The Panchatantra (Purnabhadra's Recension of 1199 CE)/Book 1/The Blue Jackal
THE BLUE JACKAL
There was once a jackal named Fierce-Howl, who lived in a cave near the suburbs of a city. One day he was hunting for food, his throat pinched with hunger, and wandered into the city after nightfall. There the city dogs snapped at his limbs with their sharp-pointed teeth, and terrified his heart with their dreadful barking, so that he stumbled this way and that in his efforts to escape and happened into the house of a dyer. There he tumbled into a tremendous indigo vat, and all the dogs went home.
Presently the jackal—further life being predestined—managed to crawl out of the indigo vat and escaped into the forest. There all the thronging animals in his vicinity caught a glimpse of his body dyed with the juice of indigo, and crying out: "What is this creature enriched with that unprecedented color?" they fled, their eyes dancing with terror, and spread the report: "Oh, oh! Here is an exotic creature that has dropped from somewhere. Nobody knows what his conduct might be, or his energy. We are going to vamoose. For the proverb says:
Where you do not know
Conduct, stock, and pluck,
'Tis not wise to trust,
If you wish for luck."
Now Fierce-Howl perceived their dismay, and called to them: "Come, come, you wild things! Why do you flee in terror at sight of me? For Indra, realizing that the forest creatures have no monarch, anointed me—my name is Fierce-Howl—as your king. Rest in safety within the cage formed by my resistless paws."
On hearing this, the lions, tigers, leopards, monkeys, rabbits, gazelles, jackals, and other species of wild life bowed humbly, saying: "Master, prescribe to us our duties." Thereupon he appointed the lion prime minister and the tiger lord of the bedchamber, while the leopard was made custodian of the king's betel, the elephant doorkeeper, and the monkey the bearer of the royal parasol. But to all the jackals, his own kindred, he administered a cuffing, and drove them away. Thus he enjoyed the kingly glory, while lions and others killed food-animals and laid them before him. These he divided and distributed to all after the manner of kings.
While time passed in this fashion, he was sitting one day in his court when he heard the sound made by a pack of jackals howling near by. At this his body thrilled, his eyes filled with tears of joy, he leaped to his feet, and began to howl in a piercing tone. When the lions and others heard this, they perceived that he was a jackal, and stood for a moment shamefaced and downcast, then they said: "Look! We have been deceived by this jackal. Let the fellow be killed." And when he heard this, he endeavored to flee, but was torn to bits by a tiger and died.
"And that is why I say:
Whoever leaves his friends, . . . .
and the rest of it."
Then Rusty asked: "How am I to recognize that he is treacherous? And what is his fighting technique?" And Victor answered: "Formerly he would come into the presence of my lord and king with limbs relaxed. If today he approaches timidly, in obvious readiness to thrust with his horns, then the king may understand that he has treachery in mind."
Hereupon Victor rose and visited Lively. To him, also, he showed himself sluggish, like one penetrated by discouragement. Therefore Lively said: "My good fellow, are you in spirits?" To which he replied: "How can a dependent be in spirits? For you know
They see their wealth in others' power
Who wait upon a king;
They even fear to lose their lives:
A doleful song they sing.
Again:
With birth begin the sorrows which
Forever after cling,
The never ending train of woes
In service of a king.
Five deaths-in-life sage Vyasa notes
With well-known epic swing:
The poor man, sick man, exile, fool,
And servant of a king.
His food repels; he dare not say
An independent thing;
Though sleepless, he is not awake
Who hangs upon a king.
The common phrase 'a dog's life' has
A most persuasive ring:
But dogs can do the things they like;
A slave obeys his king.
He must be chaste, sleep hard, grow thin,
And eat a meager dinner:
The servant lives as lives the saint,
Yet is not saint, but sinner.
He cannot do the things he would;
He serves another's mind;
He sells his body. How can such
A wretch contentment find?
According to the lesser distance,
A servant uses more persistence
In watching for his master's whim
And trembling at the sight of him:
And this because a fire, a king,
Are double name for single thing,
A burning thing that men can stand
Afar, but not too close at hand.
What flavor has a tidbit, though
It be as good as good,
Soft, dainty, melting in the mouth,
If bought by servitude?
To sum it all up:
What is my place? My time? My friends?
Expenditure or dividends?
And what am I? And what my power?
So must one ponder hour by hour."
After listening to this, Lively said, perceiving that Victor had a hidden purpose in mind: "Tell me, my good fellow, what you wish to imply." And Victor answered: "Well, you are my friend. I cannot help telling you what is to your profit. Here goes. The master, Rusty, is filled with wrath against you. And he said today: 'I will kill Lively and provide a feast for all who eat meat.' Of course, I fell into deep dejection on hearing this. Now you must do what the crisis demands."
To Lively this report was like the fall of a thunderbolt, and he fell into deep dejection. Yet as Victor's words were always plausible, he grew more and more troubled, fell into a panic, and said: "Yes, the proverb is right:
Women oft are tricked by scamps;
Kings with rascals oft agree;
Toward the skinflints money drifts,
Rain on mountains falls and sea.
Ah, me! Ah, me! What is this that has befallen me?
You serve your king most heedfully.
Of course. Who could complain?
But enmity as your reward
Is unexpected pain.
And again:
If one is angry, giving cause,
Remove it, and the wrath will pause:
But how may man propitiate
A mind that harbors causeless hate?
Who does not fear the scoundrel's art,
The causeless hate, the flinty heart?
For ever ready venom drips
Resistless from his serpent-lips.
The stupid king-swan pecks by night
At starshine, in the water bright,
Believing it a lotus white;
Then, fearing stars when shines the sun,
Avoids the lotus. Everyone
Who dreads a trap, will blessings shun.
Alas! What wrong have I done our master Rusty?"
"Comrade," said Victor, "kings love to injure without reason, and they seek out the vulnerable spot in an adversary." "True, too true," said Lively. "There is wisdom in the verse:
The serpent sandal-trees defiles;
In lotus-ponds lurk crocodiles;
The slanderer makes virtue vain:
No blessing lacks attendant pain.
No lotus decks the mountain height;
From scoundrels issues nothing right;
To saints no change of heart is known;
Rice never sprouts from barley sown.
Nobility's constraints
Are felt by gracious saints,
Who bear good deeds in mind
Forget the other kind.
"Yet, after all, the fault is mine, because I made advances to a false friend. As the story goes:
Harsh talk, untimely action,
False friends—are worse than vain:
The swan in lilies sleeping,
Was by the arrow slain."
"How was that?" asked Victor. And Lively told the story of