There was a rabbit who asked a barber to shave him; in doing so the barber accidentally cut off his ear. “Take my ear,” said the rabbit, “and I will take your razors.” 

A little further on, he saw an old woman pulling grass with her hands. ” Take this,” he said, giving her the razor, ” and cut grass with it, and I will take your cloth.” 

When she asked him why, he replied, “You have my razor and I have your ‘chudder‘ or cloth.” 

Then he went a little further and saw a ghee seller. ” Take my chudder and give me your ghee or clarified butter,” said the rabbit. So saying, he left the chudder and walked off with the ghee.

Not long after, he met a woman and told her to make him some gookoolahs, or sweets, with the ghee. As soon as they were ready, he picked them up and ran away. 

A little further on was a man with a plough, a horse, and a bullock. “Take these sweets,” said the rabbit, “and I will yoke your plough for you.” 

But, instead of doing this, he ran away with the horse, and soon after met a marriage procession, in which the bridegroom was walking beside the bride’s sister or dooly. ” Get on my horse: why do you walk?” said the rabbit gaily. 

So the man got on, and the rabbit ran off with the bride; but her husband ran after, and advised his wife to kill the rabbit.

When they got to a quiet place and rested under a tree, she asked the rabbit to let her comb his hair, but as soon as he put his head down, she gave him a severe knock on it, which stunned him, and then she ran back to her husband. Thus ended the adventures of the rabbit. 

A Folktale sourced by Nikita Sud from Folk Tales from the Himalayas by Alice Elizabeth Dracott

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