The Jackal and The Tortoise

One day a jackal failed to find food, however much he tried. At last, he came upon a strange creature going along at a slow pace. It was a tortoise. The jackal jumped on the beast, held it by its short tail, and hit it on its back.

But the back of the tortoise was so hard and strong that nothing happened when the jackal hit it except that the jackal got a sore foot. The tortoise recognised the jackal and said, “Why are you hitting me?”

“I want to eat you,” said the jackal. “How is it that you have such a hardback?”

“You may drown me,” said the tortoise, “but there is no other way you can kill me.”

At once, the jackal took it to the nearby river, held it underwater for some time and then asked, “Are you dead yet?”

“Pull me out!” said the tortoise. “You are killing me. Leave that root and catch my tail and haul me up!”

Thinking that it was the root of some tree that he was holding, the jackal let go of the tortoise’s tail, and promptly the tortoise swam away.