The Jackal and the Crocodile

Once upon a time, Mr. Jackal was trotting merrily along when he spotted a wild plum tree loaded with fruit on the far side of a wide, deep stream. There was no way he could get across, so he sat down on the bank and gazed at the ripe, juicy plums until his mouth watered.

Just then, as luck would have it, Miss Crocodile came floating down the stream with her nose in the air.

“Good morning, my dear!” said Mr. Jackal politely. “How lovely you look today, and how beautifully you swim! If only I could swim too, what a fine feast of plums we two friends could share over there!” And Mr. Jackal laid his paw on his heart and sighed.

Now Miss Crocodile fell in love very easily, and when Mr. Jackal gazed at her so admiringly and spoke so tenderly, she simpered and blushed. “Oh, Mr. Jackal! How can you say such things? I could never dream of going out to dinner with you, unless… unless…”

“Unless what?” coaxed the jackal.

“Unless we were going to be married!” simpered Miss Crocodile.

“And why shouldn’t we be married, my darling?” cried the jackal eagerly. “I would run and fetch the barber to arrange our engagement this very minute, but I am so weak with hunger that I would never reach the village. Now, if the loveliest lady in the world would only take pity on her humble servant and carry me across the stream, I could eat some of those plums and get my strength back, and then I could do what my heart longs for!”

He sighed so sadly and made such sheep’s eyes at Miss Crocodile that she could not resist him. So she carried him across to the plum tree and sat at the water’s edge dreaming about her wedding dress, while Mr. Jackal stuffed himself with plums and had a wonderful time.

“Now for the barber, my beauty!” cried the cheerful jackal when he had eaten all he could. So the blushing Miss Crocodile carried him back across the stream and told him to hurry, like a dear, good creature, for she felt so fluttery at the very idea that she didn’t know what might happen.

“Now don’t upset yourself, my dear,” said the sly Mr. Jackal, jumping onto the bank. “I might not be able to find the barber, you know, and then you may have to wait a while, a good long while in fact, before I come back. So please don’t make yourself ill on my account.”

And with that he blew her a kiss and trotted off with his tail in the air.

Of course he never came back, though trusting Miss Crocodile waited patiently for him. At last she realised what a fickle, deceitful fellow he was, and she made up her mind to get even with him somehow.

So she hid in the water under the roots of a tree, near a shallow crossing where Mr. Jackal always came to drink. Sure enough, before long he came skipping along, very pleased with himself, and waded right into the water for a good long drink. At once Miss Crocodile grabbed his right leg and held on tight.

He guessed straight away what had happened. “Oh, my heart’s delight!” he called out. “I’m drowning! I’m drowning! If you love me, let go of that old root and get a good grip on my leg. It’s right next to it!”

Miss Crocodile thought she must have made a mistake. She let go of the jackal’s leg in a hurry, grabbed an old root nearby and held on to that. At once Mr. Jackal leapt nimbly to the shore and ran off with his tail in the air, calling, “Be patient, my beauty! The barber will come one day!”

This time Miss Crocodile knew better than to wait. She was so furious that she crawled off to the jackal’s den, slipped inside and lay there without making a sound.

Soon Mr. Jackal came skipping home with his tail in the air.

“Aha! So that’s your game, is it?” he said to himself, when he saw the crocodile’s tracks in the sandy ground. So he stood outside and said loudly, “Goodness me, what can have happened? I don’t like to go in at all. Whenever I come home, my wife always calls out:

‘Oh, hubby dear, my hubby dear!
What food have you brought here
For me and baby, dear?’

And today she isn’t saying anything!”

When she heard this, Miss Crocodile sang out from inside:

“Oh, hubby dear, my hubby dear!
What food have you brought here
For me and baby, dear?”

The jackal winked a very big wink. He crept in softly and stood in the doorway. Miss Crocodile heard him coming, so she held her breath and lay as still as a big log, pretending to be dead.

“Goodness me!” cried Mr. Jackal, pulling out his handkerchief. “How very, very sad! Here is poor Miss Crocodile, dead as a stone, and all for love of me! Oh dear, oh dear! And yet it is very strange. I don’t think she can be quite dead, you know, because dead people always wag their tails!”

At that, Miss Crocodile began to wag her tail very gently, and Mr. Jackal ran off, howling with laughter. “Oho! Oho!” he cried. “So dead people always wag their tails, do they?”

About this story

This comic animal tale comes from Tales of the Punjab, Told by the People, by Flora Annie Steel. In his notes, R. C. Temple says the story has a parallel in most Indian collections, and two among the Brer Rabbit stories of Uncle Remus.

Temple also gives the rhyme in the original Punjabi. Translated, it means: “Jackal, what have you brought home? What have you earned, so that I may have what I need?” The rhyme is newly worded here to keep it bouncy.

Read the original: Flora Annie Steel, Tales of the Punjab (Project Gutenberg #6145, The Jackal and the Crocodile)

Reading guidance: ages 6–8 with an adult to discuss deceptive promises, grabbing a leg and revenge. No character is killed.

A closer reading

The jackal first uses affection as a tool: he promises marriage to obtain two crossings, then withdraws once he is safe. Later he makes the crocodile doubt what she can feel, calling his leg a root. The repeated success of his words shows skill at manipulating expectations; it does not turn the original broken promise into fair treatment.

At the den, the tracks already warn him that someone is inside. His invented greeting and claim about a dead creature’s tail are tests that invite the crocodile to reveal herself. Her attempts at revenge keep placing her inside the rules he invents. The ending rewards his escape with laughter, but leaves no repaired trust between them.

Try this with the story

Choose the root claim, the greeting and the tail claim. Write what the jackal knows before speaking, what he wants the crocodile to do, and how her response helps him. Then compare those traps with the marriage promise: which words test information, and which obtain a favor dishonestly?

Think about it

• What does the jackal promise in exchange for being carried across the stream?
• Why does the crocodile let go of the leg she has already caught?
• What does the jackal learn from the tracks before he calls into the den?
• How could the crocodile protect herself after the broken promise without pursuing revenge?

You may also like

• The Jackal and the Iguana — another Punjabi jackal tale from Steel’s collection
• The Jackal and the Partridge — another tale of a crafty jackal
• The Wise Jackal — another Indian story about a clever jackal