Many years ago, rabbits had long tails, not short ones, and crocodiles had tongues. One such long-tailed rabbit lived near a pond. He drank water from the pond and the grass nearby. Now, in the pond lived a crocodile. The crocodile saw the rabbit eating grass and drinking water, and he thought how nice it would be to eat the rabbit.

    One day the crocodile swam very close to the edge of the pond. He lay still in the water, hoping that the rabbit wouldn't see him. When the rabbit came to drink, the crocodile opened his mouth wide and snapped the rabbit.

    The rabbit was caught between the crocodile's sharp teeth! Of course, the rabbit was very frightened, but he did not want the crocodile to know this.

"I'm not afraid of you," said the rabbit.

"I'm only afraid of animals that roar. You can't roar, so you can't frighten me.

    When the crocodile heard this, he became very angry. He wanted to show the rabbit that he could roar. And so, the crocodile opened his mouth to roar. When the crocodile opened his mouth, the clever rabbit jumped free. As he jumped, the rabbit's sharp toe-nails caught the crocodile's tongue and tore it out.

    The crocodile tried to catch the rabbit again, but his great teeth only snapped off the end of the rabbit's tail. That is why rabbit today have short tail, and crocodiles have no tongue.

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