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The Cunning Jackal

Or, The Biter Bit

A JACKAL lived on one side of a deep river, and on the other side were
fields upon fields of ripe melons. The Jackal was always hungry, and he
had eaten everything within reach; so he used to sit on the river bank
and bemoan his luck. "All those ripe melons," said he, "and nobody to
eat them but men. It is really a shame. I don't know what Providence is
doing, to treat me so scurvily."

Perhaps Providence knew what it was about, and the Jackal, as you shall
hear, deserved no better than he got.

As he sat one day by the river, moaning and groaning, a big Tortoise
popped up his funny head out of the water. There was a big tear in each
of the Tortoise's round eyes.

The Jackal stopped moaning and groaning when he saw the Tortoise.
"What's the matter, Shelly?" said he. "Aren't you well?"

"Quite well, thank you," said the Tortoise, and the tears slowly rolled
down his nose. He was going to call the Jackal Snarly, which was the
nickname the Jackal went by; but he thought better of it, because it
would have been rather rude. All the same, he did not like being called
Shelly in that offhand way.

"Wife and brats all right?" asked the Jackal. "No measles or mumps?"

This was also very rude of the Jackal, because a Tortoise is sensitive
about mumps. If he gets mumps when his head is inside his shell, he
can't put it out; and if his head is outside, that is still worse, for
it swells up so that he can't get it in again.

"No, thank you, my wife is all right," said the Tortoise, who was rather
confused; "at least, she would be all right if I had one, but that's
just it--I can't get a wife! Nobody will look at me! and that is my
trouble," and two more big tears trickled down his nose.

At this moment an idea came into the Jackal's crafty head. "What a pity
you didn't tell me before," said he; "I could easily have found you a
wife last week, but now she has gone to live on the other side of the
river."

"Do you really mean it?" said the Tortoise.

"Honour bright," answered the Jackal; "do I look like a person who would
tell a lie?" He certainly did, only the Tortoise was too simple to see
it.

The Tortoise rubbed away his tears on a stump, for he had no
handkerchief, and brightened up considerably.

"I can carry you across, friend," said he, "if you will jump on my
back."

The Jackal wanted nothing better, so down he jumped on the back of the
Tortoise, and