Meanwhile, the jackal was lounging about his den when he suddenly remembered about the tiger and his illness. He realized how late he was going to be, as the tiger was on the other side of the jungle than he. So he devised a plan to escape the tiger's wrath.
The jackal replied, "I heard the tiger's summons and went out immediately. However, seeing that the tiger is deathly ill, I saw it futile to come empty handed."
He produced several roots and herbs to give tot he tiger, "Eating these should cure you, my lord. However," he smiled, "You need to lay on the skin of a freshly killed hyena in order for the cure to work."
So the tiger slew the hyena and lay on his skin. Soon enough, he began to feel better. For his deeds the jackal was rewarded by the tiger and became a close friend to him.
...
One day the jackal laid in his den playing his drum, when the tiger came forth and asked him, "Nephew, I was betrayed by the cat. I sent him into a village to bring me fire so we could cook a deer, but he never returned. I swore to eat him because he forced me to eat the deer raw, now he won't leave the confines of the village. The very same village is guard by dogs with nooses they can use to hang me! You are like a dog, perhaps you can parlay with them on my behalf?"
The jackal went with the tiger to see these strange dogs and laughed when he beheld them. He told the tiger, "Uncle, you're too foolish! Those are not nooses for which to hang you. They are the dog's tails! They're just curly. Go forward and get the cat, the dogs won't hang you."
And he went back to his den.
...
Again the jackal was in his den, when the tiger came and said, "I need your help once more, Nephew! I left my cave to hunt this morning, and when I returned, a strange beast made a dreadful noise at me from within. He had hemp tied onto his chin and great big horns."
The jackal told the tiger, "If what you say is true, then the beast that haunts your home is of a kind that I eat quite often. Lead me there!"
So they ventured to the tigers cave and tied their tails together, so if the beast grabbed one they could pull eachother away. Then, a small goat jumped out and yelled, "Hum pakpak!"
The tiger was so started, that he ran out. As he did, his tail scraped all the fur off the jackal's tail. The jackal let out a howl of pain, which frightened the little goat, who quickly ran out of the cave as well. The jackal returned to the tiger with tears we
lling from the pain. He said, "You owe me now double. For removing the beast from your cave and tearing the hair off my tail! You should give me this cave in compensation."
The tiger agreed, and on that day the jackal acquired the home of the mighty tiger.
Author's Notes: This story is the conglomerate of three different stories. The first is about a tiger falling ill from eating too much and the jackals convincing him to kill the hyena to cure himself. The second is about a cat that goes to a village to get fire but realizes quickly that life among humans is much more comfortable than life in the wild, and his tiger friends try to kill him. The third story is about a goat that escapes a village and takes up residence in a leopard's cave. I decided to put all three together and make the jackal the main focus. The jackal plays some role in all three stories, so I figured it be easy to retell them from his perspective more or less. I also wanted to end it with him winning something for all he did for the tiger.
Images: (Top) A drawing of a tiger, Source: Pixabay
(Bottom) A side-stripped Jackal, Photo by Brenard Dupont; Source: Wikimedia Commons
Collin,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that you actually write three different stories here! I like that you stick to the original writing, but at the same time, little alternations here and there are what make your story so interesting. I like that despite being so much bigger and much more intimidating than the jackal, the tiger always need his help. The jackal in the first story you wrote was quite clever indeed! And your story just has the right amount of description and dialogues to balance each other out! Good job and thank you for sharing!
Hey Collin, what a great story. I'm really glad to see that you did such a good and unique job combing these three stories. While I have not read any of your source stories, your story was overall really organized and intriguing. I also love stories that come from an animal's perspective. It would have been cool to see you describe the jackal in a little more detail, like coloring and such, but that was the only thing I could think of to improve. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Colin! I loved that you incorporated 3 stories into you storytelling this week! While I did not read these story sources, I too read many stories with tigers and jackals two weeks ago while reading from the region of Bangali. Tigers and Jackals seem to play an important role in all indian tales.
ReplyDeleteLike in your story, the tigers in the stories I read also had to ask from assistance.
Collin, it's neat that you combined multiple stories into one narrative. I think it's interesting how the jackal is portrayed as a wise, cunning character in the different parts of the stories, so they all flow well together when you add them up as one. One question I had is, what is hum pakpak? That might be helpful to clarify for the reader. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteHi Collin!
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool that you combined the different stories into one! I like how you focused mostly on the jackal because he is an interesting character. You also told the story from his point-of-view and I liked that. I also wondered what "hum pakpak" means? I assume it was used in one of the stories, or did you make it up? Good work!