ESL Blogs

As mentioned in my previous fables, the story about mouse deer is very famous among children in Malaysia. There are various stories which show the brilliance and cleverness of this mouse deer when facing some difficulties. It seems it always can think on its feet when it needs to be. In this blog, I want to share with you another funny story about how a mouse deer tricked the mighty Tiger. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

I want to dedicate this fable to my little EC Grand daughter Noora. I hope she is going to recover soon. 

The Story of a Mouse Deer and a Tiger

Once upon a time, deep in a jungle,  a mouse deer was humming to himself while he was munching some succulent fruits. He was really happy because there were a lot of gooseberries. He loved gooseberries. It was one of his favourite fruits next to rambutan and pink guava. Too absorbed was he munching the gooseberries that he did not realise that his antics were being observed by the dreaded Tiger. 

The Tiger had been hunting from the early morning. So far he was only successful in catching a few rats. Rats! He shuddered to think if any of his friends knew that he had resorted to catching a few annoying rats to appease his hunger. How could he regale his friends with his awesome tricks and skills if he could only catch those infuriating rats? He would rather swallow a bitter gourd than admitting to his friends that he could only catch rats. At least he hope the bitter gourd would  be the least bitter than admitting he failed miserably. 

So at that evening he was dragging his feet one at a time, when suddenly he heard a humming from the gooseberry bush. Sniff! Sniff! His whiskers were twitching when he smelt the unmistakable smell of a mouse deer. Suddenly he felt an adrenalin rush. He tried to tell himself to keep calm and take his time. It would be better if the mouse deer was full and felt sleepy. So he waited. And waited. And waited.

"Hmmm ... how big that mouse deer stomach is?" He wondered. "He seems did not stop chewing, and here I am getting hungrier. My stomach is growling like a mad lion now. I need to act now!" Having decided that he needed to take the necessary action, the Tiger started to walk near to the mouse deer. But in his haste, he accidentally stepped on dead branches. "Crack!" The sound seemed so loud in the quiet evening. A group of crows took off because of the noise.

When the mouse deer realised that a Tiger was ready to pounce on him, he was so frighten. He was trembling all over. A cold sweat started to drop from all over his body. He knew he will be a dead meat if he did not think fast enough. "Ho a little mousy dear! Be prepared to meet your maker. I am going to eat your juicy red meat shortly" roared the Tiger. 

"OHMY Master Tiger, you nearly frighten me to death. I do hope you are not starving at the moment, because you cannot eat me now. I have been entrusted by the King Solomon to safeguard his most treasured item" said the mouse deer while pointing his right paw to a bee nest dangled from a rambutan tree. 

"What is that?" asked the Tiger curiously. Though the Tiger was a frightening hunter in the jungle, but he was not known to have a bright mind. "Oh! That is the Gold Gong of the King Solomon. His Majesty likes to hear the sound of the gong when he is hunting in the jungle", replied the mouse deer. 

"It must gives the sweetest sound when it is pounded" said the Tiger with an excited voice. "Of course! After all it is His Majesty's gold gong. Who ever has the opportunity to listen to the sound of the gong, will feel happy for the rest of the day" replied the mouse deer. He tried to make his sound more prideful rather than trembling with fright. 

"You must be very proud to be able to safeguard His Majesty treasure" the Tiger voice was a bit envious. "So can I for once be allowed to pound that magnificent gong? asked the Tiger. "I am sorry my dear Tiger. I have been reminded not to let anyone touch that precious gong" the mouse deer said with a sad voice. But deep down he was jumping with joy because the Tiger had fallen into his trap.

"O pretty please my dear mouse deer. Please allow me to pound the gong this time. If you do that I promise to let you go today" pleaded the Tiger. His voice became whiny and pitiful. The mouse deer stood silent for a few minutes as if debating his decision. 

With a deep breath and sounded remorseful, the mouse deer finally said; "Oh! Because you are so kind to spare my life, and I am grateful for that, I will allow you to pound on that gong. But because I am afraid of the wrath of his Highness King Solomon, you can only pound that precious gong when I am far from here. At least I can claimed that I did not know who had pounded the gong. Promise me."

"I promise! I promise!" said the Tiger excitedly. "Shush now. Go!" "Okay, I will shout 'pound" when I am far enough from this place, and then you can start to pound to your heart contend" said the mouse deer while starting to retreat hastily.

The Tiger was for once waited patiently to hear the signal from the mouse deer. When he heard "Pound" from somewhere in the deep jungle, with his might he pound the bee nest. The bees were so angry with the disturbance that they started to attack the Tiger in a drove. The Tiger was so surprised by the attack that for a moment he was frozen. Then he howled with all his might that his roar was heard all over the jungle.

Then he ran and ran and ran until he finally saw a river. He jumped into the river and sub-merged with the hope the bees would go away. However the bees were so angry that they were circling near the Tiger for sometime. 

Finally the bees went back to their ruined nest. The Tiger was able to swim to the river bank. He was shivering and at the same time fuming for being made a fool by the mouse deer. He promised himself that he would seek revenge on the mouse deer.

~~~~~ The End ~~~~~