Jacal

“ THE LITTLE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL
All these stories about the little Jackal that I have told you, show how clever the little Jackal was. But you know—if you don't, you will when you are grown up— that no matter how clever you are, sooner or later you surely meet some one who is cleverer. It is always so in life. And it was so with the little Jackal. This is what happened.
The little Jackal was, as you know, exceedingly fond of shell-fish, especially of river crabs. Now there came a time when he had eaten all the crabs to be found on his own side of the river. ”

“ The queen sent word to the king, requesting him to come and see the jackal. The king came and saw the jackal, heard him describe the wealth and pomp of the king of his country, and expressed himself not unwilling to give away his daughter in marriage to him.
“The jackal ... opened his bundle of betel-leaves, put some into his mouth, and began chewing them”
The jackal after this returned to the weaver and said to him, “O lord of the loom, you are the luckiest man in the world; it is all settled; you are to become the son-in-law of a great king. ”

“ The four stories of the little Jackal, in this book, are adapted from stories in Old Deccan Days, by Mary Frere (John Murray) , a collection of orally transmitted Hindu folk tales, which every teacher would gain by knowing. In the Hindu animal legends the Jackal seems to play the rôle assigned in Germanic lore to Reynard the Fox, and to "Bre'r Rabbit" in the negro stories of Southern America; he is the clever and humorous trickster who usually comes out of an encounter with a whole skin, and turns the laugh on his enemy, however mighty he may be. ”

“ A jackal chewing betel-leaves! why thousands of men and women of this city cannot indulge in that luxury. He must have come from a wealthy land.” The princess asked the jackal, “Sivalu!1 from what country do you come? It must be a very prosperous country where the jackals chew betel-leaves. Do other animals in your country chew betel-leaves?” “Dearest princess,” replied the jackal, “I come from a land flowing with milk and honey. Betel-leaves are as plentiful in my country as the grass in your fields. All animals in my country—cows, sheep, dogs—chew betel-leaves. ”

“ When Jackal, with his wife and children, arrived in the neighborhood of the killed animal, he ran into a thorn bush, scratched his face so that it bled, and thus made his appearance before Lion, to whom he said, "Ah! what a wife you have got. ”

“ But the jackal said: "You coward! 'tis a woman has frightened you; there is neither king nor army. Both your ears and your tail have been cut off by a woman!" The tiger replied: "Why, I saw the wazir of the army with my own eyes!" The jackal said: "That was a woman. Come, and I'll show her to you." The tiger said: "I'll go with you, but first tie a rope round my neck and then tie it round your neck." So the jackal fastened a rope to his own neck and to the tiger's, and they went to the millet-field. ”

“ Nothing edible comes amiss to him, but he prefers chickens and grapes to fallen caravan animals. If he can find nothing else, he steals dates in the palm gardens, especially when ripe fruits have [Pg 52] fallen after heavy storms. The jackal is, indeed, a shameless, impudent little rascal. One night a pack of jackals sneaked into our garden and carried off our only cock under the very noses of the dogs. We were awakened by the noise of a terrible struggle between the two forces, but the jackals got the better of it and we heard the despairing cackle of the cock dying away in the desert. ”

“ Thereupon the King called the Jackal, and said, “Bola, males are in excess.”
Then the Jackal says, “No, O Lord, Your Majesty; they are not as many as the females. Having also put down to the female account the males who hearken to the things that females say, after they counted them the females would be in excess.” Then the Jackal said, “Are the animals able to build tanks? How shall they carry the earth?” ”

“ When they had got well into the water, the Camel said, “This is a pretty way in which you have treated me, friend Jackal. No sooner had you finished your own dinner than you must go yelping about the place loud enough to arouse the whole village, and bring all the villagers down to beat me black and blue, and turn me out of the field before I had eaten two mouthfuls! What in the world did you make such a noise for?”
“I don’t know,” said the Jackal. “It is a custom I have. I always like to sing a little after dinner.” ”

“ It was all a trick just to get at our water.’
‘Rabbit, you are no better than an idiot to have let the jackal drink our water when he would not help to find it. Who shall be our next watchman? We must have somebody a little sharper than you!’ and the little hare called out, ‘I will be the watchman.’
The following morning the animals all went their various ways, leaving the little hare to guard the spring. When they were out of sight the jackal came back. ”

“ While resting in a sunny hollow of rock, I heard a wild cry which came from a shepherd who was driving the jackal away from his goats. The discomfited brute trotted in my direction, and only caught sight of me at a few yards' distance. I never saw a jackal more surprised in my life. When a camel expires in the plain near some nomads' tents, they sometimes set a spring-trap for jackals near the carcase—they eat these beasts and sell their skin for a few francs; the traps are craftily concealed underground, with a little brushwood thrown over them to aid the deception. ”

“ Consequently we should have to avoid leaving unprotected anything capable of being chewed. The jackal is the Autolycus of the desert.
In the afternoon I explored the south-western flank of the main dune. So light was the sand that in parts I sank almost knee-deep. Jackals were to be seen everywhere; one wondered how such a number could manage to eke out a livelihood in so barren a locality. From one hollow,—a cup-shaped depression scooped out by some recent wind-eddy, seventeen of these animals emerged. They were too far away to fire at, for I had left my rifle in camp and brought a shotgun. ”

“ Come, try it a little. You feel so healthy and strong for the day, and you never tire afterwards."
"No, I won't. You are caught."
After a while Jackal convinced Monkey. He sprang from the kraal wall, and freeing Jackal, adjusted the noose around his own body. Jackal quickly let go and began to laugh, as Monkey was now swinging high in the air. ”

“ The Jackal resembles, in one respect, the Fox, more than either the Wolf or Wild Dog. It has the reputation for excessive cunning, and indeed takes the place of our old vulpine friend, in the legends of the East. It is said that “when a Jackal has brought down his game and killed it, his first impulse is to hide it in the nearest jungle, whence he issues, with an air of easy indifference, to observe whether anything more powerful than himself may be at hand from which he might encounter the risk of being despoiled of his capture. ”

“ When the Jackal heard this, he laughed very much, and said, 'I see it is no use giving such unlucky people as you gold or jewels, for they will only bring you into trouble. Come, I'll give you a more useful present.' So, running into his cave, he fetched thence a small chattee, and gave it to the Brahman, saying, 'Take this chattee; whenever you or any of the family are hungry, you will always find in it as good a dinner as this.' And putting his paw into the chattee, he extracted thence currie, and rice, and pilau, [5] and all sorts of good things, enough to feast a hundred men ”

“ Lion upbraided Jackal with these words: "Why do you cheat me?"
Jackal answered: "No, my father, I do not cheat you; you may know it, I think. I prepared this fat for you, father."
Lion said: "Then take the fat and carry it to your mother" (the lioness) ; and he gave him the lungs to take to his own wife and children.
When Jackal arrived, he did not give the fat to Lion's wife, but to his own wife and children; he gave, however, the lungs to Lion's wife, and he pelted Lion's little children with the lungs, saying:
"You children of the big-pawed one! ”

“ And in the darkest depth of the ravine, Sir John and his followers met a solitary jackal, which fled them not in the manner of its kind but passed them with leisurely pace and bespoke them with articulate words, in a voice hollow and sepulchral as that of a demon, bidding them to turn back, since the land before them was an interdicted realm. All were much startled thereat, considering that this was indeed a thing of enchantment, for a jackal to speak thus, and being against nature, was fore-ominous of ill and peril. And the Armenians cried out, saying they would go no further ”

“ This spectacle attracted a jackal whose soul was in the fetters of carnivorous desire, and he stood between the two, lapping up the blood.
When Godly observed this, he thought: "Well, well! This is a dull-witted jackal. If he happens to be between just when they crash, he will certainly meet death. This inference seems inescapable to me."
Now the next time, being greedy as ever to lap up the blood, the jackal did not move away, was caught between the crashing heads, and was killed. Then Godly said: "The jackal at the ram-fight," and grieving for him, started to resume his treasure. ”

