One fine day, as Jackal walked through the woods, he came across a tree he often took afternoon naps under. For politeness’ sakes, he greeted the tree and asked how the day was treating him.
“You won’t believe this,” said the tree, “a man came along and asked me to judge whether it was fair for a tiger to eat him after he let the tiger out of a trap!”
“Oh really?” said Jackal. “What did you tell the man?”
“What do you think?” said the tree. “I give men wood, fruit, and shade from my branches, and get nothing in return! The tiger can eat him and the matter be done for all I care!”
After more small talk, Jackal bid the tree farewell and went on his way. He found the man’s plight interesting, but didn’t think about it for long.
A short while later he came across a buffalo working in a field. Again, for politeness’ sake, Jackal greeted the buffalo and asked him how his day was.
“Oh, the usual,” grumbled the buffalo, “but you won’t believe this. A man came along and asked me to judge whether it was fair for a tiger to eat him after he freed the tiger from a cage!”
“You don’t say,” Jackal said with interest. “How did you respond?”
“What do you think?” the buffalo said. “I work for humans all day plowing their fields, and in return I’m lucky if I get enough food to eat and a dry place to sleep! Humans just take and take, I don’t care if the tiger eats him or not!”
Now pondering the matter a little more, Jackal said his goodbyes to the buffalo and continued on his way. He then came across a road, and, minding his manners, asked the road how he was.
“Same old same old,” the road told him. “But you’ll never guess who I just talked to not 10 minutes ago!”
“Was it a man who wanted to know whether it would be fair to let a tiger eat him after the man freed the tiger from a trap?” Jackal asked dryly.
“Oh,” the road said, a little disappointed. “Well yes, it was.”
“What did you tell him?” Jackal asked.
“What do you think?” the road growled. “Humans walk on me all day and run their carts over me, and all I get in return is the ashes and crumbs of the food they carry, if I’m lucky! If the tiger eats the man, that’s one less person to walk on me.”
Jackal politely said goodbye to the road and continued on, musing over what the tree, buffalo, and road had told him. Now Jackal wasn’t any more fond of humans than the others were; they chased him away from hunting grounds and made it hard for him to find shelter. But he was less fond of the tiger. In the past, the tiger had stolen Jackal’s kill, chased him from water sources, and invaded his sleeping spot. When it came down to it, Jackal would rather that the man be victorious over the tiger, rather than the other way around.
Of course, not one minute after Jackal came to this conclusion, he saw a man with a dejected look on his face walking towards him. Assuming this was the same man with a tiger problem, and deciding this would be his good deed for the season, Jackal politely asked the man why he was so upset.
Naturally, Jackal’s hunch was correct, and the man told him how he had come across a tiger in a cage, and when the creature promised not to eat the man if he let him out, the man took pity and opened the cage door. The tiger had jumped on the man, proclaiming the man a fool for believing him, and after being trapped in the cage for so long, the tiger was hungry. The man convinced the tiger to let him question the first three things he saw about whether this was fair, and to abide by their answers. After asking a tree, a buffalo, and a road, the man was disappointed to hear that they all considered the matter done, and that the man should let the tiger eat him.
Feigning confusion, Jackal asked the man to repeat himself, as he found the whole matter very perplexing. The man did so more slowly. But Jackal asked the man to take him back to the tiger so he could explain, since Jackal was having a hard time understanding.
The man walked him back to the tiger, who was still waiting for the man by the cage. Upon seeing him, the tiger sprang up and licked his lips, proclaiming, “Enough is enough, I’m hungry!”
“Please sir,” said the man, “let me explain the matter to this jackal again, as he says he finds this confusing and wishes to understand.”
The tiger rolled his eyes, but allowed it, thinking he would simply eat the jackal for dessert. The man explained everything to the jackal for a third time, throwing in unnecessary details and taking as long as possible. But when he finally did finish, Jackal shook his head in bafflement.
“What can be so hard to understand?” the tiger asked exasperatedly.
“Forgive me sir, my mind can take a while to grasp things,” groveled Jackal. “Let me see, the man was in the cage and you walked by – no, that’s not it. The man was in you and the cage walked by – wait, that doesn’t make sense. The cage was in the man”–
“No, you moron,” roared the tiger. “I was in the cage and the man walked by”–
“And how did you end up in the cage, sir?” Jackal asked.
“Why, in the usual way, of course!”
“And what, sir, is the usual way?”
“This is the usual way!” yelled the tiger, jumping back in the cage. “Now do you understand the matter?!”
“Oh, I understand it perfectly,” said Jackal, slamming the cage door shut. “And now that I do, I think it’s best things to go back to as they were before.”
Author’s note: I think I liked the story of Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal from Jacob’s collection more than the other options because the trickery is unexpected at the end. We don’t expect for the jackal to come to the rescue of the Brahman, and it’s a surprise ending for the man to come out victorious. I thought it might be interesting to look at Jackal’s reasoning for helping the man, which isn’t looked at in the original version. I also decided to not specify that the man was a member of the Brahman caste, as it didn’t seem relevant to the story, or at least not in my version.
