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Once upon
a time...
There was once a dove who built a nice soft nest as a home
for her three little ones. She was very proud of their beauty, and
perhaps talked about them to her neighbours more than she need have
done, till at last everybody for miles round knew where the three
prettiest baby doves in the whole country-side were to be found.
One day a jackal who was prowling about in search of a dinner came
by chance to the foot of the rock where the dove's nest was hidden
away, and he suddenly bethought himself that if he could get nothing
better he might manage to make a mouthful of one of the young doves.
So he shouted as loud as he could, 'Ohe, ohe, mother dove.'
And the dove replied, trembling with fear, 'What do you want, sir?'
'One of your children,' said he; 'and if you don't throw it to me I
will eat up you and the others as well.'
Now, the dove was nearly driven distracted at the jackal's words;
but, in order to save the lives of the other two, she did at last
throw the little one out of the nest. The jackal ate it up, and went
home to sleep.
Meanwhile the mother dove sat on the edge of her nest, crying
bitterly, when a heron, who was flying slowly past the rock, was
filled with pity for her, and stopped to ask, 'What is the matter,
you poor dove?'
And the dove answered, 'A jackal came by, and asked me to give him
one of my little ones, and said that if I refused he would jump on
my nest and eat us all up.'
But the heron replied, 'You should not have believed him. He could
never have jumped so high. He only deceived you because he wanted
something for supper.' And with these words the heron flew off.
He had hardly got out of sight when again the jackal came creeping
slowly round the foot of the rock. And when he saw the dove he cried
out a second time, 'Ohe, ohe, mother dove! give me one of your
little ones, or I will jump on your nest and eat you all up.'
This time the dove knew better, and she answered boldly, 'Indeed, I
shall do nothing of the sort,' though her heart beat wildly with
fear when she saw the jackal preparing for a spring.
However, he only cut himself against the rock, and thought he had
better stick to threats, so he started again with his old cry,
'Mother dove, mother dove! be quick and give me one of your little
ones, or I will eat you all up.'
But the mother dove only answered as before, 'Indeed, I shall do
nothing of the sort, for I know we are safely out of your reach.'
The jackal felt it was quite hopeless to get what he wanted, and
asked, 'Tell me, mother dove, how have you suddenly become so wise
?'
'It was the heron who told me,' replied she.
'And which way did he go?' said the jackal.
'Down there among the reeds. You can see him if you look,' said the
dove.
Then the jackal nodded good-bye, and went quickly after the heron.
He soon came up to the great bird, who was standing on a stone on
the edge of the river watching for a nice fat fish. 'Tell me,
heron,' said he, 'when the wind blows from that quarter, to which
side do you turn?'
'And which side do you turn to?' asked the heron.
The jackal answered, 'I always turn to this side.'
'Then that is the side I turn to,' remarked the heron.
'And when the rain comes from that quarter, which side do you turn
to?'
And the heron replied, 'And which side do you turn to?'
'Oh, I always turn to this side,' said the jackal.
'Then that is the side I turn to,' said the heron.
'And when the rain comes straight down, what do you do?'
'What do you do yourself?' asked the heron.
'I do this,' answered the jackal. 'I cover my head with my paws.'
'Then that is what I do,' said the heron. 'I cover my head with my
wings,' and as he spoke he lifted his large wings and spread them
completely over his head.
With one bound the jackal had seized him by the neck, and began to
shake him.
'Oh, have pity, have pity!' cried the heron. 'I never did you any
harm.'
'You told the dove how to get the better of me, and I am going to
eat you for it.'
'But if you will let me go,' entreated the heron, 'I will show you
the place where the panther has her lair.'
'Then you had better be quick about it,' said the jackal, holding
tight on to the heron until he had pointed out the panther's den.
'Now you may go, my friend, for there is plenty of food here for
me.'
So the jackal came up to the panther, and asked politely, 'Panther,
would you like me to look after your children while you are out
hunting?'
'I should be very much obliged,' said the panther; 'but be sure you
take care of them. They always cry all the time that I am away.'
So saying she trotted off, and the jackal marched into the cave,
where he found ten little panthers, and instantly ate one up.
By-and-bye the panther returned from hunting, and said to him,
'Jackal, bring out my little ones for their supper.'
The jackal fetched them out one by one till he had brought out nine,
and he took the last one and brought it out again, so the whole ten
seemed to be there, and the panther was quite satisfied.
Next day she went again to the chase, and the jackal ate up another
little panther, so now there were only eight. In the evening, when
she came back, the panther said, 'Jackal, bring out my little ones!'
And the jackal brought out first one and then another, and the last
one he brought out three times, so that the whole ten seemed to be
there.
The following day the same thing happened, and the next and the next
and the next, till at length there was not even one left, and the
rest of the day the jackal busied himself with digging a large hole
at the back of the den.
That night, when the panther returned from hunting, she said to him
as usual, 'Jackal, bring out my little ones.'
But the jackal replied: 'Bring out your little ones, indeed! Why,
you know as well as I do that you have eaten them all up.'
Of course the panther had not the least idea what the jackal meant
by this, and only repeated, 'Jackal, bring out my children.' As she
got no answer she entered the cave, but found no jackal, for he had
crawled through the hole he had made and escaped. And, what was
worse, she did not find the little ones either.
Now the panther was not going to let the jackal get off like that,
and set off at a trot to catch him. The jackal, however, had got a
good start, and he reached a place where a swarm of bees deposited
their honey in the cleft of a rock. Then he stood still and waited
till the panther came up to him: 'Jackal, where are my little ones?'
she asked.
And the jackal answered: 'They are up there. It is where I keep
school.'
The panther looked about, and then inquired, 'But where? I see
nothing of them.'
'Come a little this way,' said the jackal, 'and you will hear how
beautifully they sing.'
So the panther drew near the cleft of the rock.
'Don't you hear them?' said the jackal; 'they are in there,' and
slipped away while the panther was listening to the song of the
children.
She was still standing in the same place when a baboon went by.
'What are you doing there, panther?'
'I am listening to my children singing. It is here that the jackal
keeps his school.'
Then the baboon seized a stick, and poked it in the cleft of the
rock, exclaiming, 'Well, then, I should like to see your children!'
The bees flew out in a huge swarm, and made furiously for the
panther, whom they attacked on all sides, while the baboon soon
climbed up out of the way, crying, as he perched himself on the
branch of a tree, 'I wish you joy of your children!' while from afar
the jackal's voice was heard exclaiming: 'Sting, her well! don't let
her go!'
The panther galloped away as if she was mad, and flung herself into
the nearest lake, but every time she raised her head, the bees stung
her afresh so at last the poor beast was drowned altogether.
The Jackal, the Dove and
the Panther
from the Pink Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
