The Greedy Jackal

There was once a hunter who set out to jungle. As he walked along, he saw a fat boar in the woods. Straightway he drew an arrow as far as his ear, and in a swift motion, shot at the boar. The boar was severely wounded, but angrily charged at the hunter and tore his stomach with a pointed tusk, so that the man fell dead. The boar also, after killing the hunter, died due to the arrow-wound.

Shortly, a starving jackal roaming the forest in search of food, reached this very spot. When he saw a boar and a hunter, both dead, he gleefully thought… “How lucky am I, there’s enough food here for weeks. Wise men say that he who has done a good deeds in a previous birth is rewarded in this birth even if he does not make any effort. This great feast is certainly the result of some good I have done in a previous lifetime. Now I must eat in such a way that this food lasts for many days. I shall begin with the sinew wrapped round the bow-tip. I will hold it in my paws and eat very slowly. For the saying goes that sudden wealth must be enjoyed in small doses.”

After these thoughts, he took the sinew in his mouth with its end hanging from the bow. And when the gut snapped, the bow-tip pierced his jaws thus causing him grave injury. And the jackal died from this mortal injury.

<< Back to the story of “Mother Shandilee’s Bargain”

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