Once upon a time, in a vast jungle, many animals lived in peace. Among them lived a pair of rabbits; brother and sister. The sister rabbit was particularly timid; easily startled and afraid of almost everything.
One day, the sister rabbit went for a stroll in the jungle. She found some grass under a tree and began munching on it. Just then, a branch from the tree suddenly fell to the ground. Startled, she jumped to the conclusion that the sky was falling. In her panic, she screamed and darted under a nearby bush.
The gust of wind caused more branches and leaves to fall from the tree. She was sitting just below, and one of the branches landed on her back. Terrified, she didn’t even turn back; just ran straight ahead, yelling, “The sky is falling, run for your life!”
As she darted across the jungle, she ran into Mr. Fox. He asked, “Hey Sister Rabbit, why are you running like this?” Without pausing, she replied in verse:
“Crash it came, boom it came,
Something fell from the sky,
Landed on my back so high,
Run, brother, run!”
Not waiting for an explanation, Mr. Fox joined her in the sprint.
Further down the path, they met Lion King Lion. Startled, the Lion asked, “Why are you all running? What happened?” Again, the rabbit chanted:
“Crash it came, boom it came,
Something fell from the sky,
Landed on my back so high,
Run, brother, run!”
Hearing this, even the mighty lion joined them.
As the stampede continued, they encountered Mr. Elephant, who stopped them and asked, “Sister Rabbit, Mr. Fox, Lion King; why are you all running? What happened?”
Once again, she chanted:
“Crash it came, boom it came,
Something fell from the sky,
Landed on my back so high,
Run, brother, run!”
Mr. Elephant, with calm wisdom, said, “Why are you all running without even thinking? At least tell me where exactly this happened.”
The scared rabbit took them to the spot under the tree where it had all begun. All the animals gathered there. Pointing to the broken branch, she said, “This is where the sky fell.”
Upon seeing the branch, everyone burst out laughing. Mr. Elephant said, “See, it was just a branch; not the sky! Let’s all go back home now. There’s no need to panic anymore.”
From that day forward, all the animals of the jungle learned a valuable lesson: never panic without reason. They returned to their homes and lived peacefully and mindfully thereafter.
