The clever rabbit (An African tale re-told)- Reading piece for Gr 2-3 with an activity

One day rabbit was skipping and hopping through the forest, very happy with himself and enjoying nature.  

He hops and hops and the next moment he bumps into Elephant.  

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Elephant is very rude and does not even say hello to Rabbit, he just says "Watch where you are going.   Leave me alone.  I do not have time for silly, weak little animals like you."

Rabbit is very shocked and he just stares at Elephant walking away.

A while later, when Rabbit has forgotten about how rude Elephant was to him, he sees Hippo in the river.  "Hi Hippo"  he calls out in a friendly voice.  "Would you like to come and play with me?"

Hippo looks at Rabbit and pulls up his nose.  "Never in my life will I have such a small and weak friend.  Go and find somebody your own size."

Rabbit is very sad when he gets home.  He thinks Those two think they are better than everybody, because they are big and strong.  I think they need to be taught a lesson.

Rabbit spends the whole night working on his plan and the next morning he sets of to the river, with a thick rope hanging over his shoulder.

When he gets to the river he tells Hippo that he will show him that he who is called Roger Rabbit is just as strong as Hippo.  "I will show you by having a tug of war with this rope."

Hippo laughs and laughs.  "O please, how can a little rabbit win me, but ok, if you want we can have a tug of war."

Rabbit gives Hippo the one end of the rope and tells him that he will run behind the trees that the robe is nice and tight and if he shouts PULL, Hippo can start pulling and he will feel how strong Rabbit is.

Rabbit quickly runs through the trees where he knows Elephant is busy eating.

"Come on Elephant, I will show you how strong I am.  Take this piece of the rope and lets have a tug of war."

Elephant laughs and laughs and just thinks to himself This rabbit will fly over my head in a short while.  He is so small and I am much bigger and stronger than him.

He takes the rope in his trunk and wait for Rabbit to give the sign by shouting PULL.

Rabbit hides behind the bush and at the top of his lungs he shouts "PULL,PULL..."

Hippo pulls and Elephant pulls with all their might.  The  rope does not move.

How is that possible that Rabbit can be so strong?  they both think.  They keep on pulling, but nothing happens.

Suddenly the rope breaks and Elephant rolls down the hill and Hippo goes flying through the air.

Behind the bush there is a soft chuckle from Rabbits and then he hops away.

Hippo and Elephant never figured out what happened that day, but they surely started treating Rabbit better and was not mean to him anymore and up to today they have a lot of respect for Rabbit.

Rabbit knew that you do not always have to be strong, sometimes you have to be clever as well.

1. You can draw your own pictures to fit the story.
2. Choose a few animals and make your own animal masks (watch the video for ideas) and if you want to, you can act out the story with your friends.

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