The Mahars of the village all came out to bury the dead bullock. The
Jackal, who was inside it, feared that if they caught him they would
kill him, and that if they did not discover him, he would be buried
alive; so on their approach he called out, "People, people, take care
how you touch me, for I am a great saint." The poor people were very
much frightened when they heard the dead bullock talking, and thought
that some mighty spirit must indeed possess it.
"Who are you, sir, and what do you want?" they cried.
"I," answered the Jackal, "am a very holy saint. I am also the god of
your village, and I am very angry with you because you never worship
me nor bring me offerings."
"O my Lord," they cried, "what offerings will please you? Tell us
only, and we will bring you whatever you like."
"Good," he replied. "Then you must fetch here plenty of rice, plenty
of flowers and a nice fat chicken; place them as an offering beside
me, and pour a great deal of water over them, as you do at your most
solemn feasts, and I will forgive you your sins." The Mahars did as
they were commanded. They placed some rice and flowers, and the best
chicken they could procure, beside the bullock, and poured water over
it and the offering. Then, no sooner did the dry, hard Bullock's skin
get wetted than it split in many places, and to the surprise of all
his worshippers, the Jackal jumped out, seized the chicken in his
mouth, and ran away with it through the midst of them into the jungle.
The Mahars ran after him over hedges and ditches for many, many miles,
but he got away in spite of them all.
On, on he ran--on, on, for a very long way--until at last he came to a
place where a little kid lived under a little sicakai tree. All her
relations and friends were away, and when she saw him coming she
thought to herself, "Unless I frighten this Jackal, he will eat me."
So she ran as hard as she could up against the sicakai tree, which
made all the branches shake and the leaves go rustle, rustle, rustle.
And when the Jackal heard the rustling noise he got frightened, and
thought it was all the little kid's friends coming to help her. And
she called out to him, "Run away, Jackal, run away. Thousands and
thousands of Jackals have run away at that sound--run away for your
life." And the Jackal was so frightened that he ran away. So, he who
had deceived so many was outwitted by a simple little kid!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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