One fine evening there was a tap on the door of a famous writer in South India. On opening the door he was surprised to see a young rabbit.
" Good evening. " wished the rabbit respectfully.
" Good evening...hmm..how shall I address you Mr..? "
" You can call me Bunny, Sir. "
" Please come in and feel yourself comfortable Mr. Bunny.
" Thank you Sir. "
Bunny hopped and sat on the sofa facing the writer.
Of course it was a strange situation for the writer of fiction. Yet he was not baffled at the thought
of a rabbit speaking perfect English.
There was a moment of silence. Meanwhile the cute little white furred visitor cast his eyes on the rows of books in the shelves.
" Yes Mr.Bunny...Anything I can do for you? You seem to be interested in my books. "
" You are perfectly right sir...I came to you for your opinion on a story written long ago..."
" A story? Written long ago? Who is that writer? "
" Aesoff. That story is known all over the world. Infact it is being told to children of all nations."
" He is known for his fables with moral teachings. But he has told many stories. You are interested in which of those? "
" The story of the race between the rabbit and tortoise. "
" Ah! Yes! Such a popular story! But what about it? "
" Yes! Popular to the literary world at the expense of us our race" ," Why? What's wrong with the story? "
" Our race of rabbits is depicted as a foolish and lazy race. We strongly condemn that story of a rabbit losing to a stupid tortoise! The story should be banned in all countries! If not it should be rewritten! We cannot remain silent any further on this Issue! "
" It is just a fictious story to teach a moral and it is not meant to insult your race of rabbits."
" But do you know that we have become a laughing stock among the other animals? Even the monkeys are making fun of us, calling us lazy losers to the crawling tortoise. We are humiliated in this way. Our youth are infused about this and are in a revolutionary mood. Messages are being sent to the rabbit communities to all the forests. We are planning for demonstrations and protests ".
" I am extremely sorry to hear about this. But what could be done now? It was written many years ago and the story of the race has spread out to all parts of the world."
" But there is misrepresentation of facts and it has been done deliberately..and the damage done should be rectified."
" If you don't mind let us review the story. The rabbit who participated in that race was so over confident of winning that he took a short nap. The tortoise made use of that opportunity and won the race though he was actually crawling all the way! So who is to blame? And where is the damage? "
" No it is pure fabrication . My ancestor would not have slept like that in a race. It was written with the sole purpose of insulting our community of rabbits. We are a swift race . It is absurd to say that we lost to a tortoise in a prestigious race like that."
The writer was helpless to argue any further on the subject. He thought for a moment.
" So what is your request and proposal Mr.Bunny? " he asked.
" The story should be re- written with the correct facts. The controversial parts should be removed altogether."
The writer was actually shocked to hear this.
" This is a serious matter. Only the writer of the story has the right to re- write it. I am completely helpless in this matter. And I don't know how far you are going to succeed in this attempt..."
" Sir, you agreed that it was a fictious story. Now we want a real story! "
" But how is this possible? " the writer was confused.
" Very simple. We will arrange for another race now and let the world see who wins! "
" What? Another race? Are you joking Mr. Bunny? But who will participte in it? The two of them are dead and gone long ago! "
" No Sir! This is purely a race between two races. Their grand children are living now. Let the tortoise community choose one among them and we would do likewise. Let us see who wins! We can invite the literary experts to witness the race. Of course representatives of all the forest dwellers would be invited to witness the event! "
" But Mr.Bunny. Even if the race is held now, and even if your competitor wins, the story can be only re- written by its original author, and that is Aesop himself ".
Mr. Bunny was not a bit shaken by this reply.
" If that is so, we would immediately send a delegation to meet that legendry Aesop to put forward our demands ".
" Yes. That's better. Wish you success Mr.Bunny ".
The rabbit hopped from the sofa and took leave.
A few days later.......... to be continued.
