There was lake in the middle of a forest. Near the lake lived four friends. One of them was a deer with beautiful brown spots on its golden coat. The second was a crown which was a black as coal. Third was a brown mouse with a long tail and pink ears. The fourth was a tortoise.

Every morning and evening the friends would meet by the lake. One evening the deer did not come. The other friends wondered what had happened.

``It might have been caught in a hunter’s trap~’’ said the crow. ``I will fly over the forest and look for it’’ Said the crow.

The crow flew away. Soon it heard the deer’s voice. ``Please help! I am trapped here!’’

The crow flew down and saw the deer trapped in a hunter’s net. He quickly flew back to its friends. They made a hunter a plan.

The tortoise said, ``our friend mouse can cut the net with its sharp teeth.’’

``I will take you on my back.’’ the crow said to the mouse. And, the mouse climbed on to the crow’s back. They flew off to the place where the deer was lying trapped. The mouse cut the net and the deer was free.

The alone tortoise walked through the forest to see the deer.

``Look, there is the tortoise’’, said the cow. Just then deer saw the hunter coming. It called out, ``Run and run, everybody run! The hunter is coming’’.

The crow flew to a tree. The deer ran into the forest. The mouse went into its hole. But the poor tortoise could not move so fast. The hunter was surprised to see the empty net. Looking around, he saw a tortoise. ``A tortoise was better than nothing at all’’, thought the hunter. He caught the tortoise put it in his bag and walked away. Then the deer, crow and mouse came out of hiding and planned to save their friend.

The deer said. ``I will let the hunter see me. Then he will drop the bag and run after me. In the mean time the mouse can cut the bag with its sharp teeth.’’

As soon as the hunter saw the deer, he dropped the bag and ran after it. The mouse quickly ran and cut the bag open. The tortoise crawled out and hid under a bush. Through the hunter ran fast, he could not catch the deer. So he gave up the chase and went back. When he returned for the bag, the tortoise had already escaped.

And so, the four friends were saved because they used their wisdom to help each other out of trouble.

• Helping each other is a wise deed.