There was a great drought.
A mighty lion called the animals to a council. A monkey, a leopard, a hyena, a jackal, a hare, and a mountain tortoise came to his call.
“Beasts,” said the lion, “what can we do to prevent the water from drying out?” Think everyone!
“We need to build a dam,” said the hyena, “then we will always have water.”
All the animals agreed with the hyena.
- That's right, we need to build a dam.
The animals got down to business.
Only the jackal did not want to work with everyone.
“I won’t carry stones,” he said. “I don’t want to break my claws.” I don't need water. - And he left.
And the animals blocked the stream with stones, dug a deep hole, and the water in this dam held well.
The jackal was the first to come to the water. He not only got drunk, but also took a whole jug of water to take with him, and finally took a bath and stirred up all the water. They told the lion about this.
Leo got angry. He called the monkey, told her to waylay the jackal and teach him a good lesson.
The monkey did just that. She took a strong club and hid in the bushes near the water.
The next day the jackal came again. He immediately smelled the monkey and, of course, guessed why it hid in the bushes. But he didn’t even show it! The jackal is also a master of all sorts of tricks!
He put the empty jug on the ground and began to walk around the bush. Walks back and forth and every now and then sticks his paw into the jug. Then he pulls it out, licks it from all sides, sucks it and says:
“I don’t need this dirty water!” My honey tastes better than water! And again he puts his paw into the empty jug.
The monkey watched, watched the jackal feast on honey, she listened, listened as the jackal praised his honey, and could not resist - she got out of her ambush and said:
- Listen, jackal, treat me with your honey!
“Okay,” says the jackal, “just give me your club first, otherwise I’m afraid you might decide to use it!”
The monkey gave the jackal the club.
“And now,” says the jackal, “I’ll tie you up so that you don’t try to chase me.”
The monkey agreed to this too.
The jackal tied the monkey tightly, so that she could not move, and he himself went to the dam and began to calmly drink. First he drank to his heart’s content, then he jumped into the water and, in front of the monkey’s eyes, began to swim, dive, and tumble. Not only that! To tease the monkey, he kept putting his paw in his mouth and sucking it as if it were covered in sweet honey!
The jackal drank, swam, scooped up a full jug of water and ran into the forest. And the monkey remained lying on the ground.
In the evening, animals came to the dam. They saw that the monkey was tightly tied, and the water was again cloudy and dirty. They reported this to the lion again.
Lev said:
- The jackal must be caught.
All the animals were silent.
And suddenly the turtle crawled forward and said:
- I'll catch the jackal.
The animals were very surprised. How can a tortoise catch a jackal?
And the turtle says:
- You'll see, I'll catch him.
“Well, let’s see,” say the animals, “we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
The next day the turtle smeared himself with sticky resin and climbed into the water. She hid her head, paws and tail under her shell and hid near the shore. She just put her back slightly above the water.
During the day, as always, the jackal came. I looked around and there was no one anywhere. He carefully approached the water, looked around again - no, no one was waiting for him.
“It’s true that they are afraid of me,” thought the jackal. “They even put a stone near the shore so that it would be easier for me to approach the water.”
And he stepped with his front paws on the back of the turtle. The turtle moved. Then the jackal immediately realized that it was a trap. He jerked back, but his paws stuck tightly to the turtle shell.
- Hey, you! Don't you dare joke with me! Otherwise I'll teach you a lesson! - shouted the jackal.
“Do as you please,” said the turtle. The jackal hit the turtle with all his strength with his hind legs and all four paws stuck to its shell.
- Turtle! I still have teeth to settle accounts with you! - the jackal threatened.
- Do as you please! - said the turtle.
The jackal bared its mouth and stretched its neck to reach the turtle's head. But then his own head also stuck to the turtle shell.
Then the turtle came out of the water and began to walk back and forth along the shore with the jackal on its back.
She walked like this until all the animals arrived.
- Look at the turtle! - said the animals. - After all, she still caught the cunning jackal! The lion came later than everyone else. All the animals were waiting for his word.
And the lion said:
- Let the jackal die.
The jackal sees that things are bad and begs for mercy. But the lion was adamant. He didn't want to hear about anything. The lion agreed to only one mercy: he allowed the jackal to choose his own death.
- And thank you for that! - said the jackal. “I want to die like a jackal should.” I ask you, first smear my tail with a thick layer of fat, and then let the hyena take me by the tail, swing me well in the air and hit me against the stone with all its might.
“I agree,” said the lion.
But first of all, it was necessary to remove the jackal from the back of the turtle. This was not an easy task. The animals were exhausted as they tore the jackal and the tortoise away from each other. Well, then everything was done as the jackal asked.
First, they smeared a thick layer of fat on his tail. Then the hyena grabbed his tail with its paws and began to swing the jackal in the air. One swing, another... But then the hyena’s tail slipped out of the hyena’s paws, the jackal flew far to the side and began to run as fast as he could.
Thus the cunning jackal deceived the forest animals.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru