Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/268

 212 THE LION AND THE JACKAL

N a certain part of a forest there lived a Lion named Pointed-Claws. One day this Lion roamed hither and thither, his stomach lean with hunger, without meeting a single animal. But at the hour of sunset he came upon a great cave in the mountains, and entered it, thinking to himself, "Surely some animal must possess this Cave, and will return to it at night. So I will hide myself and wait."

Presently, the possessor of the cave, who was a Jackal named Curd-Tail, returned home, and discovered the line of Lion's foot-prints leading into the Cave, but none coming out again. "Alas! I am a dead Jackal!" he said to himself. "There must surely be a Lion hidden in this Cave. What shall I do? How shall I find out whether a Lion is there or not?"

After a little reflection, the Jackal took his stand at the mouth of the Cave, and began to call out:

"Hello, Cave! Hello, Cave!"

Then after a brief silence he began again, "Say, Cave, have you forgotten our agreement that whenever I came home I was always to call out to you before entering, and that you were to answer? If you don't call back to me, off I go to another Cave, which will answer me."

When the Lion heard this he thought, "Evidently this Cave is in the habit of answering the Jackal when he comes home. But tonight it says nothing because of its fear of me. I will myself call to the Jackal, so that he will think that it is the Cave speaking, and will come in, and I shall have my dinner."

Thus thinking, the Lion called to the Jackal. The Cave was filled