A rabbit and a ground squirrel who were good friends agreed to meet at the squirrel’s burrow to share a meal together.

The squirrel went to great efforts to gather food that the rabbit would like. But when the rabbit saw the fine young shoots of grass spouting around the burrow, he turned his nose up to what the squirrel had collected and said he’d eat that instead.

The squirrel, ever the gracious host, allowed it, but asked that the rabbit eat only a little because the grass was delicate, and he didn’t want it to die when it could provide him with an extra food source for the summer.

The rabbit agreed. But when he tasted the sweet grass, he thought it unfair that the squirrel had such lush grass at home when his own burrow was dry and barren.

The rabbit ate and ate, even after the squirrel finished his own meal. He kept on eating, ignoring the squirrel who begged for him to stop, taking bite after bite until there was nothing left, not even roots.

The squirrel was first distraught, then angry at the rabbit for his selfish greed and chased him away, shouting that the rabbit was no friend of his, and he never wanted to see him again.

And so the rabbit left, with a full belly and a heavy heart, wondering if the justice for the unequal amounts of grass was worth the loss of his friend.