Chaturaka the Jackal and the Camel
A jackal talks a camel into offering himself up, then talks his fellow jackal away from the meat, then frightens the lion off it as well.
In a certain forest lived a lion named Vajradanshtra, and in his service were two jackals, Chaturaka and Kravyamukha.
One day the lion killed a pregnant she-camel, and a live calf came out of her. Having eaten his fill of the mother with his household, the lion in a fit of tenderness spared the calf and said: "Little one, you need not fear death; roam this forest as you please. Your ears are like tent-pegs, so your name shall be Shankukarna." The camel stayed with them, grazing and playing, and grew sleek and strong.
One day the lion fought a wild elephant. Its tusks left him so badly torn that walking itself was hard. The hunting stopped, and his servants grew desperate with hunger.
Chaturaka reasoned: "Shankukarna is standing right here — but the master has given him his pledge. Only wit will manage this." He and the others went to the lion and raised the matter. The lion refused, invoking his pledge of safety. Then Chaturaka said: "Master, if he offers his own body of his own accord, and you promise him twice that body in return, no duty is broken."
They all went to Shankukarna and played that same game — each in turn offering himself, and each time somebody raising an objection. The guileless camel, following the pattern, stepped forward and offered his own body — and was killed on the instant.
Now the lion went to the river to bathe and make his offerings, leaving Chaturaka to guard the meat. Chaturaka thought: "How do I get this whole camel to myself?" He said to Kravyamukha: "Brother, you are starving; eat now, before the master returns — I will clear you with him." The moment Kravyamukha put his mouth to the meat, Chaturaka shouted: "Run! The master is coming!" and Kravyamukha bolted into hiding. The lion returned, saw the meat had been fouled, and blazed up — and Chaturaka laid the whole blame on Kravyamukha, who fled the forest for good.
Just then a train of loaded camels came into view in the distance, the leader wearing a great bell whose clanging carried far. The lion asked: "What is that harsh sound? I have never heard it before." Chaturaka went a little way, came racing back panting: "Master, run — if you still can! It is Dharmaraja, furious with you: 'He killed our camel out of season,' he says, and he is coming to take a thousand camels from you in return. And the dead camel's father is coming with him, in a terrible shape!"
The wounded lion heard the bell tolling nearer, abandoned the meat where it lay, and fled — and Chaturaka ate that entire camel, alone, for many days.
So it is said: for the wits of the clever, nothing at all is impossible.
अवध्यश्चाथवागम्यमकृत्यं नास्ति किंचन । लोके बुद्धिमतां बुद्धेस्तस्मात्किं विनियोजयेत् ॥
Moral: For the wits of the clever there is nothing in this world that cannot be killed, reached or done — so what will their wits not accomplish?
From the Panchatantra, Book I — The Loss of Friends.
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