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Updated: May 7, 2025
"I dare not, my lord," said the hare. "Come, don't be afraid," said the lion. The hare, not venturing to go near the vilva tree, stood afar off and cried, "Yonder, sir, is the place of dreadful sounds," and so saying, he repeated the first stanza: "From the spot where I did dwell Issued forth a fearful 'thud'; What it was I could not tell, Nor what caused it understood."
At this same time there was near the Western Ocean a grove of palms mixed with vilva trees. A certain hare lived here beneath a palm sapling, at the foot of a vilva tree. One day this hare after feeding came and lay down beneath a young palm tree. And the thought struck him: "If this earth should be destroyed, what would become of me?"
After hearing what the hare said, the lion went to the foot of the vilva tree, and saw the spot where the hare had been lying beneath the shade of the palm tree, and the ripe vilva fruit that fell on the palm leaf, and having carefully ascertained that the earth had not broken up, he placed the hare on his back and with the speed of a lion soon came again to the herd of beasts.
When the hares were questioned, they pointed to one particular hare and said, "This one told us." So the Bodhisatta asked, "Is it true, sir, that the earth is breaking up?" "Yes, sir, I saw it," said the hare. "Where," he asked, "were you living when you saw it?" "Near the ocean, sir, in a grove of palms mixed with vilva trees.
And at this very moment a ripe vilva fruit fell on a palm leaf. At the sound of it, the hare thought, "This solid earth is collapsing," and starting up he fled without so much as looking behind him. Another saw him scampering off as if frightened to death, and asked the cause of his panic flight. "Pray, don't ask me," he said.
For as I was lying beneath the shade of a palm sapling at the foot of a vilva tree, methought, 'If this earth should break up, where shall I go? And at that very moment I heard the sound of breaking up of the earth, and I fled."
Thought the lion: "A ripe vilva fruit evidently must have fallen on a palm leaf and made a 'thud, and this hare jumped to the conclusion that the earth was coming to an end, and ran away. I will find out the exact truth about it."
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