A little Jackal, who was very fond of crabs and bits of fish and whatever else he could find, went down to the riverside one morning in search of something for his dinner. He ran up and down the bank, here and there, but he could find nothing to eat. At last, near some tall bulrushes and under clear, shallow water he saw a little crab who was sidling along as fast as his legs could carry him. The little jackal was so very hungry that, without looking, he put his paw into the water after the crab. “Snap!” A great big alligator who lived in the river, had the paw in his jaws.
“Oh, dear,” thought the little jackal, “a 150big alligator has my paw in his mouth. In another minute he will drag me down under the water and swallow me. What can I do?” Then a thought came to the little jackal, “I’ll fool that old alligator and get away from him.” So he called out in a very cheerful voice, “Clever Alligator! Clever Alligator! To catch hold of that bulrush root for my paw! I hope you will find it very tender.”
The old alligator was so hidden among the bulrushes that he could scarcely see anything. On hearing the little jackal call out he said to himself, “Dear me, I thought I had caught hold of the jackal’s paw; but there he is calling out in a cheerful voice. I suppose I have made a mistake.” So saying he opened his mouth and let the little jackal go.
The jackal ran away as fast as he could. When he was at a safe distance he called out, “O wise Alligator! O wise Alligator! So you let me go again.” The alligator was very angry, but the little jackal had run too far away to be caught.
151The next day the jackal returned to the riverside to get his dinner as before. The old alligator was nowhere to be seen, but the little jackal thought it best not to take any chances, so he called out, “Wherever I go to look for my dinner, I search for the nice little fat crabs that come peeping up through the mud. Then I put my paw down and catch them. I wish I could see one now.”
The old alligator was down in the mud at the bottom of the river, and he heard every word the jackal said. He thought to himself, “Aha! I’ll just show the tip of my nose up through the mud. He’ll take it for a little fat crab and put his paw in to catch me. As soon as he does so, I’ll gobble him up!” So he popped the little point of his nose out of the mud and waited. No sooner did the jackal see the tip of the alligator’s nose than he called out, “O Friend Alligator, so there you are. No dinner for me here, thank you.” And off he ran and fished for his dinner a long, long way from that place. The old 152alligator snapped his jaws again and again. He was very angry at missing his dinner a second time, and he made up his mind not to let the jackal escape again.
The following day, the little jackal went down to the waterside as usual to look for crabs. He was rather afraid to go too near the river’s edge, for he felt sure the old enemy was hiding somewhere. So he stayed back at a safe distance and called out,
“Where are all the little crabs gone? There is not one here and I am very hungry. When I don’t see them on the shore or peeping up through the mud I see them blowing bubble, bubble, bubble, and all the little bubbles go pop! pop! pop!” The old alligator lying low in the mud heard this and he said to himself, “I can fool that little jackal easy enough this time. I’ll pretend to be a little crab.” Then he began to blow, puff, puff! Bubble, bubble, bubble! And all the great bubbles rushed to the top of the river, and burst there, and the water whirled and whirled round and round just above the place 153where the old alligator lay hidden. It didn’t take the jackal long to know who was underneath those bubbles, and off he ran, as fast as he could go, calling out,
“Thank you, kind Alligator, thank you, thank you! Indeed it is very kind of you to show me just where you are.”
The old alligator was furious at being de............