Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, Wolf tried for days and days to think of a way to trick old Jackal so that he'd never forget it. But, try as he might, Wolf didn't seem to come up with a good enough plan.
Cross and frustrated, he trotted off into the bush, where whom should he meet but Honey-Badger. Honey-Badger was digging out a hive of bees.
"Why, goodness me, brother Honey-Badger, don't tell me you're after honey again?"
"What can I do?" asked Honey-Badger plaintively, continuing to scabble away. "When my back was turned, that rascally Jackal sneaked off with the bag of honey I'd collected for the winter. Now I've got to start all over again."
"Brother Badger," suggested Wolf, "Why don't we two get together and think of a way to teach Jackal a lesson? We've just got to make him give up his dirty tricks once and for all. I've been sitting around all day trying to think of something, but I can't seem to come up with anything. I expect my mother hit me over the head once too often with the firewood when I was a cub...."
"Well, well," grinned Honey-Badger. "Now it so happens that I've been giving the matter some thought myself, and I have a very nice little plan for you, brother Wolf. Take this piece of honeycomb and go past Jackal's house. You know as well as I do how inquisitive he is. He'll stop you and ask where you found it. You just say :'Badger gave the honeycomb to me, but where he got it from is a secret and I cant' tell anyone.'"
"But how's that going to get Jackal into trouble?" interrupted Wolf.
"Let me finish," growled Badger. He pointed with his paw at a nearby cliff. "There's a cave up there where Mrs Leopard lives with her four cubs. Now listen carefully. After Jackal fairly begs you to tell him where you found the honey, you must agree to show him, provided he promises not to tell a soul. Then you lead him up to Mrs Leopard's cave and say, 'Deep in the cave, Brother Jackal, is the honeycomb. Go in and see for yourself.' Once he's inside you just roll a big stone over the entrance. And when Mrs Leopard finds Jackal inside her cave with those babies of hers, she'll just make mincemeat of him."
Off went Wolf to do as Badger had suggested. He gave Jackal a piece of honeycomb and made him so anxious to find the hive that old Jackal could hardly keep still. After Wolf had let Jackal beg him for a bit, Wolf pretended to give in and led Jackal to the cliff and up to Mrs Leopard's cave. The moment Jackal jumped into the dark hole, bang!
Wolf rolled the stone into the place and there was Jackal trapped inside. But, luckily for Jackal, Mrs Leopard was out. At first Jackal ran up and down in terror for he knew what Mrs Leopard would do to him when she came home and found him there. But after a while he got a grip on himself and sat down to wait quietly, just as if nothing were wrong.
In the meantime Wolf was as pleased as a dog with two tails and he dashed off to tell Badger the good news. Before long the two of them were rolling on the ground with laughter at the thought of all the trouble Jackal must be in.
When that cunning Jackal saw Mrs Leopard coming home, however, he called out, "Oh, Mrs Leopard, it's me, Jackal, here with your children! I arrived just in time to save them from Wolf who was about to pounce on them and eat them up. I just managed to roll that stone shut in the nick of time. I'm afraid Wolf's lurking nearby. Don't open the door, but let me pass your babies out to you one by one so that you can give them some milk. I shall look after them most tenderly for you. And see for yourself if Wolf's track doesn't lead to the cave!"
Mrs Leopard looked and, sure enough, there were Wolf's footprints in the dust. She bounded off to find Wolf and settle scores with him. And while she was gone Jackal gobbled up one of her cubs.
When Mrs Leopard came back, Jackal told her how nicely her children were playing and he handed them out, one by one, to be fed. When it was the fourth cub's turn to drink he passed out the first one again and Mrs Leopard was satisfied that her cubs were alive and well in Jackal's care.
When Mrs Leopard went off to try and find Wolf a second time, Jackal ate another baby. When Mrs Leopard returned, he passed out the two remaining cubs. Each cub drank twice and Mrs Leopard never noticed. Once again she left to look for wolf and Jackal gobbled up another cub. Now there was only one left.
This time when Mrs Leopard came to feed her cub, jackal passed him out for times, but the last time he was too full to drink again. "Ah, the poor little thing is still half asleep," explained Jackal. "Don't worry about him, though, for as you can see his stomach is still full to bursting from he last time. Next time he'll wake up and drink."
And when Mrs Leopard left to look for Wolf once again, he ate up the last remaining baby. When she came back Jackal made a sign with his paw when she was still far away. "Shhhh!" he whispered, "Wolf is lying in wait in the shadows over there. Roll away the stone, Mrs Leopard, and let me out. Quietly does it. Now, if you go round that way, and I go round this way, we shall trap Wolf between us and you can finish him off!"
Mrs Leopard rolled away the stone and Jackal slunk out of the cave. "Dear Mrs Leopard," he whispered, "you stand here and wait till you hear me bark to frighten wolf. He'll come running past this way and you'll catch him and teach him a lesson he won't forget!"
Mrs Leopard waited patiently for Jackal to bark and for Wolf to come scurrying by. She waited and waited. And waited and waited. And at last she got tired of waiting and went to see what had happened to Jackal. But Jackal by then was far, far away.
Then a terrible thought occurred to Mrs Leopard and she rushed back to the cave and saw that Jackal had eaten up all her babies. In a fury she cried that when next she met Jackal she would show him no mercy.
And from that time on Jackal has had to be very, very careful to stay well out of Mrs Leopard's way.
Story Time � 1984-1989 by Rubicon Press CC