Story 68 - The Lion And The Jackal

WHILE an old Lion was in a rock cave, after a Jackal went there the Lion says,

“Ane! Bola, I have been thinking of eating fresh pig’s flesh.”

When he said,

“When I ran and sprang at some Boars now I couldn’t catch one,”

the Jackal said,

“If it come near this cave can’t you seize it, Sir ?”

“In that way I can still do it. But will a Boar come near me ? The thing you are saying would be a wonder.”

The Jackal says,

“Somehow or other I will bring a Boar.”

The jackal having walked about in the jungle, and having seen a Boar, says,

“How many days have I now been seeking thee !”

After he had said,

“Why should I be of assistance to thee ?”

the Boar says,

“Uwah ! Why is there so much need of it by me ? Thou wilt not be of any assistance to me.”

The Jackal said,

“Our King is there, haying now become old. Is it true or not, Cultivator, that as he told me to seek a person to give the sovereignty to, I have been going about seeking thee ? If not, am I telling lies ? Come along and go there with me.”

Having gone near the Lion, taking him with him, the Jackal says,

“Now then, having gone near the King and made obeisance, take the sovereignty.”

As the Boar was approaching in great fear the Lion sprang at him. After he had seized him, the Boar, pushing off his paws, bounded away.

Then the Jackal says,

“Did a thunderbolt strike you, Sir ? Why didn’t you hold the Boar ?”

The Lion says,

“Ane ! Bola, did I fail ? Are you saying it falsely ? When will such a Boar come near me again ? ”

As the King was sorrowful the Jackal says,

“Are you mad, Sir, that you doubt my powers ? I will bring that one again now.”

The Jackal having gone on the path on which the Boar went, and having seen the Boar says,

“What is the matter with thee ? Ade ! Did a thunderbolt strike thee, that thou earnest bounding away ?”

The Boar says,

“What did I come away, for ? Truly, I was running away. If I had stayed there it would be seen why !”

Then the Jackal says,

“If thou hadst stopped he wouldn’t eat thee. Art thou a person afraid to have the sovereignty bestowed on thee ? What was it ? Except that he merely looked at thee he did not attempt to eat thee, Cultivator. If he had done so wouldst thou be thus ? ^[1] No. Did he attempt the crime of eating thee ?”

[At last the Boar agreed to return to the Lion.J Afterwards, when they went near the Lion together, the Jackal says,

“Friend, go without fear, and tell him to hand over the sovereignty.”

In that manner the Boar went near the Lion.

Having sprung with great force on the neck of the Boar, and broken the neck, and broken the bone of the head, as he was going to eat the brains the Jackal said,

“Don’t.”

When the Lion asked,

“Why not, Bola ?”

the Jackal says,

“Though you, Sir, exercise the sovereignty your wisdom is less than ours. Do kings eat and drink in that manner ?”

After he had said,

“Blood has fallen on your body, Sir. Having gone to the river, bathing and drying your body there, and having returned, be good enough to eat sitting down,”

the Lion went to bathe.

After he had caused him to go, the Jackal ate the Bqar’s brains, and remained there silently. The Lion having come back, and taken the skull in his paws, sought for the brain in order to eat it. When he said,

“There is no brain,”

the Jackal said,

“Sir, don’t you know so much ? Having once escaped death and gone away, would he again be caught for killing if he had had brains ? That one had no brains,”

he said.

Duraya. North-western Province.

 

How the Jackal Cheated the Lion. (Variant.)

In a more ancient time than this, a Lion King dwelt in a certain forest. A Jackal who lived in that very forest, establishing a friendly state with the Lion began to reside near him. Should I state the mutual trust of them both [it was this]—the Lion knew that although by the aid of the Jackal’s means of success (that is, advice and stratagems), the Lion was seizing and eating the flesh of other animals, he did not get from the Jackal any other assistance that ought to be given.

