Story 30 - The Jackal And The Hare

IN a certain country there are a Jackal and a Hare living together, it is said.

One day when the Jackal was rubbing himself in the morning in the open space at the front of the house, there was a pumpkin seed in his hair. He took it and planted it. Afterwards, when the Hare went to the open ground, and was rubbing himself, he also had a pumpkin seed in his hair. He, too, took it and planted it. That which the Jackal planted, being without water, died. The Hare having brought water in his ears, and watered his seed, it sprouted, grew large, and bore a fruit.

After the fruit had become large, the Jackal and Hare spoke together,

“Friend, with that pumpkin fruit let us eat pumpkin milk-rice.”

They also said,

“Whence the rice, coconut, and the like, for it ?”

Then the Hare said,

“We two will go to the path to the shops. You stay in the bushes. I will be lying down in the grass field (pitiya) at the side of the path. Men going along the road, having placed on the path the articles which they are carrying to the shops, will come to take me. Then you take the goods, and go off to the bushes.”

When the Jackal and Hare had gone to the path that led to the shops, and seen a man coming, bringing a bag of rice, the Hare lay down in the grass field as though dead. The Jackal hid himself and waited.

That man having come up, and seen that the Hare was dead, said,

“Appa ! Bola, there is meat for me.”

So he placed the bag of rice on the road, and went to get the Hare. Then the Jackal came running, and carried off the bag of rice into the bushes. When the man was approaching the Hare, it got up and ran away. So the man had neither the bag of rice nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed (nikam).

Again when the Jackal and Hare were looking out, they saw a man come, bringing a pingo (carrying-stick) load of coconuts, and the Hare went and lay down again in the grass field. The Jackal hid himself and looked out.

Afterwards that man came up, and as he was going on from there he saw that the Hare was lying dead, and saying,

“Appa ! Bola, there is a Hare,”

placed the pingo load of coconuts on the path, and went to get the Hare. The Jackal, taking the pingo load of coconuts, went into the bushes. As that man approached the Hare it got up and ran away. So the man had neither the pingo load of coconuts nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed.

As the Jackal and Hare were looking out again, they saw that a man was bringing a bill-hook and a betel-cutter, which he had got made at the forge. So the Hare went and lay down again in the field.

The man came up, and when going on from there, having seen that the Hare was dead, placed the bill-hook and betel-cutter on the path, and went to get the Hare. Then the Jackal carried the bill-hook and the betel-cutter into the bushes. As that man was coming near to take the Hare, it got up and ran away. So that man had neither the bill-hook, nor the betel-cutter, nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed.

As the Jackal and Hare were looking out again, they saw a potter coming, bringing a pingo load of pots, so the Hare went and lay down again in the grass field. The Jackal hid himself and waited.

When the potter was going on from there, he saw that the Hare was dead, and having placed the pingo load of pots on the path, he went to get it. Then the Jackal, taking the pingo load of pots, went off into the bushes. As the man was coming near the Hare it got up and ran away. So that man had neither the pingo load of pots nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed.

Then the Jackal and Hare took home the bag of rice, and the pingo load of coconuts, and the bill-hook, and the betel-cutter, and the pingo load of pots. After that, having plucked and cut up the pumpkin fruit, and washed the rice, and put it in the cooking pot, and placed it on the fire, and broken the coconut, and scraped out the inside, while squeezing it [in water in order to make coconut-milk], the Jackal said to the Hare,

“Friend, I will pour this on the rice, and in the meantime before I take it off the fire, you go, and plucking leaves without a point bring them [to use] as plates.”

While the Hare was going for them, the Jackal ate all the rice, and placed only a little burnt rice in the bottom of the cooking pot. Then he lay down on the ash-heap.

Afterwards the Hare returned, and saying,

“Friend, there is not a leaf without a point. I have walked and walked through the whole of this jungle in search of one,”

gave into the paws of the Jackal two leaves with the ends bitten off. Then, without getting up, the Jackal said,

“Ando ! Friend, what is the use of a leaf without a point now ? The rice people, the coconut people, the bill-hook and betel-cutter people, the pots people having eaten the rice, and beaten me also, rolled me over on this ash-heap. There will still be a little burnt rice in the bottom of the cooking pot. Scrape it off, and putting a little in your mouth, put a little in my mouth too.”

So the Hare having scraped off the burnt rice, and eaten a little of it, put a little in the Jackal’s mouth.

Then the Jackal said,

“Friend, a tick is biting my nose ; rid me of it.”

When the Hare was coming near to rid him of it, the Jackal vomited all over the Hare’s body. Then the Hare bounded off to the river, and jumped into it, and having become clean returned to the place where the Jackal was.

The Jackal asked,

“How, Friend, did you become clean ?”

The Hare said,

“I went to a place where a washerman-uncle is washing clothes, and got him to wash me.”

The Jackal asked,

“Where is he washing ?”

The Hare aaid,

“Look there ! He is washing at the river.”

Afterwards the Jackal went to the river, and said to the washerman-uncle,

“Ane ! Washerman-uncle, wash me too, a little.”

When the washerman-uncle, having taken hold of the Jackal’s tail, had struck a couple of blows with him on the stone, the Jackal said,

“That will do, that will do, washerman-uncle, I shall have become clean now.”

But the washerman-uncle, saying,

“Will you eat my fowls again afterwards ? Will you eat them ?”

gave him another stroke. Then the washerman-uncle, having washed the clothes, went home.

From that time the Jackal and Hare became unfriendly, and the Jackal said that whenever he saw Hares he would eat them.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

According to a variant, the washerman struck the Jackal on the stone until he was dead.