The jackal replied, “O nephew, the tiger will come forth from his lair, and will stretch himself, and after stretching he will yawn, and after yawning he will look round on all four sides, and after looking round on all four sides he will roar three times, and then come into your presence and think, ‘He will kill me.’ Be sure of this.”
Afterwards the jackal went with drooping ears to the tiger. The tiger asked, “O uncle, has some hot wind arisen?”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, a very scorching wind has arisen.”
“What has happened then?”
“This lion has said, ‘Where has my tiger-grass gone? I will assuredly kill him.’ ”
The tiger said, “O uncle, our two mothers said to us, just before they died, ‘O children, as ye have sucked the same breast, be brothers. The world is full of evil calumniators. Take heed that ye do not listen to any of them. As they have left us this legacy, do not you speak in that way.’”
The jackal replied, “O nephew, as you will not listen to my well-meant words, you will go to ruin.”
“O uncle, what then will be the course of events?”
“O nephew, this lion will come forth from his lair and will stretch himself, and after stretching he will yawn, and after yawning he will look round on all four sides, and after looking round on all four sides, he will roar three times, and then come into your presence, and think, ‘He will kill me.’ Be sure of all this.”
Now although both of them were in the habit of acting in this way, according to their natures, they had never taken any notice of that. But one day the lion, the king [[331]]of beasts, came forth from his lair and stretched himself, and yawned, and looked round on all four sides, and roared three times, and then went into the presence of the tiger. The tiger also came forth from his lair, and stretched himself and yawned, and looked round on all four sides, and then went into the presence of the lion. Although both of them had always been in the habit of doing all this, yet they had never taken any notice of the fact. But now that the seed of discord was sown, they did notice it. Just as the lion thought that the tiger wanted to kill him, so also the tiger thought that the lion wanted to kill him. But then the lion thought, “I am strong, but the tiger is not. As he cannot then master me, I will investigate the matter further.” So he uttered this śloka—