In the Year of the Rabbit...

...A story to celebrate their cleverness.

THE RABBIT AND THE CROCODILES

Once there was a little Rabbit. He was small but he was very clever. He lived on an island in the middle of a river. He was the only Rabbit on the island. One day he wanted to cross the river but he could not find a bridge anywhere.
"What can I do?" he asked to himself. "There isn't any bridge. How can I cross?”
Just then he saw a big Crocodile by the river.
"Ah, ”he thought. "Now I know what I can do?" He went up to Crocodile.
"Good morning, Mr. Crocodile", he said.
"Good morning", replied the Crocodile.
Then the Rabbit asked, "How many Crocodiles are there in this river? Do you know?"
"No, I don't", the Crocodile answered.
"You don't know?" the Rabbit said. "I know exactly how many Rabbits there are in this river".
"I've never counted them", answered the Crocodile. "My grandfather never counted them, and my father never counted them, and I have never either".
"Why don't you count them?" asked the Rabbit.
The Crocodile answered sadly, "Because I can't count".
Then the rabbit asked, "Do you want to know how many Crocodiles there are?"
"Yes, I do", answered the Crocodile. "Can you help me?"
"Yes, I can", the Rabbit replied, "But call all the Crocodiles together first".
So, the big Crocodile called the other Crocodiles, and the all came to him. There were bygones and little ones, large ones and also small ones, old ones and young ones, long ones and short ones.
They all came together. Then the big Crocodile said to the Rabbit, "Now, Mr. Rabbit, here we are. Please count us".
"All right", said the Rabbit. "But first make a line. Then I count you".
When they were ready, the Rabbit cried, "Here I go!" and he jumped up from one Crocodile to another. He counted while he was going across.
"One, two, three, four, five... twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight..." and he jumped onto the last Crocodile and called out, "Twenty-nine!".
Then the little Rabbit jumped up on the other side of the river, turned around and said, "There are exactly twenty-nine Crocodiles in this river. Now you how many Crocodiles there are?".
The big Crocodile was very pleased. He, said, "thank you, Mr. Rabbit, for counting us. Now we know exactly how many Crocodiles there are in this river".
The other Crocodiles were pleased, too. "Now we know", they all said happily.
Then the big Crocodile said to the little Rabbit, "And now, Mr. Rabbit, please tell us how many Rabbits there are on the island".
The little Rabbit said, "There aren't any Rabbits on the island. When I was on the island, there was one. I was the only Rabbit on the island, so there was exactly one- me".
When the Crocodiles heard his story, they all laughed, and the big crocodiles said. "You are very small, Mr. Rabbit, and you are very clever. But thank you for your counting to us".
The little Rabbit laughed, too. He said, "And you are very kind. Thank you for making a bridge for me. You made a beautiful bridge. Thank you very much. Now... Please don't forget. There are exactly twenty-nine Crocodiles in this river". And the little Rabbit ran away.