The Lion and the Rabbit: a story for kids, its moral and an activity

The story

Deep in a forest lived a lion who thought only of himself. Every day he roared through the trees and hunted far more animals than he could eat. Every animal was afraid to leave home.

At last the animals gathered under an old banyan tree. “If this goes on, nobody will be left,” said an elder. They went to the lion with a plan. “Great King, you need not hunt at all,” they said. “Stay in your cave, and every day one of us will come to you.” The lion thought about this and agreed.

For many days the animals sent one of their own. Then it was the turn of a small rabbit. He was frightened, but he was also a thinker. “I cannot fight a lion,” he said to himself, “so I must outwit him.” He walked slowly and took the long way round.

By the time he reached the cave, the sun was high and the lion was pacing. “You are late, and you are tiny!” he roared. “Who dares send me a snack like you?”

The rabbit bowed low. “Great King, I set out with five friends to be your meal. On the way another lion jumped out and took the others. He says this forest is his and that you are only a pretender. I escaped to tell you.”

The lion was furious. “Show me this lion at once!” The rabbit led him to a deep, round well in the forest. “He lives down there,” he whispered. The lion crept to the edge and looked in. A lion looked back at him from the water. He roared; a roar came back from below. The lion leapt in to fight, and he was never seen again. The rabbit hurried home, and the forest was peaceful once more.

What is the moral?

The tale says that cleverness can beat strength. The rabbit had no claws, no roar and no size, yet he stayed calm, looked at the problem and planned. The lion had all the power, but he let anger do his thinking. In Hindi a fitting line is बुद्धि बल से बड़ी होती है, “brains are bigger than brawn”.

Where does the story come from?

This is a well-known fable from the Panchatantra, the old collection of animal tales credited to a scholar called Vishnu Sharma. As far as we know it belongs to its first book. Some tellers say hare instead of rabbit, and the details change from version to version. You can also read our other retelling on the story page The Clever Rabbit and the Lion, or the Hindi version चतुर खरगोश और शेर.

Questions to ask after reading

Let your child lead. Younger children can act it out; older ones can give reasons.

• Why did the animals agree to send one friend each day?
• What did the rabbit do on the way that helped him think?
• What did the lion see in the well, and why did he not stop to check?

Try it at home: the mirror-and-echo game

You need a small mirror or a shiny steel plate, a bowl of still water and an adult nearby. Hold the mirror in front of your child’s face and ask them to make a fierce lion face, then a sleepy one, then a laughing one. Their “other lion” copies every move. Next, look at your faces in the bowl of water. Ask: what do you see, and is it really another person? Finally, call a short word into a large empty pot and listen to the echo. How could the lion have checked before he jumped?

More to explore on Rangooo

Browse all the Panchatantra stories, read the Monkey and the Crocodile, or see our tips on telling moral stories.

Questions

What is the moral of the Lion and the Rabbit story?

Brains can beat brute strength. The small rabbit could not fight the lion, so he used a clever plan and the lion's own anger against him.

Is the Lion and the Rabbit a Panchatantra story?

Yes. It is a well-known Panchatantra fable. Tellers differ on the names and details, and some call the rabbit a hare.

What is the Hindi name of this story?

It is usually told as शेर और खरगोश, or as चतुर खरगोश और शेर.

Is the story too scary for young children?

The lion is frightening at the start, and the ending is a little dark. For younger children you can say that the lion was never seen in the forest again.