“The Cunning Hare,” The Brown Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1914, pp. 100-105.

Tale Summary

Once there lived, in a very cold country, a little hare was brought up by his grandmother. They were very poor, as he was too young and she was too old to work. One day, the young hare was very hungry, and asked his grandmother if he could go to the river and catch a fish, and though she thought it foolish, she allowed him to go, although she told him that she had no fire to cook with. The young rabbit was quite confident to find both, and when he reached the river he set out the net and waited all night. In the morning, the net was full of fish, and after he carried them home he instructed his grandmother to clean them while he went to fetch fire from people's tents across the river. The old hare was horrified, as no one who set out to steal fire had lived.  When the young hare reached the river he realized it was too wide to jump, and uttered some words of a spell he once heard a wizard use, and there appeared fifteen huge whales which helped him cross the water. The hare was caught by some children, and he was taken back to their house, where an old woman instructed the children to throw him in a pot to boil, and an old man suggested they kill him first. The hare wished that a spark of fire would fall on his net, and at that very minute, a log fell forward and sparks scattered, making a burning hole in his net. He ran towards home and wished himself across the river, and when he reached his grandmother, he happily presented the burning net. His grandmother asked how it was possible for him to cross the water, and the little hare replied that he had just jumped.