Story 36 - The Jackal And The Turtle

AT a village there is a large pond. At the margin of the pond two Storks ^[1] live. When they had been eating the small fishes in that pond in that way for a long time, the pond became dried up by a very great drought.

These two Storks having eaten the small fishes in the pond until they were becoming finished, one day a Stork of these two Storks having spoken to the other Stork, says,

“Friend, now then, that we have been here is no matter to us. Because of it let us go to another district.”

Thus he spoke.

Now, a Turtle stayed in the pond. The Turtle having heard the speech of these two Storks, the Turtle says,

“Ane ! Friends, I also now have been staying in this pond a long time. The pond having now dried up, I also have nothing to eat, nor water to be in, and nowhere to go. Because of it, friends, having taken me to the village to which you two go, put me down there,”

the. Turtle said to the two Storks.

Then one Stork says to the Turtle,

“Ane ! Bola, foolish Turtles ! How wilt thou go with us to another village ?”

Then the Turtle says,

“Ane ! Friends, I indeed cannot go flying to the village to which you go. You two somehow or other having gone with me must put me there.”

Then the two Storks say to the Turtle,

“If thou, shutting thy mouth, wilt remain without speaking anything, we two having gone to the place where there is water will put thee down there,”

the two Storks said.

Having said this they brought a stick, and said to the Turtle,

“Grasp the middle of this stick tightly with the mouth, and hold it tightly.”

Having said this, the two Storks [holding the stick near the ends] took the Turtle. While they were going flying, as they were going above a dried field a Jackal saw the shadow going with the two Storks carrying the Turtle. Having seen it the Jackal says,

“Isn’t this a troublesome comrade they are taking ?”

Then the Turtle having become angry, says,

“The troublesome comrade whom they are taking is for thy mother.”

So the Turtle’s mouth was opened. Then the Turtle fell on the ground. The two Storks left him and went away.

The Jackal having come running, after he looked saw the Turtle, and turning and turning it over to eat, when he tried to eat it the Turtle says,

“I have now for a long time been staying dried up without water. In that way you cannot eat me. Having gone with me to a place where there is water and put me in it, should I become soaked you will be able to eat me,”

he said to the Jackal.

Then the Jackal having taken hold of the Turtle with his mouth, and placed it in a pond containing water, when he had been treading on it [to prevent it from escaping] for a little time, the Turtle says,

“Now every place is soaked. Under the sole of your foot, Sir, I have not got wet. Should you raise the sole of your foot a little it would be good,”

it said. So the Jackal raised the foot a little. Then the Turtle crept to the bottom of the mud. The Jackal quickly seized the Turtle [by its leg] again.

After he had caught it the Turtle says,

“The Jackal-elder-brother being cheated has got hold of the Ketala [plant] root.”

The Jackal-elder-brother quickly having let go the Turtle, speedily got hold of the Ketala root that was near by.

Then the Jackal being unable [to go deeper], the Turtle going yet a little further in the water, says,

“Bola! Even to-day you are Jackals! When didst thou eat us ?”

Many Jackals prated to the Jackal about the Turtle. On account of the Jackal’s being unable to eat the Turtle or to seize it, he became much ashamed. While he was there, having contrived and contrived a trick, saying he must somehow or other kill the Turtle, another Jackal came there to drink water.

Having drunk water, he asks the other Jackal,

“What, friend, are you thinking of and clenching your nails about ?”

Then the Jackal who was unable to seize the Turtle, says,

“Friend, a Turtle cheated me, and went into this pond. Having become angry on account of that, I am looking for it in order to kill that one should that one come onto the land,”

he said to the other Jackal.

That Jackal says,

“Ae, Bola ! Fool! How many Turtles are there yet in the pond ? How canst thou seek out the one that cheated thee ?”

the Jackal that came to drink water said.

Every day in that manner this Jackal comes to the pond to drink water. One day when he came to drink water, having seen that a crowd of Turtles are grimacing on the lotus, the Jackal says,

“If ye and we be friends, how much advantage we can gain by it!”

Having spoken thus on that day the Jackal went away.

Having gone, when he met the Jackal whom the Turtle cheated he said,

“Friend, having met with a crowd of Turtles while they were in the pond to-day, I spoke words [to them]. We must devise together a trick to kill them.”

Having said this the two Jackals talked together.

