THE ALLIGATOR AND THE JACKAL
Once upon a time, a hungry little Jackal went down to the river-side to catch crabs for his dinner. Now, it chanced that in this river there lived an ugly old Alligator, who, being very hungry himself, would have been glad to catch and eat the Jackal. The Jackal ran up and down the bank, hunting for crabs.
He was so hungry that he did not look about cautiously. Had he done so, he might have seen that ugly old Alligator, lying half hidden under some tall bulrushes. So, when the hungry Jackal saw a crab sidling along, he poked his paw down into the water.
Snap! the old Alligator caught the paw of the Jackal.
“Oh, dear, oh, dear!” cried the little Jackal to himself. “What shall I do now? This ugly old Alligator has caught my paw, and soon he will drag me down under the water and eat me.”
But the Jackal sang out in a cheerful voice, “Clever Mr. Alligator! Clever Mr. Alligator! I hope you will find that hard old bulrush root tender and you will enjoy chewing on it for dinner.”
The Alligator was so buried in the mud under the bulrushes that he could hardly see. He thought that he had made a mistake and he said to himself, “Dear me, how very tiresome! I thought I had caught the Jackal’s paw when I had only seized a bulrush root. And there is that saucy little Jackal up on the bank mocking me.” So the Alligator opened his jaws and let the Jackal go.
“Oh, wise Mr. Alligator! Wise Mr. Alligator! Thank you for letting me go!” laughed the Jackal. “So you really believed my paw was a root? Thank you, Mr. Alligator!”