There was once a wily old Crocodile who dwelt in a tank hard by a
village, and he was sometimes so ferocious that he would seize children
who used to go for water there, then drown and eat them. He had become,
in fact, the terror of the place.
One year there was a very great drought, and the tank by degrees began
to dry up, and at last it got quite dry, and the Crocodile was to be
seen grilling and roasting in the sun.
He used to call out to the passers-by, “Oh! pray take pity upon me and
shew me where I can go for water, for I am dying in this heat.” “No,
indeed!” they all said; “we are glad to see you suffering, for have you
not often made us suffer by taking our goats, and sometimes even our
children? We shall not help you in any way.”
[Illustration: THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.]
At last an old man passed by, and the Crocodile appealed to him, and at
first he replied as the others did, but afterwards he relented and said,
“Well, if you will follow me I will take you to a tank which is never
dry.” So the Crocodile followed him, and he shewed him a tank no great
distance off, which was filled with water.
The old man went first into the tank himself, and calling to the
Crocodile, he said, “See here, how deep it is!” No sooner had the
Crocodile had a good drink, than he made a grab at the old man’s leg.
“Ah-ho! Ah-ho!” said the old man; “What are you doing? What are you
doing?” “Well,” replied the Crocodile, “I have had a good drink, thanks
to you, and as I have had no food for many days I am going to make a
meal of you. That is what I am going to do.” “You wretched and
ungrateful brute!” said the old man; “is this the way you reward me?”
At that moment a Jackal hove in sight, coming for a drink (the Jackals
we know are the most cunning of all animals), and the old man said, “I
will put my case before him, and if he says you are to eat me, very
good, so you shall.”
The old man then beckoned to the Jackal to come close up to the tank,
and telling him all the facts of the case, the Jackal said, “You know I
am always a just judge, and if you want me to decide, you must shew me
the place from whence you brought the Crocodile.”
So they all three wended their way back to the tank near the village,
and the Jackal said, “Shew me the exact spot where you first found the
Crocodile;” and when they got there the Jackal said, “Now I am going to
give you my judgment, so prepare to listen.” Then turning to the old
man, he said quietly, “You silly old idiot! What made you ever help a
Crocodile? Now, you run one way, and I will run the other.”
The Jackal gave a skip, and was soon off out of sight, and the old man
took to his heels also, and soon got away. The wily old Crocodile, now
baulked of his prey, said to himself, “I know my way back to that water
tank, and I will some day have my revenge on that Jackal, for he is sure
to come there to lap water.”
So back he went, and as there were many trees near the tank, some of
whose roots went beneath the water, the Crocodile lay in ambush there.
By-and-by the Jackal came to drink water, and the Crocodile made a
sudden snap at his leg, and held it. “Oh, you foolish Crocodile!” the
Jackal said; “You think you have got hold of my leg, do you? but it is
only the root of a tree.” So saying, the Crocodile released his hold,
and the Jackal jumped off in high glee out of his reach.
The Crocodile then determined that he would try some other plan of
entrapping him; so, as there were great numbers of a small fruit falling
from one of the trees, which he knew the Jackal came to eat, he one
night piled up a heap and hid himself beneath it, leaving only his eyes
uncovered.
Presently the Jackal came prowling along, and noticing the pile of fruit
he felt inclined to partake of some, but he drew near very cautiously,
and in a moment he caught sight of the two eyes of the Crocodile
glistening in the moon-light, when he called out, “Oh, I see you!” and
scampered off.
[Illustration: THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.]
After this, the Crocodile saw that it was no use to try himself to catch
the Jackal, “for,” said he, “he is too cunning for me; I must employ
someone who comes to get water here.” So one day he saw a Farmer, and
said to him, “If you will catch a Jackal for me, I will make you a rich
man, for I will give you several jewels which people have dropped in
this tank for years and years, and they are lying here at the bottom.”
“Oh!” replied the Farmer, “that is easily done;” so that very night he
went into the jungle and lay down as if dead. Presently the Jackal made
his appearance, and smelling along he came close up to the body. Then he
hesitated and said, “I wonder if this is really a dead body or not.” He
then called out audibly, “If it is really dead it will shake its leg,
and if it is alive it won’t do so.” This he said so quickly and so
artfully that the Farmer was taken aback, and to make him believe he
_was_ dead he at once stupidly shook his leg, and off skipped the
Jackal, saying, “I caught you there,” and was lost to view in an
instant.
The Farmer, who was very avaricious, and wanted the jewels badly, made
up his mind that he would by hook or by crook make sure of the Jackal on
the next occasion; so this time he prepared of the softest wax a doll of
the size of a child, and digging a small grave and covering it over with
leaves and mud, he waited in hiding to see the result.
Shortly after sunset the Jackal began to prowl about as usual, and
coming on the new grave he said to himself, “Ah! this is someone lately
buried; I will try my luck here.” He then began to scratch with his paw,
and presently one paw got caught in the wax, and in trying to get that
away, all four became stuck with the wax, when in a moment out came the
Farmer from his hiding-place and said, “Ah! at last I have got you, and
you are my prisoner!” The Jackal yelled and howled, and endeavoured to
escape, but was hindered by the wax on his feet; so then he took to
frightening the Farmer, and said, “If you do not get me out of this
scrape I will call all the Jackals in a moment of time, and they will
destroy you for ever, for do you not know that I am the ‘king’ of the
Jackals?”
“What am I to do?” asked the Farmer. “Go!” he said; “go and get some
oil, and rub it all over me; then get a fowl, and tie it about fifty
yards away, and bring two men with hatchets to stand over me, so that if
I attempt to get away they may chop me to pieces!”
This being done by the Farmer, the Jackal while being held in his hands
sought his opportunity, and being well greased all over, he made a
violent spring and so got clear of the Farmer; then he dashed between
the legs of the men with hatchets, when they made a plunge at him, but
they only succeeded in hurting their own legs, so the Jackal got finally
off, and picking up the fowl he was soon lost to view, and so won the
day.
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