How Jackal Fed The Lion

How Jackal Fed The Lion, a South African folktale, Parts 1 & 2

Early one morning, Jackal was on the prowl, looking all around for something to eat. Now Jackal was not fond of hunting for himself, oh no! He much prefers to wait until the hunt is over.

That way he can share in the feast without having had to work for it. He climbed to the top of a kopje (rock outcrop) where he waited; his ears moving back and forth to hear the slightest sound.

He looked here, there, and all around... then he suddenly spied Lion, clawing a big fat-tailed sheep he had just killed. "Oh yes," thought Jackal, "Papa Lion picked out a good one."

Jackal felt his mouth water. "This is my lucky day!," he said to himself, feverishly wondering how he could get some of that nice fresh meat before Lion ate it all. What he needed was a plan...

At that very moment, a piece of white paper fluttered into the bush just beside him. Jackal picked it up and folded it this way and that, his delicate paws straining, until it looked like a letter.

Then he ran down from the kopje in a great hurry, calling out, "Good morning, Papa Lion! I see you have killed a Boer's sheep." "Yes indeed, Jackal," replied the proud big cat, "a big fat one."

"Well, here is a letter from your wife," said Jackal, giving him the carefully folded piece of paper. "As I was passing by, she asked me to give it to you – she told me it was very important."

Papa Lion took the "letter" from Jackal and turned it this way and that. He held it out, far from his face, and then he held it close to his eyes. Try as he might, he just couldn't make it out.

You see, Lion was an old-fashioned sort. He grew up before there were schools and teachers in the area, so he never learned to read. Proud as he was, he didn't want anyone to know this, so he said:

"Jackal, I forgot my spectacles, read the letter to me." Jackal, pretending to read, said "Hmm, Papa must kill a nice fat sheep and ask Jackal to send it home at once. The children and I are hungry."

"Well Jackal," said Lion, "she sounds upset and you know a wife is a dangerous thing when she's in a temper. Take this sheep to her at once, and then you can have the offal for your reward."

"Thank you noble Lion," said Jackal in a fawning voice, all the while promising himself that at the end of the day he and his family would have much more to eat than just offal.

"How fortunate am I, a poor humble creature, to serve a masterful hunter such as you," said Jackal. Then, with an elaborate bow, he trotted off with Lion's big fat sheep.

Papa Lion awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and rather hungry... a new day meant a new hunt! There was one thing he wanted to do before setting off, so he went home to see how Mama Lion and the children were getting on. Had they feasted well on the nice fat sheep Jackal had brought them?

Papa Lion was in for a surprise, however, and not a good one – his children were crying, his wife was spluttering and scratching with rage, and the bones of the sheep were nowhere to be seen.

"Ohé! Ohé! Ohé!," cried Mama Lion. "That bad, wicked Jackal! That low, veldt dog!" Papa Lion looked around in confusion. "What is the matter, dear heart?," he asked, "and where is Jackal?"

"Where is he?," she mockingly repeated. "How should I know? He has run off with the nice fat sheep, and me – yes me, the King's wife – he has beaten me with the entrails! Ohé! Ohé!"

"And boxed my ears!," cried one of the cubs. "And pinched my tail," roared the other. "And left us nothing but the offal. Oh, the cunning, smooth-tongued vagabond!"

And all three fell to weeping and wailing, while Papa Lion roared loudly in his anger. "Just wait a bit, I'll get him," he growled. "When the world wakes tomorrow he will see who's boss." (to be continued...)

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(Recap: Jackal had cheated Lion out of his catch, leaving poor Lion to be drenched by the tears of his hungry children and mocked by his long-suffering wife. Revenge was in the offing... or was it?)

Papa Lion whipped his tail to and fro, and stuck out his strong, sharp claws. His eyes glared like fire in a dark chasm when there is no moon, and when he roared it was very terrible to hear.

Very early the next morning, as the twinkling stars began to fade one by one in the lightening sky, Lion took out his strongest sjambok (a hippo-skin whip) and headed out to look for Jackal.

He spied him at last at the top of a steep cliff, sitting by a fire with his wife and children. "Ah! there you are, my fine fellow," he thought. "Well and happy are you? Oh wait, I'll soon show you!"

Lion began to try and scale the cliff but the rock was so smooth, there was nothing for him to hold on to. Every time he got up a little way, his claws lost purchase and he slid down to the ground.

"Well, as I can't climb up, I'll pretend to be nice & friendly," thought Lion, feeling sore and frustrated, "and then maybe Jackal will come down. I'll ask him to go hunting with me, he loves that."

So Lion composed himself, stood at the foot of the cliff and called up, quite friendly and kindly, "Good morning, Jackal." "Morning, Lion," came Jackal's quite casual reply.

"I thought you might like to go hunting with me," called Lion, "but I see you are busy." At any other time Jackal would have jumped with delight, as he so seldom had the honor of such an invitation.

But this time was different: he was puffed up with pride, having cheated Papa and Mama Lion so nicely. "Thank you, Lion, but I'm grilling some nice fat mutton chops for breakfast. Won't you join us?"

"Certainly, with pleasure," answered Lion, "but this cliff is so steep. How can I get up?" "Ach! That's quite easy, Lion. I'll pull you up in the blink of an eye."

Dropping his voice so Lion couldn't hear him, Jackal whispered "Here, wife, give me a nice thick rope. Not the good one, that old rotten one that is nearly rubbed through."

So Mrs. Jackal brought the rotten rope, tossed one end down to Papa Lion, and they both set to work pulling him up the sheer rock face. "Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah!," they sang out as they slowly hauled away.

When he was just a few feet from the top, Jackal cried out, "Arre! but Lion is heavy!," and he pulled the rope this way and that way along the sharp edge of the cliff face 'til it frayed…

KERPLOP! Down fell Papa Lion to the hard ground below. "Oh my goodness!" shouted Jackal. "I hope Lion is not hurt. How stupid can a woman be, to give me an old rope when I called for our best one!"

Jackal called down: "Now, here is a strong rope so we can try again"... and again, but each time the rope broke and each time his fall was greater, because each time the Jackals pulled him higher.

At last, very much bruised and battered, Lion called out: "It's very kind of you, Jackal, but I must give it up." "Ach! but that's a shame!" said Jackal, pretending to be sorry.

"The mutton chops are done perfectly, seasoned deliciously by my wife, and their aroma is sublime! You simply must taste it! Shall I throw you down a piece of the meat?"

"Yes please, Jackal," begged Lion eagerly, licking his lips. "I'm tired, sore and hungrier than ever. I feel like there is a hole inside me, and some mutton chops will fill it nicely."

So what did the Jackal do? He carefully raked a red hot coal out of the fire and wrapped it in a lump of sheep fat. Then he peered over the edge of the cliff and saw Lion waiting impatiently below.

"Lion," he called down, "open your mouth wide and I'll drop this in. It's such a nice piece, I bet you won't want another." Mrs. Jackal and the kids doubled up with silent laughter at Jackal's joke.

"Lion, are you ready?", cried Jackal. "Grrrr!'," gurgled Lion. He had his mouth wide open to catch the juicy mutton chop, and he dared not speak for fear of missing it.

Jackal leaned over and took aim... down fell the sizzling tidbit and with a mighty gulp, Lion swallowed it! There then arose such roaring and groaning as had not been heard since the hills were made!

Circling eagles swooped nearer to find out the cause; meerkats and aardvarks, porcupines and springhares snuggled deeper into their burrows; springboks and elands fled swiftly over the plains.

Only wicked Jackal and his family rejoiced. With their bushy tails waving and their pointed ears standing up, they danced round the fire, holding hands and singing over and over:

"Arré! Who is stronger than the King of Beasts? Arré! Who sees further than the King of Birds? Who but the Jackal, black of back and silver of mane, the small but sly one; He, the wise Planmaker!"

(adapted, via World of Tales)

(images via Claire Dickson, recordonline, and allnutschannel)