The Story of a Dam

A great drought lay on the land, and Lion called a number of animals together to work out a way of keeping water when the rains came.

Those who answered his call were Baboon, Leopard, Hyena, Jackal, Hare and Mountain Tortoise.

They decided to scrape out a big hole in a good spot to catch the water, and the next day they all set to work, except Jackal. He kept hanging about the place, and someone heard him mutter that he wasn’t going to wear his nails away digging water-holes.

When the dam was done, the rains fell and soon filled it, and the animals who had worked so hard were delighted. But the very first to come and drink was Jackal. He drank, filled his clay pot, and then went for a swim in what was left, churning it up to make it as muddy and filthy as he could.

When Lion heard of this, he was furious. He ordered Baboon to guard the water the next day, armed with a huge knobkerrie. Baboon hid in a bush beside the water, but Jackal soon noticed him there and guessed why.

Jackal knew how baboons love honey, and a plan came to him at once. He strolled up and down, every so often dipping his fingers into his clay pot and licking them with a look of enormous enjoyment. “Who wants their dirty water,” he murmured to himself, “when I have a whole pot of delicious honey?” This was more than poor Baboon could bear. His mouth began to water, and before long he was begging Jackal for a little honey, saying he had been on watch for hours and was very hungry and tired.

At first Jackal paid him no attention. Then he looked round and said, in a lofty way, that he felt sorry for such a miserable creature and would give him some honey, on certain conditions: Baboon must hand over his knobkerrie and let Jackal tie him up. Baboon foolishly agreed, and was soon bound so tightly that he couldn’t move a hand or foot.

Then Jackal drank the water, filled his pot and swam about right in front of Baboon. Every now and then he told him what an idiot he had been to be fooled so easily: there was no honey and nothing else for him, except a good whack on the head from time to time with his own knobkerrie.

When the animals arrived, they found poor Baboon in this sorry state, looking the very picture of misery. Lion was so enraged that he had Baboon severely punished and declared him a fool.

Then Tortoise stepped forward and offered to catch Jackal. At first everyone thought he was joking, but when he explained how he meant to do it, the plan seemed so workable that they accepted. He suggested that they cover him all over with a thick layer of bijenwerk, a sticky black stuff found on beehives, and that he should then stand at the entrance to the dam, level with the water, so that Jackal would step on him and stick fast. This was done, and Tortoise took up his post.

Next day Jackal came creeping up to the water very carefully, surprised to find nobody there. Then he went down to the edge and remarked how kind they had been to put a big black stepping-stone there for him. But the moment he stepped on the “stone,” he stuck fast, and he knew he had been tricked, because now Tortoise put out his head and started to move. Jackal’s back feet were still free, so he threatened to crush Tortoise with them if he didn’t let go.

“Do as you like,” was all Tortoise said.

So Jackal gave a great jump, and found to his horror that his back feet were stuck too. “Tortoise,” he said, “I still have my mouth and teeth, and I’ll eat you alive if you don’t let me go.”

“Do as you like,” Tortoise answered again.

Struggling to get loose, Jackal finally snapped at Tortoise in desperation, and then he was stuck by his head as well as all four feet. Tortoise, proud of his catch, walked calmly up to the top of the bank with Jackal on his back, where the animals would see him easily as they came to drink.

They were astonished to find how cleverly the cunning Jackal had been taken. Tortoise got plenty of praise, while poor Baboon was reminded all over again of how badly he had done as a guard.

Lion sentenced Jackal to death on the spot, and Hyena was to carry out the sentence. Jackal begged hard for mercy. When he saw it was no use, he made one last request of Lion, who was always, he said, so fair and just: he asked not to be made to die slowly.

Lion asked how he would like to die. Jackal asked that his tail be shaved and rubbed with a little fat, and that Hyena then swing him round twice and smash his head against a stone. Lion thought this fair enough and ordered it done in front of him.

When Jackal’s tail had been shaved and greased, Hyena seized him with all his strength. But before he had even lifted him off the ground, the crafty Jackal had slipped out of his grip and was running for his life, with all the animals chasing him.

Lion led the chase. After a long run, Jackal reached a cliff that hung out over the ground. He stood up on his hind legs, pressed his shoulders against the rock, and shouted to Lion to help, because the rock was falling and would crush them both. Lion braced his shoulders against the rock and pushed with all his might. After a little while Jackal suggested that he should creep out carefully and fetch a big pole to prop the rock up, so that Lion could get out and save himself. Jackal did creep out, and he left Lion there to starve and die.

About this story

“The Story of a Dam” is in James A. Honey’s South-African Folk-Tales (1910). Honey explains the sticky trap himself: bijenwerk is a black, sticky substance found on beehives. The same book’s “The Dance for Water, or Rabbit’s Triumph” uses a close cousin of the trick, with a pitch-covered Tortoise catching Rabbit.

A knobkerrie is a short wooden club with a heavy knob at one end. The tale strings together several of Jackal’s best-known escapes: the honey trick, the greased tail, and the “falling” rock.

Read the original: Honey’s South-African Folk-Tales, free on Project Gutenberg

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult: includes beating, a planned execution and Lion being left to starve to death.

The water dispute grows into something worse

Jackal refuses to work and deliberately fouls the shared water; the problem is more than his thirst. Yet Lion’s response adds further harm: Baboon is punished after being deceived and beaten, and Jackal is sentenced to death. The ending defeats the judge as well as the offender. It does not establish a fair or lasting system for sharing water.

Write a better dam agreement

Separate three questions: who helps maintain the dam, how its water stays clean, and how harm should be repaired. Propose a response to Jackal that protects the water without repeating Lion’s extreme punishment. Include a way to help someone unable to dig, rather than assuming every lack of labour is refusal.

Talk about it

• How did Jackal trick Baboon into giving up his club?
• Why did Tortoise keep answering “Do as you like”?
• Jackal escapes twice at the end. Which trick do you think was cleverer?

Related stories

• The Dance For Water Or Rabbit’s Triumph — a sticky Tortoise catches Rabbit
• Why Spiders Are Always Found In The Corners Of Ceilings — Anansi caught by a sticky figure
• Story Of Lion And Little Jackal — the falling-rock trick again