A powerful lion lived in a jungle. Among his followers were a cunning jackal and a fierce wolf. One day a pregnant camel walked into the forest, but she died before she could give birth. The lion discovered that she had given birth while dying. The lion took the baby camel home with him. This baby grew up in the company of the lion, wolf, and jackal.
One day, the lion got injured in a battle with an elephant. He was unable to walk. He asked the wolf and the jackal to find an animal that could be easily hunted, so they could kill and eat it. The young camel also joined the search, but they could not find any animal that could be easily preyed on.
The jackal thought: if the lion killed the camel, that would be the easiest solution. But the lion would not do that. The camel was under the protection of the lion. The jackal decided that he would try to see if he could achieve this.
He asked the camel to do something in service of the lion. The camel wanted to know what could be done. The jackal said, “Sacrifice yourself. Give your body to the lion.” The camel agreed. So they all went to the lion, and the jackal said to the lion, “If you promise the camel that he will be born as a great one in the next life, he will sacrifice himself.” The lion said so, and the wolf and jackal then killed the camel.
The lion asked the jackal to guard the camel. He said he would go to the river, offer his prayers, come back, and then they would eat. The jackal wanted to have the camel meat all by himself. He called the wolf and said, “Have a mouthful quickly before the lion returns.” As soon as the wolf had torn apart the flesh, the jackal screamed, “The master is coming!” When the lion returned, he saw the camel torn open and its heart missing. The lion was furious. He wanted to know who had eaten the heart. He said he would kill that person. The jackal said the wolf had done that. Hearing this, the wolf ran away immediately.
Just then, a caravan was heard passing by. The camels in the caravan had large bells around their necks. The movement of the camels made the bells make a loud sound. The lion was a bit scared hearing this. He asked the jackal to check what this was. The jackal went, saw, and came back to the lion. He said, “Run as soon as you can. Leave this place and never come back. In your presence, a camel was killed before its time. To avenge the camel, the family of this camel is coming here to kill you.” The lion went and saw many camels on the way. Thinking this was true, the lion fled, leaving the jackal to enjoy the carcass in peace.
Ending the story, our jackal said: “A cunning person will look after his own interests and will keep his plans a secret.”
The bullock listening was wondering. As a grass eater, he had become friends with a flesh eater. He decided to go to the lion and ask him to forgive it. He went to the lion but got scared and left the place. The lion, seeing the bullock, thought it had come to attack him. The two began fighting.
Seeing the two fight, the first jackal said to his brother, “You have created enmity between these two. This is not what the books say. One who can avoid war, deserves to be a minister. If you are truly clever, find a way to stop them. Advice given to fools, instead of calming them, makes them excited. Like the bird which learned this when it advised a monkey.”
“How did this happen?” asked the brother.
Key takeaways
The jackal shows that cunning individuals prioritize their own gain above loyalty, safety, or gratitude. They will manipulate circumstances and exploit the nature or distress of others to achieve their secret objective.
In moments of stress or vulnerability , fear makes one susceptible to suggestion. The jackal used lies about the wolf and the “avenging camel family” to first eliminate competition and then eliminate the master, ensuring he had the prize all to himself.
True administrative skill lies in preventing conflict, not just winning it.
Good counsel is wasted—or even detrimental—when given to those who lack the judgment to process it correctly.
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