Again, on a day when the Jackal went to the pond to drink water, having seen in the [same] way as on that day the Turtles grimacing on the lotus, the Jackal says,

“How can ye and we remain in this manner ? Should ye and we, both parties, take wives [from each other] wouldn’t it be good ?”

the Jackal asked the Turtles.

Then the Turtles say,

“If so, indeed how good it would be!”

“Then one day we will come and speak with ye [about] the wedding.”

Having said this the Jackal went away.

Having gone he says to the Jackals,

“[After] speaking words with the Turtles who are in that pond regarding taking and giving wives I have come away.”

Then the other Jackals said,

“It is very good. Some day let us all go.”

So they spoke.

Again on a day, after the Jackal had gone to the pond to drink water, on that day, having seen that Turtles more than on the other day were [there], he says,

“Friends, to-day about all of you are [here]. Because of it, on what day will it be good to come and summon [our wives] ?”

he asked.

“We will say in a day or two days,”

they said.

The Jackal having drunk water and having gone, said to the other Jackals,

“They said they will say in a day or two days [on which day we are to go to summon our wives].”

Then the Jackal whom the Turtle cheated said,

“In some way or other we must completely destroy them. Friends, somehow or other having gone and spoken about this wedding, make ready quickly,”

he said.

On the following day this Jackal went to drink water, and to speak about the wedding. Having drunk water the Jackal asked the Turtles,

“When will it be good to come ?”

“To-morrow will be good,”

the Turtles said.

Then the Jackal says,

“We shall all come. All ye also having got ready be present.”

Having said this, the Jackal quickly came running, and after all the Jackals had collected together, said,

“Let nobody of ye go anywhere to-morrow. We must all go to call the Turtles for the wedding, and return.”

The Jackal whom the Turtle cheated said,

“Somehow or other having sought out the Turtle that cheated me and called it to the wedding, I must torture it and kill it,”

he said.

After that, all the Jackals having collected together, started to go to call the Turtles for the wedding. Having set off, the Jackal who drank water at the pond having gone in front to invite the Turtles [to be ready], said,

“They are coming to summon you to the wedding. All ye having prepared for it be pleased to be quite ready,”

he said.

Then all the Turtles having come and climbed onto the branches of trees fallen in the pond, were looking out.

The Jackal who came with the message having gone back near the Jackals, said,

“All the Turtles having climbed on the trees and the branches, are present looking out till we come.”

Well then, all the Jackals having started, while they were going with the tom-tom beaters, the Jackal who dra nk water at the pond said,

“You stay here. I will go and look if the Turtles are coming or what.”

Having gone, after he looked [he saw that] all the Turtles in the trees, more than the Jackals, all having climbed onto the branches, were looking out. Having seen [this] the Jackal says,

“Haven’t you tom-toms, drums, kettledrums ?”

the Jackal asked the Turtles.

“There! we indeed are coming beating well the tom-toms, kettle-drums, drums, and [blowing] trumpets,”

he said.

Then the Turtle Chief said,

“Beat our tom-toms,”

he said.

Then all the Turtles began to beat tom-toms by singing,

“Gaja, Gaja ; Gora, Gora ; Baka, Baka,”

enough to destroy the ears.

Then the Jackal having come running to the front of the Jackals, said,

“All the Turtles having climbed completely along the branches of the trees are there. We all having gone near the Turtles must go along the trees that we can mount onto, and seize the Turtles,”

he said.

Then the Jackal Chief said,

“Not so. As we come very near the Turtles beat this tom-tom verse,”

he said. Then all at a leap having jumped onto the trees where the Turtles are he told them to seize them.

The very tom-tom verse that he told the tom-tom beaters to beat on the tom-toms is,

“Ehe ; Kata, kata, kata. Ehe ; Kata, kata, kata.”

Then when they were far off, the Turtles having seen the Jackals coming, said,

“There they are, Bola. Now then, get ready.”

As they were coming near, beating the tom-toms,

“Ehe ; Kata, kata, kata. Ehe ; Kata, kata, kata,”

the Turtles having heard all this, all the Turtles began to cry out, “Baka, Baka,” as they came near.

Then, as they came very near, singing “Baka, Baka,” all the Turtles sprang into the pond [and disappeared].

On account of this thing that they did, the Jackals became still more ashamed.

“These Cattle-Turtles have cheated us,”

they said ; and having become angry,went away.

