Mouse Deer and Dull Buffalo
One day, I saw a mouse deer walking around the farmer’s field. The mouse
deer wanted to take cucumber from the farmer’s field. But, the farmer always stayed
alert and kept watching an eye on his garden. It made the mouse deer difficult to steal
the cucumber.
The mouse deer tiptoed and waited for the farmer went out from the field.
Until noon, he had not managed to get the chance. Finally, he left the field. In middle
of his journey, he met with a cow.
“Hey, cow, what are you doing?” the mouse deer greeted.
“I am eating the grass, let’s eat together with me.” The cow answered.
“Thank you, but I don’t like eating grass.” The mouse deer answered.
“Would you like to give me cucumber?” he said.
“Cucumber? Where is cucumber?” the cow asked.
“There, in the farmer’s field!” the mouse deer answering while he was
pointing the farmer’s field.
“Ouw.. the farmer’s. No, I don’t want. The cucumber is planted by the farmer
so that I don’t want to steal it.” The cow refused.
“Well, it’s okay if you don’t want. I will go alone.” The mouse deer answered
and left the cow.
When he just went some steps, the mouse deer met with a goat.
“Hey, goat. You eat so well. You don’t want to give it to me?” the mouse deer
greeted.
“Hey, mouse deer, if you haven’t eaten, let’s eat together with me.” The goat offered.
“Thank you, but I don’t like eating those leaves.” The mouse deer answered.
“Why?” the goat asked.
“I like cucumber and I want it. I want to take some cucumbers from the
farmer’s field. Do you want to accompany me to take it?” the mouse deer said.
The goat didn’t want to follow what the mouse deer wanted. The goat said that
the cucumber would be sold by the farmer so that they couldn’t take it. Then, the
mouse deer left the goat. Actually, the mouse deer was afraid of stealing the cucumber
because he had stolen the cucumber for several times and the farmer had said that if
he caught the mouse deer stealing the cucumber, he would cut the mouse deer’s head.
That’s why the mouse deer searched friends to steal the cucumber together.
Then, the mouse deer arrived at the riverbank. He saw a buffalo who was mud
bathing in the afternoon.
‘Hey, buffalo, what are you doing there?” the mouse deer asked the buffalo.
“Hey, the mouse deer, I am mud bathing. I can’t stand this hot afternoon.” The
buffalo answered.
“No, I don’t want my body to be dirty.” The mouse deer refused.
“Have eaten your lunch?” the mouse deer investigated.
“Not yet. Why? Do you have many foods?” Buffalo asked.
“Yes, There are so many big cucumbers in the field.” The mouse deer said.
“What? Those are the farmer’s, aren’t they?” the buffalo said.
“Yes, those are the farmer’s, but we can only take it some of them. If you want
it, let’s go there together. Let me pick them, you just walk and go through the field in
order the farmer is not suspicious. I will walk beside you so the farmer cannot see
me.” The mouse deer persuaded the buffalo.
“Okay, let’s go there now.” The buffalo agreed.
They went to the cucumber field of the farmer. The mouse deer walked behind
the buffalo’s big body so that the farmer only saw the buffalo who went through the
field. The farmer was not suspicious because the buffalo had not ever stolen the
cucumber or broke his field. When the farmer was off guard, the mouse deer
immediately picked some big cucumbers. After they were successful, they ate the
cucumber in the quiet place.
“You are very smart, dude. The farmer must not know that we stole those
cucumbers because he only saw me walking alone.” The buffalo admired the mouse
deer’s smartness.
The next day, the mouse deer and the buffalo stole the cucumbers again
together. In a day, they had stolen three times or more. Time to time, the farmer
started to be suspicious when he saw the buffalo walking through the field. After that,
he checked the cucumber that would be harvested. The farmer shocked that many big
cucumbers were lost. He thought whether the buffalo stole it or not because several
last days the buffalo walked through the field. He said that if he caught the buffalo
stealing, he would punish the buffalo.
The next days, when they stole the cucumbers, the farmer caught them. The
mouse deer ran away. He left the buffalo alone so that the farmer thought that the
buffalo who stole his cucumbers. The buffalo denied it but the farmer didn’t trust him
again because the thought the mouse deer had not been brave to steal anymore. The
farmer punished the buffalo. He tied the buffalo’s head thus he couldn’t run away.
Since that day, the buffalo started to plough the field of the farmer. After ploughing,
the buffalo was fed by the farmer.
