Panchatantra Hares Moon

tale:panchatantra_hares_moon

A herd of elephants, parched in a drought, tramples the hares' warren around a lake. The hares send a clever envoy who tells the elephant king that the Moon, whose lake this is, is enraged; showing the trembling reflection of the moon in the water as the god's own quivering anger, he frightens the elephants into leaving forever. Moral: a clever bluff can move what no force could. — Panchatantra (attrib. Vishnu Sharma)