Page 30 - Arrow Publications Pvt. Ltd.

He looked around and saw the tortoise.

“Ha! A tortoise!” cried the hunter. “This is good enough for my dinner.”

And he quickly grabbed the tortoise, put him in his bag and walked away.

The crow saw what the hunter did.

“Oh, mouse! Oh, deer!” he called. “Come out quickly! Our friend, the tortoise is in
danger now.”

At once the mouse and the deer came running out of their hiding places. The crow told

them how the hunter had carried away the tortoise in his bag.

“We must do something before the hunter gets home,” said the mouse.
“I know what to do,” the deer said. “I shall go and stand in the path of the hunter and

pretend to eat grass. As soon as the hunter sees me, he will drop the bag and run after
me. The mouse can open the bag with his teeth and the tortoise will be free.”

“But you may be caught again,” said the crow.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said the deer. “I can run very fast.” So the deer stood

calmly in the path of the hunter and pretended to eat grass.
“A deer! A deer!” cried the hunter. He dropped the bag in which he was carrying the

tortoise and started running after the deer.

The mouse cut open the bag and freed the tortoise. The hunter could not catch the
deer. So he came back to take his bag.

“Thank God! I have the tortoise for dinner tonight,” the hunter said to himself.

When the hunter found that his bag was empty, he cried out in disbelief, “No tortoise?
But how did he escape? How unlucky I am! There will be no dinner for me tonight!”

The tortoise, the mouse, the
What was the plan the
friends came up with to crow and the deer quietly
save the tortoise?
watched the hunter as he went
away empty handed.

The four friends lived
happily and peacefully for

many years, helping one
another.

30 Arrow-English Plus-5