The Hunter, the Boar and the Greedy Jackal
A hunter and a boar kill each other in one exchange. A jackal arrives to find days of food — and decides to begin with the bowstring.
In a certain forest a Pulinda hunter went out to hunt. In his wandering he came upon a great boar, huge as a mountain peak.
Seeing it, the hunter drew his bow to his ear and struck it with a sharp arrow. Stung, the boar charged in fury and ripped open the hunter's belly with its tusks. The man fell like a felled tree and died on the spot.
But the boar did not survive either — in a little while the arrow-wound killed it too.
Just then a jackal, faint with hunger, came wandering by. He saw them both lying dead — hunter and boar. Delighted, he said: "Fortune favours me today. This good thing come without labour is the fruit of some earlier life. Now I shall eat in such a way that my living is provided for many days.
"Wealth one has earned should be enjoyed slowly, the way a tonic is taken in measured doses. So let me first chew the gut string on the tip of this bow, and save the great meal for later."
Having decided this, he put the tip of the bow in his mouth and began gnawing at the string. The moment the string snapped, the bow-tip sprang up with force, pierced his palate and came out through the top of his skull — like a crest sprouting on his head. He died of it on the instant.
So it is said: do not let greed run to excess — and do not throw desire away altogether.
अतितृष्णा न कर्तव्या तृष्णां नैव परित्यजेत् । अतितृष्णाभिभूतस्य शिखा भवति मस्तके ॥
Moral: Do not let desire run to excess — yet do not throw desire away altogether. For the one whom excess greed overcomes, a crest sprouts on his head.
From the Panchatantra, Book II — The Winning of Friends.
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