“Whenever men see me, they try to shoot me; they climb the rocks to my nest and steal away my little ones. Men are a cruel race. Let the Tiger eat the man.”
Then the Tiger began to roar, but the Brahmin said, “Wait! we have yet two to ask.”
Soon they saw an Alligator, and the Brahmin told his story. But the Alligator said:
“Whenever I put my nose out of the water, men torment me. They are a cruel race. Let the Tiger eat the man.”
The Brahmin was now in despair, but the Tiger was willing to keep his word. And the sixth judge was a Jackal. Now the Jackal is a miserable little beast whom no one likes, but he listened to the Brahmin’s story.
“You must show me just where it was and how it happened,” said the Jackal.
So they all went back to the cage.
“I was here,” said the Brahmin, standing in the road.
“And I was in the cage,” said the Tiger.