Now, when the Alligator found that he was tricked in this way, he was very angry, and he went swimming away, lashing the water to a foam with his tail, while the Jackal hurried up the bank.
The next day the Jackal returned to the river to catch crabs for his dinner. But this time he was very cautious. So he called out, “Whenever I go fishing for my dinner, I see the nice little crabs crawling up through the mud, then I reach down and catch them and eat them. Oh, how I wish that I could see a nice little crab!”
The old Alligator was buried in the mud at the bottom of the river and he heard every word, so he popped out the point of his snout, saying to himself, “That Jackal will take the tip of my nose for a crab and, when he puts his paw down to catch me, I will gobble him up.”
But, of course, when the Jackal saw the tip of the Alligator’s nose, he called out, in a saucy voice, “Ha, ha! my friend! So that is where you are hidden! I am glad to know where you are. Thank you, wise Mr. Alligator! I will not take my dinner with you today.”
And the little Jackal ran barking up the bank as fast as he could go, while the old Alligator lashed the water to a foam with his tail.
On the following day the old Alligator hid himself in the bulrushes close to the bank of the river. He was determined to catch that saucy Jackal.
When the Jackal was hungry for his dinner, he went again to the river to catch crabs. This time, he was very cautious; he went peering all around. He was really much afraid of that old Alligator. However, he called out in a loud and cheerful voice:
“Where have all the nice little crabs gone today? I do not see one, and I am so hungry! Even when they are down under the water I can see them blow bubbles. All the little bubbles go, ‘Pop! pop! pop!’”
When the Alligator heard this, he laughed to himself, “I will pretend to be a little crab and blow bubbles; but, when that Jackal puts in his paws, I will catch him and gobble him up!”
So the Alligator began to blow bubbles. “Puff, puff, puff! Bubble, bubble!” But, of course, the bubbles he blew were very large bubbles. They rushed to the top of the water and burst there—“POP! POP! POP!”