Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/149

Rh own jackal ; for tigers always have a jackal of their own, who, as it were, waits at table and clears away the bones.

'My lord! my lord!' cried the jackal,'whither away so fast?'

'Run! rin!' panted the tiger; 'there's the very devil of a horseman in onder fields, who thinks nothing of eating three tigers for breakfast!'

At this the jackal sniggered in his sleeve.'My dear lord.' said he,'the sun has dazzled your eyes!That was no horseman, but only the farmer's wife dressed up as a man!'

{gap}}'Are you quite sure?' asked the tiger, pausing.

'Quite sure, my lord,' repeated the jackal; 'and if your lordship's eyes had not been dazzled byahem!the sun, your lordship would have seen her pigtail hanging down behind.'

'But you may be mistaken!' persisted the cowardly tiger; 'it was the very devil of a horseman to look ar!'

'Who's afraid?'replied the brave jackal 'Come! don't give up your dinner because of a woman!'

'But you may be bribed to betray me!' argued the tiger, who, like all cowards, was suspicious.

'Let us go together, then!' returned the gallant jackal.

'Nay! but you may take me there and then run away!' insisted the tiger cunningly

'In that case, let us tie our tails together, and then I can't!' The jackal, you see, was determined not to be done out of his bones.

To this the tiger agreed, and having tied their