The Jackal and the War Drum

A jackal named Gomayu, his throat thin with hunger, was wandering here and there. His roaming brought him to a forest where two armies had once fought and the field now lay deserted. A war drum had been left behind there. Whenever the wind blew, the branch of a creeper fell against it, and the drum boomed out a deep, rolling note.

At that sudden thunder the jackal's heart shook. "I am dead! Let me run from here before whatever owns this voice sets eyes on me." But then he checked himself and thought: "It is not right to abandon the forest of my fathers out of fear. First let me find out whose sound this is."

Gathering his courage he crept forward — and saw no creature at all, only a drum lying there, played by a swinging branch. With the fear gone, greed woke up: "Such a deep voice! It must be packed with meat and fat inside. After many days, a great meal at last."

With much effort he tore through the drumhead, made a hole, and squeezed happily inside — and found nothing whatever, only dry wood. His teeth were broken and his mouth was raw. Crestfallen, he said: "I knew from the start the thing was hollow — but greed would not let me believe it."

Having told the tale, Damanaka said to Pingalaka: "Master, it is not fitting to fear a sound alone. Conch and horn, lute and voice, man and woman — all prove worthy or worthless according to who wields them. First find out who it is that roars."

भये वा यदि वा हर्षे संप्राप्ते यो विमर्शयेत् । कृत्यं न कुरुते वेगान्न स संतापमाप्नुयात् ॥

Moral: Whether fear comes or delight, the one who first stops to think, and does not act in haste, never has to repent.

From the Panchatantra, Book I — The Loss of Friends.