woods where he soon found and killed a Deer. As he was carrying the Deer home he came upon a wild Boar of huge size. Laying the Deer on the ground, he fixed and shot an arrow, wounding the Boar, which instantly rushed upon him with a roar louder than the roar of thunder, and ripped the Hunter open with his sharp tusks. The Hunter fell like a tree cut down by the axe, and lay dead between the Boar and a Snake, which had also been killed and crushed under their feet as they fought. Presently a Jackal, whose name was Howl-o'Nights, passed that way, prowling in search of food; and his eye fell upon the Hunter, the Deer, the Boar and the Snake, all lying dead together. "Aha!" said Howl-o'Nights, "what luck! Good fortune can come, I see, as well as ill fortune. Now let me think: the man will make fine pickings for a month; the Deer and the Boar, between them, will last me two months more; the Snake will do for to-morrow; and, as I am unusually hungry, I will treat myself now to this bit of strong-smelling bow-string."
So saying, the Jackal began to gnaw the sinew of which the bow-string was made. Presently, the string snapped apart, and the bow sprang back and pierced the heart of greedy Howl-o'Nights.
(Hitopadeça. Book I. Fable 6. Adapted from translation by Sir Edwin Arnold.)
THE OLD JACKAL AND THE ELEPHANT
IN the Forest of Brahma there lived an Elephant whose name was White-Front. The Jackals all knew him, and said among themselves: "If that big brute would only die there would be four months' food, and plenty out of his carcass." At this, an old Jackal stood up and pledged himself to find some way to bring about the
