While they stood there absorbed in thought, the jackal Mukhara came up to them and said, “O nephews, why are you so absorbed in thought?”
“O uncle, we have caught some fish.”
“Why do not you divide them?”
“O uncle, for fear of acting unrighteously.” [[333]]
Then Mukhara said to himself, “As they both hesitate I will undertake the division.”
After looking at a tortoise which regularly waited upon the two otters, he went to one of them and said, “O nephew, what have you done in this matter?”
“O uncle, I dived into the water, and after diving into it, I frightened the fish, which were driven on land and killed by my companion here.”
“O nephew, however little was to be got by going into the water, yet Mukhara would certainly go into the water. The otter who has to be on the dry land is exposed to danger from fissures, tree-stumps, thorns, wild beasts, and men. Besides, if he were not to kill the fish, of what use would your frightening them be? In short, as the whole catch is entirely the other otter’s work, you must take what he gives you and raise no objection.”
The otter did not utter a word in reply, smitten to the heart and overawed by the jackal.
Then the jackal went to the other otter, and said, “O nephew, what was your share in this matter?”