Folk-lore of the Telugus/The Hare and the Elephants
XXXV.
THE HARE AND THE ELEPHANTS.
A famine, in days long gone by, once devastated the whole of the southern country, and there was not a drop of water visible in pond, lake, well or tank. The elephants, very much troubled by thirst, went in search of a place where they could satisfy it to their heart's content, and found a tank called Chandrapushkarani. As the tank was full to the brim, they rested there and quenched their thirst, and also found a habitation in the woods adjacent, till the whole country was again green with verdure. But the track of these elephants was full of hares, and they were smashed to pieces under their heavy footsteps. The hares, seeing the calamity that had befallen them, and how they were greatly reduced in numbers, met at a certain spot to devise means for sending the elephants away to a distant spot. One of them said:—Why fear the elephants? I have devised means to get rid of them." On a certain moon-light night, it climbed and sat on an adjacent mountain-top, and said to the elephants who came by, as usual, to drink from the tank:—"O, ye elephants, I have been deputed by Chandra (the moon), whose tank it is, to inform you that this tank has been dug under Ids orders. That is the reason way it goes under the name of Chandrapushkarani (lit., the moon's tank). He comes here every night and dallies with his wives. For some time past he has been interrupted in his pastime by your advent and meddling with the waters. He is, therefore, very angry with you. Quit the tank instantly, or otherwise, he told me, he would smash you up ere dawn. If you want to see whether he is angry or not, just look into this tank and you will be satisfied."
The elephants were wonder-struck, and seeing the reflection of the moon, agitated by the wind in the waters, mistook it for his wrath with them, bowed to the moon, requested him to excuse them as they had come there in innocence, and desired the hare to intercede with the moon on their behalf. The elephants thereupon, quitted the place instantly, and the hares from that time forward lived comfortably.