There once lived an old woman all by herself, and one day a hare went to her and said: “Since you have no child, I want you to adopt me. You are old, and cannot go to the fields to dig. I will do this work for you, and you in return will give me my food.” The old woman was very glad to accept the hare's proposal, as she found digging a very laborious task. She therefore gave the hare a hoe, with which to till the soil, and some seed to sow, whilst she remained at home and prepared the daily meal.

Early each morning the hare left the old woman's hut and went to a place near to which some people were making a plantation, but he did no work and only slept all day. In the evening he rubbed a little wet mud on his hoe and returned to the old woman's hut, where he was given his food.

The old woman went once or twice with the hare to look at her plantation, and the hare showed her the cultivation near to which he went every day. When the crops had ripened, he took her to the field, and she commenced to gather some grain, whereupon the owner appeared and asked her what she was doing. “I am cutting the crops which my child the hare has cultivated”, said the old woman. At this the owner laughed and told her that the hare had done no work at all, but had slept in the sun all day with his hoe beside him. The old woman then saw that the hare had deceived her, and decided to flog him when he returned home, but he had witnessed the scene between the old woman and the owner of the plantation, and he never went back to the house.