The Clever Mouse-Deer - Indonesia

On a hot afternoon a clever mouse-deer was drinking from a clear lake in the jungle, when a tiger passed. Seeing the little deer, the tiger laughed wickedly: 'Oh, what a pleasant meal you will make for me, I have not eaten in days!' The mouse-deer, trembling with fear, replied: 'For days? You poor tiger, you must be so hungry. Surely a little mouse deer like me will not satisfy your appetite? What you need is the flesh of a man'.

'And what is a man, mouse deer?', the tiger asked. 'Well, let me show you one, tiger'. And as the mouse-deer led the tiger through the jungle they came across a hunter. 'Look at his flesh, tiger, so full of meat, you will no longer be hungry after eating this man?' And with that, the tiger tried to jump onto the hunter, who quickly shot the animal on the spot.

The deer, happy with himself for having defeated his enemy so cleverly, returned to the lake to drink some more cool water. Suddenly something caught his leg. A crocodile! Another of his great enemies. With a frightened voice his said: 'You silly croc, when are you going to learn the difference between a leg and a stick. You are holding an ordinary stick, you see, this is a leg', he said, waiving his other leg. The crocodile opened his big mouth to catch the other leg but the deer quickly leaped away, feeling smug about himself.

Later that day, the mouse-deer met a snail. He could not resist boasting about his smartness. The mouse-deer challenges the snail to a race, and to his surprise, the snail accepted. 'Ha, ha', thought the deer, 'how can a snail win a race from me?', and he was off like the wind. But when he arrived at the finish, the snail was already there, waiting for him. No matter how often they raced, the mouse deer lost each time.

Image: Susil Sri Creations

This is how the little mouse-deer who had been so clever, finally got outsmarted, not by the fierce tiger or the ferocious crocodile, but by the tiny slimy snail...

Questions

• Who do you consider the winner in the story?
• Who are the losers, and why did they lose?
• Is it possible that a slimy snail (underdog) defeats the power holder?
• Have you ever outsmarted someone?

Management Link

Of course there was another snail at the finish who looked exactly the same, snails are everywhere. In this story the snail is the underdog, who has the sympathy of the reader. The tiger, the crocodile and later the mouse-deer, can be considered the power-holders. In cultures with a lot of respect for the authority of power-holders, often their power does not come from competencies, but is ascribed - through for example connections, heritage, position in the government. In more egalitarian cultures, the underdogs have a chance to stand up against the power-holders. The story suggests that 'old style' power holders (managers) have to watch their steps, because the times are changing and those with brains rather than birthrights might outsmart them in their jobs.