The way the Jackal-artificers called the Turtles to the wedding is good.

Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.

 

Note:

The firit part of this tale is found in the Jataka story No. 215 (vol. ii, p. 123). In it two Hansas or sacred Geese asked a Turtle to accompany them to their home, a golden cave in the Himalayas. They carried it like the Storks. The Jackal is not introduced at all. Some village children saw the Turtle in the air, and made a simple remark to that effect. The Turtle, wishing to reply, opened its mouth, and was smashed by falling in the King’s court-yard.

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), as well as in a variant of the Northwestern Province of Ceylon, and elsewhere in the island, the story does not end at this point, but with the escape of the Turtle after the Jackal had soaked it in the water.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the story ends with the fall of the Turtle, which was being carried to a lake in which there was water. In this case, as in the Jataka story, the point to be illustrated only required the Turtle to fall and be killed.

The variant of the North-western Province is practically identical with the first part of the Vaedda tale, but the drought is stated to have lasted for seven years. The Jackal was about to howl, and on turning his head upward for the purpose saw two Black Storks carrying the Turtle.

He asked,

“Where are you taking a present ?”

(referring to the way in which a considerable load is sometimes carried slung on a stick, the ends of which rest upon the shoulders of two men, one in front and the other behind). The Turtle replied,

“For your mother’s head.”

When the Jackal tried to eat it he heard the Turtle laughing inside the shell, and said,

“Friend, what are you laughing at ?”

The Turtle said,

“I am laughing at your thinking you can eat me in that way. I have been dried up for seven years, and if you want to eat me you must first soak me in water.”

The Jackal did this, and the Turtle escaped in the way related by the Vaeddas.

The rest of the story is, I think, found only among the Vaeddas. Although it is clear that it must have been invented by the settled inhabitants of villages, the marriage custom according to which the bride was to be taken to the bridegroom’s house to be married is not that of the modern Sinhalese, but is in accordance with the story related in the Mahavansa, i, p. 33, regarding the marriage of a Vaedi Princess at the time of Wijaya’s landing in Ceylon. The Sinhalese custom is found in the story of the Glass Princess (No. 4), in which six Princes accompanied by their parents, went to their brides’ City to be married, returning home with their brides afterwards.

It is probable that the original story ended with the escape of the Turtle from the Jackal after it was placed in the water. It is a folktale, and not a story written to illustrate a maxim. It appears to have been invented to show the folk-lore superiority of the Turtle’s intelligence over that of the Jackal. The Turtle is always represented as a very clever animal, not only because of the ease with which he can protect himself by withdrawing his head and legs inside the shell—of which Mr. A. Clark, formerly of the Forest Department of Ceylon, and I once had an amusing illustration at a pool in the Kanakarayan-aru, when his bull-terrier made frantic attempts to kill one, like the Jackal—but possibly also becanse, as I was told of another amphibious animal in West Africa,

“he live both in the water and on the land, therefore he knows the things of both the land and the water.”

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 134, the story as far as the escape of the Turtle was given by Mr. H. A. Pieris, the animals concerned being wrongly termed Tortoise, Cranes, and Fox; the two latter animals are not found in Ceylon. To this the Editor added the story found in the Hitopadesa, in which the animals were a Turtle and two Geese, which agreed to carry the Turtle to another lake in order that it might not be killed by some fishermen next day. Some herdsmen’s boys saw it, and remarked that if it fell they would cook and eat it. The Turtle replied,

“You shall eat ashes,”

fell down, and was killed by the men.

In the Katka Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the birds were “Swans” (probably Hansas, which are always represented as geese in ancient carvings in Ceylon). Some men made remarks to each other on the strange object that was being carried, and the Turtle, on asking the birds what the chattering was about, fell and was killed by the men.

In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 310, a Jackal escaped from an Alligator [Crocodile] in the same manner as the Turtle.

In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 155— Tales of the Punjab, p. 147—.an Iguana or Monitor Lizard outwitted a Jackal who had caught him by the tail as he was entering the hole in which he lived. Both pulled for a long time without any result. At last the Lizard said he gave in, and requested the Jackal to allow him to turn round and come out. When released he disappeared into the hole.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Kokka, a word applied to several species of large waders. The name of the Black Stork is Mana, but probably this is the bird referred to, as in the Sinhalese variant.