“ Mule, Jackal, and Lion
The Mule, the Jackal, and the Lion went in company.
"We will eat the one whose race is bad," they said to each other.
"Lion, who is your father?"
"My father is a lion, and my mother is a lioness."
"And you, Jackal, what is your father?"
"My father is a jackal, and my mother too."
"And you, Mule, what is your father?"
"My father is an ass, and my mother is a mare."
"Your race is bad; we will eat you."
He answered them: "I will consult an old man. If he says that my race is bad, you may devour me." ”

“ After the Lion had recovered his senses, the Jackal, in a most sympathizing tone, suggested that he was afraid that it was of no use to attempt to haul him up onto the precipice, and recommended, instead, that a nice fat piece of eland's breast be roasted and dropped into the Lion's mouth. The Lion, half famished with hunger, and much bruised, readily accepted the offer, and sat eagerly awaiting the fat morsel. [52] In the mean time, the Jackal had a round stone made red-hot, and wrapped a quantity of inside fat, or suet, round it, to make it appear like a ball of fat. ”

“ Now, you know, a Camel is very big, and a Jackal is very little. Consequently, the little Jackal had eaten his fill by the time the Camel had barely taken a mouthful. The little Jackal had no mind to wait for his slow friend; he wanted to be off home again, about his business. So he ran round and round the sugar-cane field, and as he ran he sang and shouted, and made a great hullabaloo.
Of course, the villagers heard him at once.
"There is a Jackal in the sugar-cane," they said; "he will dig holes and destroy the roots; we must go down and drive him out." ”

“ One of the most interesting fables, in a mythological point of view, is that of the jackal who, falling among pigments, comes out blue, or of opaline lustre, and passes himself off as a peacock of the sky. The animals make him their king, but he betrays himself by his voice: hearing other jackals howling, he howls also; upon which the lion, the real king of the beasts, tears him to pieces. ”

“ God will take care of them." The jackal took them and threw them into the water, and left them to die, while the kite looked on without crying. And again God made them alive, and the Jackal was so surprised. "Why," said she, "I put these children into the water and left them to drown. And here they are alive!" Then God got very angry with the jackal, and said to her, "Go out of this village. And wherever you go, men will try to shoot you, and you shall always be afraid of them." So the jackal had to go away; and the kite and her children lived very happily ever afterwards. ”

“ The poor jackal, bruised all over and swollen with the beating it had received, replied: “Friend, a man has caught me, and takes the greatest care of me; see how fat I have grown with eating all the hulwa-poories2 he gives me. If you will release me, I will tie you here, and you will get a share of the good things.”
So the two exchanged places, and the first jackal ran back gladly into the jungles.
On the return of the weaver he, as usual, began to beat the poor creature, who then spoke, and said: “Why are you beating me?” ”

“ Lion again tied himself to the thong, and, just as he was near the top, Jackal cut the thong as before; Lion fell heavily to the bottom, groaning aloud, as he had been seriously hurt.
"No," said Jackal, "that will never do: you must, however, manage to come up high enough so that you may get a mouthful at least." Then aloud he ordered his wife to prepare a good piece, but aside he told her to make a stone hot, and to cover it with fat. Then he drew Lion up once more, and complaining how heavy he was to hold, told him to open his mouth, and [91] thereupon threw the hot stone down his throat. ”

“ I trust to find a better home than a cramped burrow, or the cold shelter of a cave. I love warmth, and kitchen fires, and the smell of roast meats too well to trust myself to the chilly covert you propose to seek, and my coat is too fine for rough outdoor life.”
“Hark!” cried Jackal, “do you hear that? That is the mistress’s warning note! Fare you well, Doggie. I shall dream of you to-night lying stark under the paw of the Leopardess.”
Jackal waited to say no more, but fled from the scene, and from that day to this Jackal has been a vagabond. He loves the darkness, and the twilight. ”

“ He said: “Did not Little Jackal bring a message to my children to carry meat?”
His wife replied: “No; he has not been here. We are still dying with hunger.”
Lion then went to Little Jackal’s house, but he could not get up the rock to it. So he sat down by the water and waited. After a time Little Jackal came to get water. He was close to the water when he saw Lion. He at once ran away, and Lion ran after him. He ran into a hole under a tree, but Lion caught his tail before he got far in. He said to him: “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree. ”