The jackal and the arrow

Once upon a time, there lived a hunter in a village. He was living there happily with his family. One fine morning, he set out from his home with the intention of hunting a deer in the nearby forest. It was a fortunate day as he saw a deer and killed him instantly. He hung the carcass of the deer over his shoulder and happily started for his home.

The hunter had barely walked a short distance, when he saw a wild boar. He quickly dropped the dear on the ground and shot the boar with an arrow. The arrow pricked the boar’s neck projecting through his back. Before collapsing, the boar gave a fearful groan and killed the hunter with his pointed tusks. In no time, the hunter and the boar, were lying dead at the same spot.

After some time, a jackal passed through that place. He saw a man and a boar, lying dead at the same spot. At a distance, he also found a dead deer. The hungry jackal got crazy to find so much to eat at the same time and that too without any effort. He was overjoyed at the sight of mouth relishing flesh and said, “Ah! What a luck I have! It looks as if I am going to have a feast, but I’ll eat only a little at a time so it will last longer”.

He began to wonder whether to eat the flesh of the man or the animal. He decided to lick the blood first and taste a little flesh stuck around the arrow. But as soon as he put the pointed arrow in his mouth, it pricked his jaws and went through his head. The Jackal died a greedy death on the spot.

Moral: Greed never pays.

(Source: Hitopadesha)