The Lion the Jackal and the Silly Donkey
Moral of the Story: Deception with sweet words succeeds beyond limit.
Once upon a time, there was a lion named Karalakesara who had a jackal as his companion. One day, the lion got badly hurt in a fight with an elephant. He couldn’t walk properly, let alone hunt. This meant that the jackal didn’t have any food either.
As days passed without food, the jackal said to the lion, “Master, I’m too weak to serve you because I haven’t eaten for many days.” The lion replied, “Jackal, please find an animal that I can kill even in my current state. Otherwise, we’ll both starve to death.”
So, the jackal went out of the cave to look for food. He wandered into a jungle near a village and noticed a donkey who had strayed from the village to eat grass.
The jackal greeted the donkey warmly, “Hello, uncle! You look thin and tired. Why is that?” The donkey replied, “I have a cruel master who makes me work all day with heavy loads and barely gives me any grass to eat. Even though it’s dangerous here, I couldn’t resist grazing on this green grass.”
The jackal replied, “Uncle, come with me! Deep inside the jungle, my master protects all animals from humans. There’s plenty of green grass that shines like emerald. You can finally live a relaxed life!”
The donkey was enticed by the jackal’s words and followed him to the lion’s cave. The lion was so excited to see the donkey that he jumped at him too soon and missed.
The lion fell on the ground near the donkey. Seeing this, the donkey ran as fast as he could to save his life.
The lion felt ashamed, and the jackal said, “Today, even a donkey can escape from you! I’ll try to bring him back. But this time, please wait for us to come closer. You’re not strong enough to jump far now.”
With that, the jackal ran after the donkey. He knew the jungle well and was able to catch up with him and stop him.
The donkey said, “What a nice place you brought me to! You took me right to the jaws of death. What was that animal that tried to jump on me?”
The jackal quickly replied, “Uncle, you ran because you misunderstood! It was a female donkey who wanted to hug you! She hasn’t seen a male donkey for years and couldn’t stop herself from jumping on you.”
The jackal continued, “If it was any other animal, a lion or a tiger, would he have missed you? Could you have escaped from him?”
The donkey was convinced by the jackal again and followed him back to the lion’s cave. This time, the lion didn’t make a mistake and attacked only when he was sure. The donkey met his end.
But the lion was very weak and grew tired. He asked the jackal to guard the donkey’s body until he came back from the river after taking a bath and drinking some water.
The jackal, on the other hand, was starving. He hadn’t eaten for several days, and now he had food right in front of him. Out of hunger, he ate the donkey’s brain.
When the lion returned and saw that the donkey’s brain was missing, he got angry. He asked the jackal to explain why his food had been tampered with.
The jackal replied, “Please master, don’t be angry. This donkey had no brain at all! If he had any brain, would he come back to you after you attacked him?”
The lion was satisfied with the reply, and they both finally had a good meal after several days.
Moral of the Story “The Lion, the Jackal, and the Silly Donkey” is Deception with sweet words succeeds beyond limit.