Toastmasters StoryTelling - The Folk Tale

Storytelling – The Folk Tale (7-9 minutes)

The Canny Bunny

No matter how old or mature we get, sometimes we all like to behave like kids, remember how you use to sit around with friends listening to folk tales from a wise elder. For next few minutes, just forget your age, set aside all your worries, go back to your childhood days. And now we are going to have a circle time and I as your teacher will tell you an interesting story. And here it goes….

This is the Jungle story, a jungle where all different types of animals used to live and yes, there was also a king of the Jungle – The Big and Mighty Lion!! Being the strongest of all animals, he used to dominate the entire jungle and would eat animals as and when he wanted to satisfy his hunger. The other animals were constantly living in fear because if it was not their day, they could be the next target of the lion. And there was no consistency in the hunting pattern of the Lion. Sometimes he would eat a single animal per day, and sometimes he would eat two or three. This inconsistency worried the other poor animals. If this continued, the day when they all would be killed, would not be far away. They started to flex their neurons to understand how to satisfy Lion’s hunger and at the same time, live with some certainty.

All the animals gathered to hold a meeting with Lion. You see, communication can solve many big problems of this world. The egotistic Lion somehow convinced himself to attend the meeting. Shivers started running down the spines of all the animals to have Lion amongst them. Lion expressed his earnest desire to understand the reason of the meeting. Not sure where to start, one of the animals explained in a very assertive way that his inconsistent pattern of hunting animals was decreasing the population of the jungle too rapidly and in no time there would be no animals left. Lion thought that’s how he is. He can’t help it. He needs food to survive and why should he bother about the survival of other animals. But just the thought of having no animals to hunt horrified him. So, what do you guys want me to do, asked the confused Lion? As they say, whenever you take a problem to a leader, you should be also taking the solution with you. The clever animals of the jungle knew this concept very well and this is how they proposed a solution to their leader:

We will be sending you a single animal daily at a scheduled time. This will save you time from hunting.

Doesn’t sound bad, thought the Lion. But he warned the animals to stick to their promise otherwise their lives were at stake. It was not exactly a win-win situation but at least the animals could live with some certainty.

And the implementation of the proposal went as planned. Lion was satisfied to have free home delivery of his meals and the animals that were yet to have their turn were enjoying their days as if there was no tomorrow.

One fine day, it was the turn of clever rabbit. The rabbit loved his life and still had many things in his “To-Do” list before he died. He was not ready to die just like that. Something needs to be done, thought the witty rabbit, to teach the Lion a lesson. He thought and thought and finally came up with a solution. And while the Rabbit was thinking of fixing the problem, Lion was already dreaming of having another delicious meal. The Rabbit reached Lion’s place later than the scheduled time. Lion had lost his patience by then and he was starving to death. And he got even angrier when he saw the tiny little rabbit. He swore to teach all the animals a lesson and as soon as he started heading towards the jungle, the rabbit started explaining to him that he had 5 more rabbits with him, the animals of the jungle were very well aware of his ravenous hunger needs. Lion slowed a bit on hearing this. So, where are the other 5 friends of yours? Asked the curious Lion. Rabbit explained that they encountered another Lion on their way and he ate all 5 of them, and he (use a lot of emphasis on “HE”) claimed to be King of the Jungle too. Lion roared loudly on hearing this. “There can be only one King of the jungle and that’s me. Let me confront this other Lion. Take me to him.” With all his innocence, rabbit agreed and took the Lion to a nearby well. Rabbit told the Lion that the other Lion was inside that well. Looking into the well, the Lion saw his own reflection and hollered loudly. Naturally, the reflection from the well was just(emphasis) as ferocious as Lion was, and this intensified Lion’s anger. Not able to withstand it any more, he jumped into the well and there it goes. Lion fell with a strong thud and the happiness of Rabbit knew no bounds as he visualized being able to finish his To-Do list.

He ran enthusiastically towards the jungle to share the good news with his friends.  Back in the jungle, the animals were mourning the death of their dear friend Rabbit and discussing who would sacrifice his life tomorrow. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw rabbit dancing and coming towards them. Rabbit narrated the entire incident to his friends and all the animals heaved a sigh of relief and started dancing with joy. The Rabbit felt like hero of some movie who saved the day.

The moral of my tale is that ‘Intelligence and belief in oneself is superior to physical strength’. Lion was so big and strong as compared to Rabbit. But Rabbit believed in his intelligence and that’s how he could save himself and his friends of the jungle. So the next time you encounter a lion in your life, act like the clever rabbit and have confidence in your intelligence to save the day.