‘Ah, ha!’ said Jackal, leaving his den on the top of a rocky outcrop. ‘There’s Lion. It looks as though he’s out hunting. A good time for some fun and games …’ Jackal thought as he clambered down the rockface.
Quietly, Jackal slinked behind Lion, imitating the bushy-maned Lion’s cat-like walk as he ambled through the long grass.
Suddenly Lion roared and caught black-backed Jackal so by surprise that he stopped dead in his tracks. Lion swung around quickly and said: ‘Oh! It’s YOU again, Jackal!’
Jackal took a few timid steps backwards. ‘Food is scarce, Lion, and I have four young pups at home who are s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g!’
Lion felt sorry for Jackal and said: ‘Come and hunt with me, Jackal. If we catch a small buck you can have it. But if we take a large antelope, it’s mine.’
‘Agreed,’ yapped Jackal.
So Lion and Jackal went hunting together, Jackal trotting a few steps behind Lion.
‘What’s that?’ asked Jackal, spotting movement in the trees ahead. ‘Eland’ whispered Lion, stopping to observe the buck. They could see Eland’s short spiral horns through a gap in the tree’s foliage as the buck tore leaves from the branches.
Lion stalked his prey, crouching low in the under-growth, and then leapt into action. He took the eland with some ease, and then, standing proudly over his victim, turned to Jackal and said: ‘Go home and tell my cubs to come and eat, Jackal. I’ll continue hunting in the meantime.’
‘Alright,’ grumbled Jackal, slinking rather reluctantly off into the bush.
He kept glancing over his shoulder and when he saw Lion disappear over the hill, he changed direction and crept off to his own den.
‘My family is starving,’ wailed Jackal as he climbed the rocks. ‘I’d be a fool not to tell my own hungry pups about it.’
‘Children,’ cried Jackal, ‘I have made a wonderful kill. Come and get all the spoils I have left for you.’
Back in the bush, Jackal kept guard while his little pups took the meat home. Carefully they climbed back up to their home among the rocks. Although Lion continued to hunt that day, Jackal didn’t see him again. When Jackal grew tired of waiting for him, he went home to find his pups full and satisfied.
Later that day, Lion returned home and found that his cubs had been lulled to sleep by the warm afternoon sun. As soon as he lay down in the shade beside them, they woke up.
‘Children, did Jackal come and tell you to go and get the eland meat?’
‘No,’ said the children, ‘And we are s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g!’
Lion was furious. He stood up, left his family and ran towards Jackal’s den. When he crossed the little stream near Jackal’s house, he could hear the young jackal cubs yelling and frolicking in their home on the top of the rocks.
He tried to climb the rock up to the den, but the jackal pups threw rocks down at him. His paws couldn’t grip the smooth rock and he kept slipping. ‘I’ll wait in the bushes beside the stream,’ thought Lion. ‘Sooner or later Jackal will want a drink.’
But the sun was hot, and Lion began to doze. He did not see Jackal as he approached the stream. But Jackal saw Lion partly hidden among the reeds and immediately turned tail and ran. The swish of his feet in the long, dry grass woke Lion and he quickly leapt up and gave chase.
‘Rascal!’ cried Lion. ‘Why didn’t you tell my cubs …’
But Jackal heard no more. Seeing a small hole under a tree, Jackal crouched down low, dived into it headfirst and was almost clear when Lion caught up with him. He grabbed the end of Jackal’s strong black tail and pulled it as hard as he could.
‘Don’t think you’re holding my tail,’ wailed Jackal. ‘It’s a root from this tree!’ Lion was holding his tail so tight and the pain was so great that Jackal had to try very hard not to yell.
‘Nonsense,’ said Lion. ‘You can’t fool me.’
‘Then take a sharp stone and beat my tail with it,’ urged Jackal. ‘If you draw blood, it’s my tail. If you don’t, it’s a root.’
‘How clever,’ thought Lion, wondering where he could find a sharp stone. ‘I’ll prove him wrong’.
But when Lion let go of Jackal’s tail, Jackal slithered further and further into the hole just as he did when he was using Aardvark’s abandoned burrow.
When Lion returned with his stone and found Jackal gone, he flung it down on the ground. ‘I’m not being fooled that easily,’ he roared angrily.
‘I’ll wait for Jackal to come out of the hole.’
After many hours, Jackal grew bored lying alone in the cold, damp hole. Besides, it was almost dark and he wanted to return to his family. He crept to the entrance and peeped out with his long ears alert.
‘No sign of Lion,’ he thought. ‘I’m safe.’
He wriggled to the surface and when he stepped out into the dusk and the sound of cicadas chirping around him, Jackal yelled loudly: ‘I can see you, Lion. I know you are hiding right here.’
Lion lay still, not moving until Jackal had moved just a little closer to him. Then Lion leapt up and gave chase with great powerful strides and he was just about to catch him, when Jackal sprung up onto the rock that led up to his den.
‘I’ll get him,’ Lion said to himself. ‘I’ll wait until he goes out hunting again.’
And so Lion waited, and waited, and waited. And it wasn’t long before Jackal was driven out to hunt by his hungry pups. Lion watched as Jackal sneaked out of his den and climbed down the rocks. Quietly, Lion padded up behind Jackal without him knowing, and let out a loud roar. Jackal could not escape, and cringed in fear before the powerful beast.
The golden-maned Lion was just about to spring on Jackal, when Jackal said:
‘Wait Lion, look at what I see over there in the shadowy light. A pair of bushbuck …’
The thought of a buck immediately diverted Lion’s attention, and he looked over at the bushbuck.
‘You can help me hunt them. Just wait here, Lion, and I’ll go round to the other side and chase them so that they run towards you.’
‘Good idea,’ said Lion, crouching down on his haunches, hidden by the long grass. ‘I’m ready.’
And from his den at the top of the rocky crevice, Jackal watched as Lion lay in wait for the bushbuck.
‘Another day of fun and games,’ said Jackal smugly.
The Trickster
The trickster appears frequently in African folktales. He manoeuvres situations to his own advantage and is able to trick not only buck but the mighty king of the beasts, the lion, too. And yet, with all his cunning, he is never able to trick the humble tortoise, who always shows great wisdom and understanding. The role of the deceitful and greedy trickster is often played by the wily jackal, and he is traditionally treated with suspicion and distrust.