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THE FOOLISH MOUNTAIN
HARE
On a very tall snowy mountain lived a husk,
or community, of mountain hares. Hares are similar to rabbits
in a number of ways, but it would be a mistake to call them a
rabbit. They can get rather disagreeable if you do.
The husk of hares loved their mountain home in both the
summer and the winter. In the summer they grew brown fur
and munched on the moist green grass that grew between the
rocks. In the winter they grew thick white fur that kept
them warm, and ate bark and twigs from the stunted trees that
grew there. They lived so high on the mountain that they
have very little trouble from anyone. The one exception
was when the jackrabbits from the foothills below would wander
occasionally up the mountain during the summer and try to eat
their green grasses. When this happened, one of the
mountain hares would sound the alarm, and all the other hares
would come and work together to chase the jackrabbits back
down the mountain.
Among the husk of hares, there was one foolish young hare
that always seemed to want attention. He would talk in
silly voices, make fun of himself, tell stupid jokes, and even
pretend to trip and fall just to get all the other hares to
laugh. The foolish hare seemed willing to do almost
anything to be the center of attention, and often it
worked. The other hares would laugh and point at the
foolish hare's antics and silliness, and the foolish hare
would feel very good about all the attention he was
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One day,
an old hare took the foolish hare aside and said, "You do realize
that people laughing at you is not the same as having real friends,
don't
you?"
The
foolish hare scoffed at the old hare. "Everyone loves
me. Look how they laugh when I tell a joke. Look how
much attention they pay to
me."
The old
hare shook his head. "They laugh because you are acting like a
clown. They don't respect you. And you haven't done the
real work it takes to make and keep good
friends."
The
foolish hare became angry. "You are just mad because you don't
get the attention that I get. You are jealous of how popular I
am."
The old
hare answered, "I would rather be respected than get the attention
given to a fool." And with that the old hare hopped
away.
Months
later, on a sunny summer day, the foolish hare was off by himself
eating some delicious green grass on the side of the mountain.
While he was busy eating, a number of big jackrabbits from the
foothills snuck carefully past him and headed high onto the mountain
belonging to the husk of hares. The jackrabbits ate up lots of
the mountain hares' moist green grass before they were discovered
and chased back down the mountain by a group of
hares.

This
group of hares noticed the foolish hare munching away on grass, and
approached him. One of them said, "Why did you not raise the
alarm when those jackrabbits invaded our
mountain?"
The
foolish hare answered, "I didn't see them. They must have
snuck around
me."
One of
the other hare's said, "We think you saw them, and were just too
lazy to sound the
alarm."
Another
said, "Or perhaps you saw them, and were just too stupid to sound
the
alarm."
And
another said, "Or you saw them, but made a deal with them to let
them go
by."
The
group of hares brought the foolish hare back to the husk, and
accused him of these things in front of all the other mountain
hares. Everyone was very angry at the foolish hare and there
was talk of kicking him out of their community and making him leave
the
mountain.
The
foolish hare pleaded with them. "They snuck around me and I
never saw them. I'm not lazy, or stupid, and I would never
betray you. This could have happened to
anyone."
All the
other mountains hares just stared angrily at the foolish hare and
were very quiet. The foolish hare became nervous and asked,
"Will none of my friends here speak up for me? I don't
understand why no one is defending me. I didn't do anything
wrong. Why will none of you stand up for
me?"
The old
hare hopped forward from the crowd. "As I warned you before,
it is a fool that thinks everyone who laughs at him is his
friend. And now the fool has learned that he has no friends
that will speak up for him. Leave the husk, get off our
mountain, and never come
back."
- Based on Staza 25 of the Hávamál
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