The Jackal at the Ram-Fight

A wandering monk named Godly was travelling with a young disciple called June. Godly kept a store of money hidden in his robe, and because June seemed so good and helpful, the old man trusted him completely. On the road Godly left his robe with June and sat down to rest, feeling quite carefree.

As he rested, he saw a flock of rams, and two of them were fighting. Again and again they pulled apart and then charged at each other, their hard, flat foreheads crashing together until blood ran freely.

The sight brought a hungry jackal. Greedy for meat, he crept right in between the two rams and began to lick up the blood.

Godly watched and thought, “What a stupid jackal. If he happens to be in between them when they crash together, he will certainly be killed. That much is plain.”

The rams drew back and charged again. The greedy jackal, still licking at the blood, did not move out of the way. He was caught between the two crashing heads and killed on the spot.

Godly shook his head sadly. “The jackal at the ram-fight,” he murmured, and he got up to go and collect his money. But June had vanished, and when Godly searched his robe, the money was gone. He fell to the ground in a faint. When he came round, he cried out, “I have been robbed! June, June, where have you gone?” and set off slowly after his disciple’s footprints.

About this fable

This little scene comes from the opening tales of Book I, “The Loss of Friends,” in Arthur W. Ryder’s 1925 Panchatantra. The monk Godly sees the jackal’s mistake at once but fails to see the one in front of him: his trusted disciple is running away with his money. In the book his search for June leads straight into the next tale, “The Weaver’s Wife.”

The site’s old title spoke of goats; in Ryder the fighters are rams.

Read the original: Arthur W. Ryder, The Panchatantra (1925), Internet Archive

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12; includes blood and an animal crushed to death, followed by a theft and fainting.

A closer reading

Godly predicts the jackal’s death accurately. His failure is not an inability to reason, but a failure to apply scrutiny to the situation in which he is personally involved. The visible danger between the rams distracts him from a less dramatic danger beside him.

The parallel is imperfect in a useful way. The jackal chooses a dangerous place for an immediate meal; Godly is betrayed by someone he has trusted. Calling both simply greedy would erase June’s responsibility for stealing. The frame invites self-examination without making the victim the author of the theft.

Try this with the story

Write one sentence beginning ‘Godly can see…’ and another beginning ‘Godly cannot see…’ Use a concrete detail in each. Then explain how June’s actions differ from the rams’ predictable movement.

Think about it

• What makes the jackal’s danger predictable?
• Why is Godly’s own danger less visible?
• How does June remain responsible even if Godly is too trusting?

You may also like

• The Story of the Blue Jackal — another greedy Panchatantra jackal
• The Jackal and the Drum — a jackal hunting for an easy meal
• The Tiger, the Ram and the Jackal — rams and jackals in another folk tale