When a little time had passed in that way, it was evident that the Jackal’s body was becoming very fat. The Lion saw it, and assuming a false illness remained lying down at the time when the Jackal came.

Having seen it, the Jackal made obeisance to the Lion, and asked,

“What, O Lord, are you lying down for ? Has some ailment befallen Your Majesty ? Are you not going to hunt to-day ?”

Then the Lion said,

“My friend Jackal, a headache having afflicted me to-day, I am in a very serious state. From this time onward, having hunted, and eaten only the small amount of the brains of the animals, I will give thee all the r-est of the flesh. Do thou subsist on it. For the reason that I am not well enough to go to hunt this day, thou and I, both of us, must remain hungry. Art thou unable to go hunting [alone] this day only ?”

he asked.

Thereupon the Jackal said to the Lion,

“O Lord, is that which should be done a difficult thing ? Your Majesty will stay thus. I will go, and will return calling some animal or other [to come] near Your Majesty.”

Having instructed him to spring up and seize it as soon as it comes, the Jackal went to seek animals.

While going for this purpose [jit saw that] a Goat was tied in a field. Having told many falsehoods to the Goat it returned, inviting it [to come] near the Lion. Then the Lion sprang to seize it. Thereupon the Goat, having become afraid, ran away. The Jackal went [after it], and causing it to turn back again, returned [with it].

Then the Lion, having killed the Goat, went to bathe in order [to purify himself, so as] to eat the small quantity of brains. In the meantime the Jackal removed the brains, and having eaten them replaced the skin.

The Lion having returned after bathing, when he came to split open the skin in order to eat the brains, saw that there were no brains.

Having seen it, the Lion asked the Jackal,

“Where are my brains ? "

Thereupon the Jackal said,

“O Lord, if this one had any brains would it have come twice near Your Majesty ? It came twice because it had no brains.”

So saying the Jackal ate the small quantity of flesh also.

Western Province.

 

Note:

Improbable as the notion appears that an animal, other than insects or fishes, would return into the same danger shortly after escaping from it, one instance of this has come under the observation of myself and a friend, with whose approval I insert this account of the occurrence.

As Mr. H. E. H. Hayes, late of the Public Works Department, Ceylon, was walking one day near the water, at the embankment of the Vilankulam tank in the Northern Province, a crocodile made its appearance suddenly in the water near him, apparently attracted by his young terrier. He.fired a charge of snipe shot at its head, and it disappeared.

He and I went to the spot on the following day. I remained on the look-out on the top of the bank, while he was partly hidden behind a tree nearer the water. There he tweaked or pinched the dog so as to make it yelp a little. Then we observed a crocodile’s head raised among some weeds far out in the tank. Not many minutes afterwards the crocodile’s head appeared out of the water only a few feet away from the dog. Mr. Hayes at once shot it with his rifle; and when he recovered it found the shot marks of the previous day in its head.

In this case it might almost be said with truth that the animal had no brains, since the brain of an ordinary tank crocodile is only about the size of a large walnut. When I split the skull of one, the men who were with me could not find the brain cavity, and thought it had no brains.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 368, a Tiger with a broken leg takes the place of the Lion, and a Jackal brought an Ass to eat what he represented to be the superior grass at the place. After the Tiger had killed it and eaten part of it, he crawled to a spring for a drink, and in his absence the Jackal ate the heart (which the Tiger wanted itself), and gave the same explanation of its absence.  The author added a note, “the heart among the Punjabis being the seat of reason.”

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), an Ass was brought to a sick Lion King in order that he might eat the heart and ears, as a remedy for his illness. When he was brought back the second time by a Jackal, the Lion killed him and ate the heart and ears.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), p. 85, there is a similar story, except that after killing the Ass the Lion went to bathe, and the Jackal then ate the heart and ears.

He told the Lion that

“the creature never possessed ears or a heart, otherwise how could he have returned when he had once escaped ?”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ehema nan ehemada, “If so (would it be) so ?’’