In the Hindu animal legends the Jackal seems to
play the role assigned in Germanic lore to Reynard the Fox,
and to "Bre'r Rabbit" in the stories of our Southern negroes:
he is the clever and humorous trickster who comes out of every
encounter with a whole skin, and turns the laugh on every
enemy, however mighty.
Once there was a great big jungle; and in
the jungle there was a great big Lion; and
the Lion was king of the jungle. Whenever
he wanted anything to eat, all he had to
do was to come up out of his cave in the
stones and earth and ROAR. When he had
roared a few times all the little people of
the jungle were so frightened that they
came out of their holes and hiding-places
and ran, this way and that, to get away.
Then, of course, the Lion could see where
they were. And he pounced on them,
killed them, and gobbled them up.
He did this so often that at last there
was not a single thing left alive in the jungle
besides the Lion, except two little Jackals,
--a little father Jackal and a little mother
Jackal.
They had run away so many times that
they were quite thin and very tired, and
they could not run so fast any more. And
one day the Lion was so near that the little
mother Jackal grew frightened; she said,--
"Oh, Father Jackal, Father Jackal! I
b'lieve our time has come! the Lion will
surely catch us this time!"
"Pooh! nonsense, mother!" said the
little father Jackal.
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