Tibet
A hare once invited his winged neighbors -- the delicate thrush, the singing golden oriole, and the thick-headed crow -- to his home. They sang and drank wine, and chatted away happily. Suddenly the hare hit upon an idea, and said, "We are having a very good time today, but we're still not having the utmost pleasure. Let us play a trick on someone, shall we?"
"All right!" everyone answered in unison.
The hare said to the crow, "In front of the yak-hair tent at the bottom of the hill sit two merchants, one fat and one thin. They are rapacity itself and come every year to our grasslands to rake in money. See how hard they are working at this very moment with their abacus, trying to find ways to get even more money. Brother Crow, would you dare to settle on the head of the fat merchant?"
The crow thought this would be easy and answered, "Why, of course! It's nothing."
"If you dare, we can have the greatest fun," continued the hare. "But remember this: When you settle on his head the first time, the fat merchant will say, 'Oh, what bad luck! A crow settles on my head. Drive him away quickly!' You should fly away when the thin merchant comes near you, and then come back and settle on the fat one's head a second time. The thin merchant will surely try to hit you with the abacus. This time you should fly right away. You'll see, we will have the most amusing jape."
They all came out to see the fun, and the crow flew off and settled on the fat merchant's head. The merchant screwed up his face and shouted, "Oh, what bad luck to have a crow settle on my head! Assistant, drive him away!"
The thin merchant raised his account book and drove the crow away. The crow cawed and circled above the bald head of the fat merchant. The fat merchant, his brows knitted, went over and sat beside the thin merchant and started to work intently on his abacus again.
Within a few moments the crow flew back and settled on the bald head for the second time. The merchant shouted again, "Oh what bad luck! There's a crow settling on my head again. Are you blind, assistant? Why don't you hit him? Beat him to death!"
Fluster by the fat merchant's anger, the thin one raised the abacus and hit at the crow. But instead of hitting him, for the crow had flown away, the blow fell right on the bald head. Blood flowed at once.
The birds, who had been watching the fun, roared with laughter and almost fell off the trees they were sitting on, and the hare had to roll in the grass for merriment. When the crow came back, they all went back to the hare's home and went on with their singing and drinking.
The two greedy merchants couldn't go on with their work on the abacus. In fact, a whole month passed before the fat merchant's wound was healed.
Source: Folk Tales from China, second series (Peking: Foreign Languages, 1958), pp. 18-20. No copyright notice.
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