The Jackal
Deep into the countryside, outside of a tiny village sat a dusty, old road. The road had long known the traffic of humans, and had seen its fair share of feet — the current set of which belong to a jackal.
The jackal ambled down the dirty road in search of an easy meal. A dead snake made for easy prey, or perhaps a small rodent. However, instead of the mouth watering delicacies the jackal dreamed of, he came upon a human.
Stood in the middle of the road and weeping as pitifully as a babe, the human was a man — albeit, a very small one. He was lanky, thin — not at all what one would want as a meal.
Yet, as put-off as the jackal was by the man's lack of meat, he was curious as to what plagued the man. Sauntering up to his form, the jackal inquired thus:
"Kind fellow, pardon my intrusion — I can't help but to notice your distress. Is there anything I can do to help?"
The man started at the sudden appearance of the jackal, but sensing no threat from the beast he answered, "Oh jackal, thrice I've told my tale, and thrice been spurned. I don't suppose your advice would benefit me, anyway."
The jackal thought on this, and answered "you never know — my advice could very well be to your benefit."
"Oh jackal, I asked this very road for it's opinion and was told of humans who tread upon it with no regard, and leave it in worse shape than before. I asked the buffalo his opinion, and was told of a life of hard labor forced upon him by humans. I asked the forest for it's opinion, and was told of a life of peace, stretching toward the sun, only to be cut short by humans. All three told me I should go to my grave."
At this, the jackal found himself to be ever more curious.
"Forgive my prying sir, but why on earth would the road, the buffalo, and the forest tell you to go to your grave?"
The man looked at the jackal with the utmost fear, and with a shaky voice he told his tale,
"I come from a quiet village just down the way. We are a peaceful and happy group, but have had to resort to disgraceful deeds. A tiger had been killing our children, stalking our people. He was captured, and caged, and set to be killed come morning.
I felt for the beast, as naive as that may be. I brought him food to comfort him on his journey, and sat with him as he begged and pleaded for me to free him. He promised he wouldn't harm me, and would no longer use the village as his hunting grounds.
Against my better judgment, I freed the brute and he pounced upon me in an instant. It was my turn to beg for my life, and he promised he would abide by the judgment of three that would question the tiger's natural instinct."
"Hmm," thought the jackal, "I suppose I don't quite understand. The road and the buffalo wish you dead, but the forest is in agreement with you?"
"No, no," said the man, "the forest wishes me dead."
"Ah so the road and the buffalo disagree with the tiger — got it."
"No, no," said the man," they are all of like mind — they all wish me dead."
"My, I'm afraid I've lost my head. I just don't quite understand. Perhaps the tiger could better explain to a poor, dense jackal. Take me to him!"
The two traveled back to the village, and came upon the tiger sitting next to his open cage.
"Finally, you've returned," said the tiger, "now I can have my dinner."
"Indeed, you may enjoy your dinner," stated the jackal, "I am, however, curious by this situation, and was wondering if you could explain it. You see, I've lost my wits, and just can't understand this man's story. Could we interrupt your dinner a moment to get the story straight?"
With this, the tiger rolled his eyes and said "oh very well then," and the man told the whole story again from start to finish.
"Oh bother," cried the jackal, "how did it go? The man was in the cage, and the tiger fed him —"
"No, no, I was in the cage," claimed the tiger.
"Ahh yes, now I understand!" said the jackal, "The tiger met the road, and I was in the cage and —"
"No you remarkable buffoon!" roared the tiger, "I was in the cage. The man was standing just there. Do you understand?"
The jackal, seemingly frightened, stated "No, I'm sorry to say. I must seem quite foolish. Perhaps you could demonstrate?"
"Fine! The man was stading there, see?"
"Yes, yes I see,"
"And I was in the cage, like so," and the tiger stepped into the cage, but before he could continue his demonstration, the jackal slammed the door shut and locked it.
"And there you shall stay," laughed the jackal. And the man, with the utmost relief, began to laugh too.
Authors Note: I didn't change the story up — just a traditional retelling I suppose. I would have liked to add a twist to it, but I unfortunately didn't have the time to come up with anything creative. There's always the next story! I really enjoyed this story when I first read it, and tried to make the jackal as clever as the one in the original story.
Bibliography: Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).
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