[1] Kah-gyur, iv. f. 293. Cf. Panchatantra, v. 7, and Benfey’s remarks on the passage, i. 494.—S. [↑]
XXXIII.
THE JACKAL AS CALUMNIATOR.[1]
A.
In long-past times there lived in a certain forest a pregnant lioness. Now it is the custom of lionesses to lay up stores of flesh for the time when they shall bring forth their young. The lioness, having followed after a herd of cattle, struck down a cow which had calved, and which, while taking care of her calf, lagged behind the rest of the herd. The lioness killed the cow, and dragged it off to her lair; the calf, which wanted to suck her mother’s teats, following after her. The lioness was at first inclined to kill the calf too, but reflected that it would serve as a playfellow for her cub so soon as she brought it into the world. She gave birth to a male cub, which she suckled along with the calf.
After they had both grown up, the lioness fell ill, and before her death spoke thus, “O children, as ye have both sucked the same dugs, behave as brothers. The world is full of evil calumniators. Take heed, when I am dead, that ye do not listen to such persons.”
The lion, which ate the good flesh of the gazelles he killed, and drank his fill of their blood, grew big; and so did the bull, which fed on the good grass guarded by the lion, and enjoyed clear water. The lion, as the king of [[326]]beasts, was followed about by an old, very greedy, remainder-devouring jackal. When the lion had killed gazelles, and having devoured their good flesh and drunk their good blood, tranquilly rested, none of the rest of the smaller beasts dared to draw nigh. Only the old jackal used to approach, in order to enjoy what remained over of the good flesh and blood, thanks to which his hide, his flesh, and his blood all thrived.