In a certain village, there was a dense forest where many animals lived. The king of all these animals was a lion. Whatever the animals brought as food, they had to first offer it to the lion before eating anything themselves. This was the lion’s command.
As time passed, the lion grew old and could no longer travel far to hunt for food. The lion had a companion, a jackal, named Dhootharasan. One day, the lion called the jackal and said, “I can no longer go out to search for food. From now on, you must bring me my food.”
The jackal agreed and began searching for food. Whenever it found something, it would eat a portion and then bring the rest to the lion. One day, however, the jackal couldn’t find any food despite wandering far and wide. Exhausted, it stopped under a tree by a river. Near the river, it saw a donkey grazing on some dry grass.
The jackal suddenly had an idea. It thought, “If I take this donkey to the lion, the lion will have a good meal.” Slowly, the jackal approached the donkey, which was eating the dry grass.
Seeing the donkey’s thin and weak condition, the jackal asked, “Why are you so thin? Haven’t you been getting enough food?”
The donkey replied sadly, “The washerman doesn’t give me enough to eat.”
The jackal cunningly suggested, “Come with me. I’ll take you to a place where there’s plenty of fresh grass. You can eat to your heart’s content.” The donkey, excited at the thought, agreed to go with the jackal. The jackal also lied, saying there were many female donkeys there.
As they approached the lion’s location, the lion, who was hungry, immediately pounced on the donkey. But because the lion was weak and unwell, it couldn’t hold onto the donkey firmly. The donkey kicked the lion with its hind legs and escaped.
The jackal scolded the lion, saying, “You should have been more patient and captured it properly.” The lion, feeling embarrassed, asked the jackal to bring the donkey back, promising it would be more careful this time.
The jackal went back to the donkey, who asked, “Why did you betray me?”
The jackal craftily replied, “That was a female donkey trying to welcome you, but you misunderstood and ran away in fear. Come with me again, and I’ll take you back.”
This time, as they approached, the lion, waiting patiently, struck the donkey down in a single blow, killing it.
Afterward, the lion said, “I’ll go bathe and return to eat. Watch over the carcass until I get back.”
The cunning jackal took this opportunity to eat the donkey’s liver and ears. When the lion returned, it noticed the missing parts and asked the jackal, “Where are the liver and ears?”
The jackal lied again, saying, “It seems this donkey had no liver or ears, which is why it didn’t listen and was foolish enough to be caught by us.”
The lion believed the jackal and began eating the rest of the donkey, giving a small portion to the jackal.
The moral of the story is that no matter how difficult the situation, one must strive to achieve their goals independently. Relying on others may lead to disastrous consequences.