“I will tell you what we can do,” said the Tortoise. “Cover my shell with beeswax to make it sticky, and I will watch all night by the pool and catch the rascal.”
So the shell of the Tortoise was covered with a thick coat of sticky wax, and he took his place beside the pool to watch for trespassers. He drew his head and his tail and his feet inside his shell, so that he looked like a flat brown stone. From time to time he would stick his head out cautiously to see if any one was coming. After waiting all night long, he heard a noise in the bushes. He crept down to the very edge of the water, drew his head and feet into his shell, and kept as still as a stone.
Then the Jackal came sneaking down to the pool, looking from side to side to make sure that no one was set to guard it.
“What a very convenient stepping-stone,” he said, and he placed his two fore feet upon the Tortoise’s shell and bent down to drink. No sooner had he done this than he discovered, to his great surprise and terror, that his feet were stuck fast.
“Ow! Ow! Let me go! This is a mean trick!” howled the Jackal.
“You are not the only one who knows how to play tricks,” said the Tortoise, and he began to move away.
“Yah! Yah! Let me go!” yelled the Jackal. “If you don’t let me go, I will kick your shell to pieces with my hind feet.”
“You may do just as you please about that,” said the Tortoise, moving on away from the pool.
The Jackal kicked as hard as he could at the Tortoise with his hind feet, and first one and then the other stuck fast to the shell.