion told him that they, too, had all fallen asleep
from weariness, and on awaking, had found him dead with his head cut
off, that the hare had brought the life-giving root, and that he, in
his haste, had laid hold of the head the wrong way, but that he would
repair his mistake. Then he tore the huntsman’s head off again, turned
it round, and the hare healed it with the root.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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