The Hypocritical Jackal

Once a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in
Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a rat, perfect in
wisdom, and as big as a young boar. He had his
dwelling in the forest and many hundreds of other rats
owned his sway.

Now there was a roving jackal who espied this troop
of rats and fell to scheming how to beguile and eat them.
And he took up his stand near their home with his face
to the sun, snuffing up the wind, and standing on one
leg. Seeing this when out on his road in quest of food,
the Bodhisatta conceived the jackal to be a saintly being,
and went up and asked his name.

" ' Godly ' is my name," said the jackal. " Why do you
stand only on one leg ? " " Because if I stood on all four
at once, the earth could not bear my weight. That is
why I stand on one leg only." "And why do you keep
your mouth open?" "To take the air. I live on air;
it is my only food." "And why do you face the sun?"
" To worship him." " What uprightness ! " thought the
Bodhisatta, and thenceforward he made a point of going,
attended by the other rats, to pay his respects morning
and evening to the saintly jackal. And when the rats
were leaving, the jackal seized and devoured the hinder-
most one of them, wiped his lips, and looked as though
nothing had happened. In consequence of this the rats
grew fewer and fewer, till they noticed the gaps in their
ranks, and wondering why this was so, asked the Bodhi-
satta the reason. He could not make it out, but
suspecting the jackal, resolved to put him to the test.
So next day he let the other rats go out first and himself
brought up the rear. The jackal made a spring on the
Bodhisatta who, seeing him coming, faced round and
cried, "So this is your saintliness, you hypocrite and
rascal ! " And he repeated the following stanza :

Where saiutliuess is but a cloak
Whereby to cozen guileless folk
And screen a villain's treachery,
-The cat-like nature there we see.

So saying, the king of the rats sprang at the jackal's
throat and bit his windpipe asunder just under the jaw,
so that he died. Back trooped the other rats and
gobbled up the body of the jackal with a ' crunch, crunch,
crunch ' ; that is to say, the foremost of them did, for they
say there was none left for the last-comers. And ever
after the rats lived happily in peace and quiet.