Crocodile Tears

In the middle of the dry season, a small pond in the forest kept shrinking, lower and lower, until nothing was left but a floor of cracked mud. The sun beat down, and the whole patch of ground was burning hot. Lying out in that dry mud was a big crocodile. Its skin was cracking, and its mouth hung open as it gasped for each tired breath. It had been stranded there for several days, without a single drop of water nearby to roll in and cool off. Half a day more of this harsh sun, and it surely could not hold on.

Just then, on a footpath along the edge of the forest, a farmer came by driving an ox cart. He heard a strange, wheezing breath, so he stopped and leaned over to look. When he saw the crocodile lying half dead in the mud, his heart went out to it.

Two lines of tears welled up in the crocodile's eyes, and its voice was a pitiful whisper. "Please, sir, please save me. This pond has gone completely dry. Carry me to the deep stretch of river beyond those hills, and I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

The farmer thought it over for a moment. The crocodile was big and heavy, and its body was slippery too. On the cart it would roll from side to side and could easily tumble off onto the road. So he took a rope and tied the crocodile tightly to the bed of the cart, so that it would lie still. Only then did he urge the ox forward.

The road to the river was very long. The ox cart rattled up one slope after another, its wheels grinding over gravel and stones for a whole morning. The back of his shirt was soaked with sweat, yet the farmer kept going until he had brought the crocodile right to the cool riverbank.

When they arrived, he untied every rope. The crocodile slid straight down to the water's edge, drank a few mouthfuls and rolled over a few times. Before long it was as strong as if it had never been sick at all. But the moment it felt strong again, it swung around and glared at the farmer with wide eyes, lashing its tail against the water.

It growled, "Look here, farmer. Back there you tied me far too tight. That rope squeezed me until my whole body ached. And I haven't had a thing to eat for days. I'm faint with hunger. So I think I'll eat you to fill my stomach."

The farmer froze. He had worked so hard to save it and had carried it all that long way. Now, barely recovered, it had turned on him and wanted to eat him. Among all the creatures there could hardly be one more thankless than this crocodile. The farmer spoke up quickly. "This is ingratitude beyond belief. I saved you from drying up and dying. I never did a thing to hurt you."

The crocodile would not listen. It kept insisting that the rope had hurt it, and that it would eat the farmer no matter what. The two of them argued back and forth, and neither would give in.

Right at that tense moment, a wild rabbit hiding in the grass by the river suddenly sat up, its nose twitching and its whiskers trembling. The Khmer people of southern Vietnam say that the wild rabbit has always been famous for its quick wits. Whenever there was a tangled quarrel in the forest that nobody could settle, every animal came to the rabbit and asked it to be the judge.

The rabbit hopped out into the middle of the path, sat up straight and asked calmly, "What's all this shouting about? Tell me the whole story, and I'll judge it for you."

The farmer told everything from beginning to end. The crocodile argued back, insisting that it had been tied so tight that its whole body hurt.

The rabbit scratched its ear and pretended to think, then shook its head. "Well, all I hear is the two of you talking back and forth, and I can't picture any of it. I didn't see the tying with my own eyes, so I can't tell who is right and who is wrong. Better to do it like this. Let's set it all up again, exactly as it was, so I can watch. Mister Crocodile, climb back onto the cart and lie there the very same way you lay before. Then this farmer will tie you again just as he did at first. Only when I see it with my own eyes can I judge fairly."

That sounded reasonable to the crocodile. It was also keen to prove that the rope really had hurt. So it eagerly crawled up onto the cart and lay down in the very spot where it had lain before.

The rabbit turned to the farmer and nodded. "Tie it up just the way you did this morning. Tie it exactly as you did then, no more and no less."

The farmer understood the rabbit's plan at once. He took the rope, wound it around the crocodile, and tied it just as tightly as the first time. When he was done, the rabbit asked the crocodile, "Now then, is this exactly how you were tied when he carried you here?"

The crocodile nodded hard. "Yes, that's it, exactly like this. This is just how tight I was tied."

That was all the rabbit had been waiting for. It gave a small nod, then spoke gently, so that both the crocodile and the farmer could hear. "So now you are tied exactly as you were when he carried you to the river. Remember, back then you lay still on the cart and could not move. That was the very time he was working his hardest to save you from drying up and dying. Far from harming you, he drove his cart for a whole morning to bring you all the way to cool water. He saved your life, and that is a great debt. Yet the moment you were strong again, you turned on him and wanted to eat the one who rescued you."

The rabbit went on, in a voice soft but clear. "Those two lines of tears you shed to beg for rescue were only false tears after all."

The crocodile lay on the cart, tied tight with rope. It squirmed and squirmed but could not get loose, and it could not find a single word to say. With its own mouth it had just said it was tied exactly as when it was rescued. Now it had no way to deny it.

The rabbit turned to the farmer. "A creature this ungrateful is one nobody would want to help any further. But you were kind enough to bring it this far, so you may as well finish the good deed. Let's carry it out to deep water and let it go back to the river. Then this will be over."

The farmer nodded. He drove the ox cart a little farther, right out to the deepest stretch of water. Then, taking his time, he untied the rope and gave the crocodile a gentle push into the current.

The crocodile slid into the water and dived deep in one breath, and it never dared come up to look at anyone again. On the surface of the river there were only a few small ripples, spreading out and then closing over, as calm as if nothing had ever happened.

The farmer and the rabbit stood on the bank and watched until the river lay perfectly smooth. The Khmer have passed this tale of the ungrateful crocodile down to one another right up to the present day. Hearing it, everyone thinks of crocodile tears. Those are the tears of someone who weeps and pours out a sad story while secretly planning to repay kindness with betrayal.