In long-past times there lived in a forest a lioness with her cub and a
tigress with her cub. While the lioness was absent one day, her cub,
while wandering about, came into the neighbourhood of the tigress. When
the tigress saw it, she was going to kill it, but she changed her mind,
seeing that the young lion might be a playfellow for her own cub, and
so she began to give it suck. The lioness, on her return from her
outing, not finding her young one, set to work to look for it, and at
length saw the tigress suckling it. When the tigress perceived the
lioness, she was frightened and began to run away. But the lioness
cried out to the tigress, “O sister, run not away. Let us dwell
together, so that, when I go out, you can take care of my young one,
and when you go out, I will take care of yours.” So they took to
dwelling together, and they called the lion cub Sudaṇshṭhra, and the
tiger cub Subāhu. And the two cubs grew up.
After a time the lioness and the tigress fell ill, and when the time
for their departure came, they said to the two young beasts, “O
children, as ye have both sucked the same dugs, be ye brothers. The
world is full of evil calumniators, take heed after our death not to
listen to any of them.”
Now the young lion was wont to kill gazelles, and to devour their good
flesh and lap their good blood, and then, having done this, to betake
himself at once to his lair. But the young tiger, when he went out,
underwent great fatigue in killing gazelles, and having devoured their
flesh and lapped their blood, returned home after a long absence. One
day the tiger devoured the remains of a meal which he had hidden away,
and then returned quickly home. The lion asked, “How is it that you,
who never came back before till after a long time, have returned to-day
so soon?” The tiger replied, “I have eaten the stores which I had set
aside.” The lion asked, “Do you lay up stores, then?” The tiger said
that it did. The lion said, “When I have slain gazelles and eaten their
good flesh and lapped their good blood, I am wont to go away without
troubling myself further.” The tiger replied, “You are strong. I cannot
do like that.” The lion said, “Let us go together.” So they took to
going out together.
Now an old, very malicious, remainder-devouring jackal, was in the
habit of following after this lion, the king of the beasts. The jackal
considered that the tiger was the antagonist of his maw, and that he
must set those two animals at variance. So he came into the presence of
the lion with drooping ears. The lion said, “O uncle, has any hot wind
arisen?”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, a very scorching wind has arisen.”
“What has happened then?”
“This tiger has said, ‘Where has my lion-grass gone? As he leaves me to
feed on remnants, I will assuredly kill him.’”
The lion replied, “O uncle, our two mothers said to us just before they
died, ‘O children, as ye two have sucked the same dugs, be brothers.
The world is full of evil calumniators. Take heed that after we are
both dead, ye do not listen to any one among them.’ As they have left
such a legacy behind them, do not you speak in that way.”
The jackal said, “As you will not listen to my well-meant words, you
will come to ruin.”
The lion said, “O uncle, what will be the course of events?”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, the tiger will come forth from his lair,
and will stretch himself, and after stretching he will yawn, and after
yawning he will look round on all four sides, and after looking round
on all four sides he will roar three times, and then come into your
presence and think, ‘He will kill me.’ Be sure of this.”
Afterwards the jackal went with drooping ears to the tiger. The tiger
asked, “O uncle, has some hot wind arisen?”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, a very scorching wind has arisen.”
“What has happened then?”
“This lion has said, ‘Where has my tiger-grass gone? I will assuredly
kill him.’”
The tiger said, “O uncle, our two mothers said to us, just before they
died, ‘O children, as ye have sucked the same breast, be brothers. The
world is full of evil calumniators. Take heed that ye do not listen to
any of them. As they have left us this legacy, do not you speak in that
way.’”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, as you will not listen to my well-meant
words, you will go to ruin.”
“O uncle, what then will be the course of events?”
“O nephew, this lion will come forth from his lair and will stretch
himself, and after stretching he will yawn, and after yawning he will
look round on all four sides, and after looking round on all four
sides, he will roar three times, and then come into your presence, and
think, ‘He will kill me.’ Be sure of all this.”
Now although both of them were in the habit of acting in this way,
according to their natures, they had never taken any notice of that.
But one day the lion, the king of beasts, came forth from his lair and
stretched himself, and yawned, and looked round on all four sides, and
roared three times, and then went into the presence of the tiger. The
tiger also came forth from his lair, and stretched himself and yawned,
and looked round on all four sides, and then went into the presence of
the lion. Although both of them had always been in the habit of doing
all this, yet they had never taken any notice of the fact. But now that
the seed of discord was sown, they did notice it. Just as the lion
thought that the tiger wanted to kill him, so also the tiger thought
that the lion wanted to kill him. But then the lion thought, “I am
strong, but the tiger is not. As he cannot then master me, I will
investigate the matter further.” So he uttered this śloka—
“O Subāhu, to strive with Sudaṇshṭhra, possessor of complete
excellence, agility, and force, is not right.”
The tiger also replied in a śloka, “O Sudaṇshṭhra, to strive with
Subāhu, possessor of complete excellence, agility, and force, is not
right.”
The lion asked, “Who spoke to you about this?”
The tiger replied, “The jackal.”
Then the tiger asked, “Who spoke to you about this?”
The lion replied, “The jackal.”
Then the lion thought, “This creature wanted to set us two at
variance,” and struck the jackal dead with a slap in the face. Then a
deity uttered this śloka—
“Friends ought not to be abandoned on account of the words of others,
but the words of others ought to be tested. No reliance ought to be
placed upon calumniators, who seek opportunities for sowing discord.
See how the jackal, who desired to set friends at variance by means of
lies, was put to death as a calumniator, while the friends were happy
and rejoiced.”