The Lion, the Jackal, and the Camel
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Moral of the story: Stay away from bad friends or you will get into trouble.
Once upon a time, in a jungle far away, there lived a lion named Vajradaunstra. He had two friends, a jackal and a wolf.
One day, a group of travelers was passing through the jungle. They had a camel with them who was going to have a baby. She was in pain and couldn’t walk anymore, so the travelers left her behind.
The lion, the jackal, and the wolf found the camel and ate her. But when they saw the baby camel, they decided to let it live. The lion took the baby camel home and promised to protect it.
The four of them lived happily together. They would tell each other stories and the baby camel was always with the lion.
But one day, the lion came home hurt after fighting with an elephant. He couldn’t walk or hunt anymore. He was very hungry and asked his friends to find some food for him. But they couldn’t find anything.
The jackal had an idea. He told the baby camel that they were all going to die of hunger. He said that if the baby camel offered himself to the lion, he would be reborn in a bigger body and go to heaven.
The baby camel agreed and offered himself to the lion. The lion agreed and killed the baby camel.
But before eating, the lion went to take a bath and pray to the gods. While he was gone, the jackal tricked the wolf into eating some of the baby camel’s flesh.
When the lion came back, he saw that his food had been eaten. He was very angry and attacked the wolf. The wolf ran away and never came back.
Just then, a big group of travelers with many camels came by. The lion was scared by the noise of their bells.
The jackal tricked him again. He said that it was Yama, the god of death, coming to punish him for killing the baby camel before its time. The lion believed him and ran away too.
The jackal was finally alone with all of the baby camel’s flesh. He ate it all by himself for many days.
Moral of the story “The Lion, the Jackal, and the Camel” is Stay away from bad friends or you will get into trouble.