The Jackal Story

Long ago in a forest full of all types of animals there lived a lion. Just one! So he was respected by all the animals in the forest. He was the undisputed king of the forest. He was a big lion and with his powerful muscles and long mane and graceful walk he looked very noble and fearsome and strong. He was afraid of nothing!

One day during a big storm the lion came across a thin jackal shivering and howling under a big tree. The lion was curious and looked around but saw nothing around that could frighten the jackal so much. He quietly went up to the jackal and asked him what the matter was. The jackal had not seen or heard the lion come near and was so frightened when he saw the lion in front that he could not even run away. The lion came nearer and asked again what the matter was. The jackal whispered, and the lion had to thrust his face close to the jackals face to hear, the jackal said, ‘I’m afraid.’ It took the lion some time to understand what the jackal meant. Then he ROOARED with laughter.

‘ROOARHAHAHAHAHA!’

When he could stop laughing he asked, ‘Afraid of me?’

‘Yes’, said the jackal, ‘but before you came I was afraid of the storm.’ The lion wanted to know why anybody would be afraid of an ordinary storm. He found out that the jackal was afraid of many other things as well.


The lion felt sorry for the thin hungry looking jackal and told him, ‘You can stay with me and eat whatever is left over after I eat.’ The jackal was very happy with this arrangement. Actually you see, he was so thin because he was frightened of everything and had not really been getting enough to eat.

Soon with the help of a regular meal, the jackal became healthy and strong. The other animals respected him because he was always with the lion and when the jackal noticed this he also started looking somewhat noble and somewhat majestic and somewhat lion-like. He was still afraid of many things but talking to the lion about it he was becoming braver and less afraid.

And the lion? You see, as he talked to the jackal he started hearing about the things that frightened the jackal and strangely, soon started seeing the jackal’s viewpoint. This meant that the first time a really big thunderstorm happened and a big tree nearby got hit by lightning and loud thunder tore the air – the lion jumped in fright. It only got worse as the lion started experiencing more of the jackals’ fears and helping the jackal become less afraid.

Soon one day the lion didn’t kill a big buffalo with fearsome horns and the lion and jackal had to go hungry. The jackal understood that somehow the lion had become more afraid of things and he had become less afraid. So he talked to the lion about it bravely and from that day onwards they hunted together and the animals in the forest began to respect the jackal as much as the lion.

(Illustrated by my 7 year old son Dinkar)