At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as sharp as a needle, and he too called out:
"Drumikin! Drumikin!
Have you seen Lambikin?"
And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gayly:
"Lost in the forest, and so are you,
On, little Drumikin! Tum-pa—"
But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognized his voice at once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you? Just you come out of that!"
Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
[181]
The next story, dealing with the idea of "measure for measure," is from Mary Frere's Old Deccan Days. Miss Frere spent many years in India, where her father was a government official. She took down the tales as told by her ayah, or lady's maid, who in turn had heard them from her hundred-year-old grandmother. It may be said of this story that while retaliation is certainly not the highest law of conduct, yet the ungracious, inconsiderate action of the jackal makes it impossible to feel the least sympathy for him.
TIT FOR TAT
There once lived a Camel and a Jackal who were great friends. One day the Jackal said to the Camel, "I know that there is a fine field of sugar cane on the other side of the river. If you will take me across, I'll show you the place. This plan will suit me as well as you. You will enjoy eating the sugar cane, and I am sure to find many crabs, bones, and bits of fish by the river side, on which to make a good dinner."