Rabbit, rabbit

Recent conversations I have been involved with about whether things really are "as they should be" has reminded me of a story that I love,  from Awareness by de Mello. It's in a chapter appropriately titled "All's right with the world."

The story concerns a young boy who was walking along side a river when he saw a crocodile trapped in a net. The croc begged him to be freed. The boy protested: "I'm no fool. If I let you out of the net you'll grab me and eat me." 

After much begging and persuasion, the boy finally agrees to take the net off having received a promise that the crocodile won't eat him. But as soon as it can move, the croc grabbed one of the boy's legs in his mouth. The boy started to protest. He begged the crocodile not to eat him, that it wasn't fair and he had done the crocodile a big favour and saved its life. 

The croc said "Don't take it personally. But this is the way the world is. This is the law of life." 

The boy pleaded to a donkey who was watching to reason with the crocodile and spare him. The donkey calmly replied that the crocodile was right, adding "I have been loaded with goods to carry until my back was too weak to carry any more and then thrown out to starve or be eaten because I was no further use to the owner. "This is the way things happen. This is the law of life." 

The boy pleaded to a bird in a tree but she too agreed that the crocodile was right, that his was the way of the world. She told the boy "This morning a snake crept into my nest and ate all my fledglings, one by one, as I watched helpless.. This is the law of life." 

Desperate now, the boy called to a rabbit that was passing and asked his opinion. When he heard what the crocodile had said he suggested that this was an important point they needed to discuss it fully. So, in order to do this we need to all sit and think it through. "So, crocodile," he said "first you'll need to let the boy go so he can take part in our conversation. 

The crocodile protested now "If I do that he'll run away." The rabbit pointed out that the boy wouldn't be able to do that as one slash of the tail would put paid to any escape. And after more protests, the croc finally agreed and loosened his grip on the boy.

The rabbit cried "Quick. Run" and the boy did and escaped narrowly from the croc's tail. But the rabbit called after him. "Wait. Look, you didn't release him fully from the net. Now the people in your village can feast on crocodile meat tonight." And he turned to the crocodile and said, with a smile, "After all, you were right. This  is the way things happen. This is the law of life." 

So the boy went back and brought the villagers back to the river where they slaughtered the crocodile and carved him up and shared out the meat. 

The boy's dog came too and when she saw the rabbit, chased him and snapped his head off. The boy turned, too late to do anything, and as he watched the rabbit dying he said "The crocodile was right. This is the way things happen. This is the law of life."

So perhaps, the problem isn't in reality, in what happens. Maybe the problem is in me.