The Hare in the Moon: A Jataka Tale with Moral
Quick answer: The Hare in the Moon, the Sasa Jataka, retold in full: a hare with nothing to give offers himself to a hungry traveller's fire. The moral about generosity.
A hare who owns nothing but the grass he eats resolves to give a hungry stranger the only thing he has, which is himself. The Hare in the Moon is the Sasa Jataka, number 316 in the Pali collection, and it is why people across Asia see a hare in the moon rather than a man.
The story
In a forest by a river lived four friends: an otter, a jackal, a monkey and a hare. The hare was the wisest, and he had taught the others to keep the holy days by giving food to anyone who asked. On the eve of one such day the otter had found seven red fish buried in the sand, the jackal a pot of curds and a lizard on a spit in an empty hut, the monkey a heap of ripe mangoes.
The hare sat in his grass and had nothing. He could not offer grass to a man. 'Then if anyone comes, I will give him my own flesh.' The thought was so pure that the throne of Sakka, king of the gods, grew warm, and Sakka looked down to see who was thinking it. He came to test the hare, dressed as a thin dusty Brahmin, and asked each friend in turn for food. The otter gave the fish, the jackal the curds, the monkey the mangoes.
He came last to the hare. 'I have nothing to hand you,' the hare said, 'but light a fire, and when the coals are red, I will leap into them, and when I am roasted, eat me and keep the holy day.' Sakka made a fire that glowed without smoke. The hare shook himself three times so that any small creatures in his fur might escape the flames and not die with him. Then he ran and leapt into the heart of the coals.
The fire was cool as a pond. Not a hair was singed. 'Brahmin, your fire is cold.' Sakka dropped the disguise and stood in his true shape. 'Wise hare, I came to try you, and your gift is known in every world.' He pressed a mountain and squeezed its essence like juice from a fruit, and with it he drew the shape of a hare on the face of the moon, to be seen from every forest forever. Then he set the hare back on his grass.
The moral, and what it actually means
The Jataka calls it the perfection of giving: the Buddha, as the hare, gives all he has without a thought for himself. Beneath that, the tale is precise about what makes a gift. The others give things they found. The hare gives the only thing he owns, and the three shakes of his fur, to spare the fleas, turn generosity into tenderness. How you give matters as much as what.
Where the tale sits and why it has lasted
It is Jataka 316, the Sasa Jataka, and the same hare-in-the-moon appears in Chinese, Japanese and Mexican folklore, which tells you how far the image has travelled. It has lasted because it ends with a picture everyone can check. The reader looks up on a clear night and the story is still there.
For young readers and classrooms
Perfect from about five upward.
Write your own
The engine is the gift measured against the giver, not the receiver. Show several characters giving, each more than the last, then let the poorest give everything and add one small act of care nobody would notice. The reward should be a mark on the world, not a prize.
What writers can take from this
- For readers: the hare has already given before the Brahmin arrives; the decision, not the leap, is the gift.
- For teachers: the tale is a gentle way into the idea of intention, and children love the moon check.
- For teachers: compare with The Golden Goose, a Jataka in which a gift is exploited instead of honoured.
- For writers: the three shakes are the whole lesson in detail. Find the small gesture that proves your character's heart.
- For writers: a story that ends by pointing at something real, like the moon, borrows the world's permanence for itself.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which several characters give to a stranger and the one with the least gives the most, then add one tiny act of care during the giving that nobody sees. End by leaving a mark on something the reader can look at tomorrow.
Questions
What is the moral of The Hare in the Moon?
True generosity gives everything and gives it tenderly. The hare offers his own body to a hungry traveller and shakes his fur first so that no small creature dies with him.
Which Jataka is The Hare in the Moon?
It is the Sasa Jataka, number 316 in the Pali collection. Sakka, king of the gods, draws the hare's shape on the moon to honour the gift.
Is The Hare in the Moon suitable for young children?
Yes, from about five. The fire does not burn, the hare is unharmed, and the ending sends children outside to look at the moon.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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