Deep deep in a quiet Tropical jungle, a crocodile was having a blast swimming in the river. He hummed and frolicked by himself while his other friends were napping. After feeling exhausted, he decided to take a rest underneath a durian tree.
In meanwhile, at the nearby area, a mouse deer was scavenging for fruits. But he was having a difficulty as fruits were scarce when he suddenly noticed that there were a lot of fruits on the other side of the river. "Hmmm .. how can I go to the other side of the river? There are a lot of hungry crocodiles in this river. But the fruits are really looking delicious", the mouse deer was saying to himself.
"I need to think of a clever plan". So the mouse deer decided to sit underneath a rambutan tree while munching some fruits. It took him in no more than a few rambutan fruits to concoct a plan since it's a clever animal. "What a clever plan that I've come up, if I say so myself" said the mouse deer with a smile.
"Psttt ... pssttt .... wake up Mr. Crocodile" said the mouse deer to the sleeping crocodile. It took a while for the crocodile to open his eyes. First, he opened his right eye, and when he saw a nice plump looking mouse deer near him, he opened both eyes. He was thinking "hmm ... what a pretty plump nice dinner this deer going to be".
"What do you want, O Little Mousy Deer?" said the crocodile. "I have an important message from our leader the Tiger", said the mouse deer. "He wants to have a party to celebrate his birthday, and he likes to invite every animals in this jungle to attend. But he needs to know how many animals are there in this jungle so that he can prepare enough food for everyone".
"Wow, this is a good news indeed, O Little Mousy Deer. What do you want me to do?" asked the crocodile excitedly. "I would like for all the crocodiles in this river to line up across this river, and then I will count the number one by one", said the deer with a very serious tone.
The crocodile shouted to every sleeping crocodiles and asked them to line up across the river. "Please make sure they don't snap at me when I started to jump and count the number", the mouse deer reminded the crocodile. Then he started to jump.
"One two, little feet"
"Three four, a little bit more"
"Five six, big belly indeed"
The mouse deer repeated the lines until he jumped safely to the other side of the river bank. "How many of us are there?" shouted the crocodile from across the river. "Ohhhh.... just nine stupid crocodiles. I just wanted to cross this river, and there is no party" replied the mouse deer while laughingly running away from the river bank.
The crocodiles were angry for being made a fool by a little mouse deer. Meanwhile, the mouse deer was enjoying the abundance of fruits. However, he needed to think of a way to return back to his home across the river.
