He thought,
"Pshaw! I've made a mistake." So he
opened his mouth and let the little Jackal
go.
The little Jackal ran away as fast as he
could, and as he ran he called out,--
"Thank you, Mr. Alligator! Kind Mr.
Alligator! SO kind of you to let me go!"
The old Alligator lashed with his tail
and snapped with his jaws, but it was
too late; the little Jackal was out of
reach.
After this the little Jackal kept away
from the river, out of danger. But after
about a week he got such an appetite for
crabs that nothing else would do at all;
he felt that he must have a crab. So he
went down by the river and looked all
around, very carefully. He didn't see the
old Alligator, but he thought to himself,
"I think I'll not take any chances." So
he stood still and began to talk out loud
to himself. He said,--
"When I don't see any little crabs on
the land I most generally see them sticking
out of the water, and then I put my
paw in and catch them. I wonder if there
are any fat little crabs in the water today?"
The old Alligator was hidden down in
the mud at the bottom of the river, and
when he heard what the little Jackal said,
he thought, "Aha! I'll pretend to be a
little crab, and when he puts his paw in,
I'll make my dinner of him." So he stuck
the black end of his snout above the water
and waited.
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