A little jackal and a camel lived for a long time in the same village. The jackal was always full of fun and always ready to play tricks on his friends.
One summer morning the jackal could find very few fish on the shore and he was very hungry. On the other side of the river, he knew were many crabs and fishes, but he could not swim very well and he was afraid that he would drown. His friend the camel did not care for fish, but he was always glad to get some sugar-cane. The jackal came to the camel and said, “On the other side of the river is a place where you can find some sugar-cane. Carry me across the river on your back and I will show you the place. Then you can eat the sugar-cane while I try to find some fish and crabs.”
The camel was happy to take the jackal on his back. When they reached the other side, the jackal hunted for crabs and fish while the camel ate sugar-cane. Before long the jackal had eaten enough, but the hunger of the camel was not satisfied so soon. After a time the jackal began to sing and shout as loudly as he could. Some people heard the shouting and the singing and they came running down the road with sticks to beat the thieves who were stealing the sugar-cane. The jackal raced away very fast as soon as he heard the people coming, but the poor camel was still eating and was beaten black and blue.
Not many minutes later the jackal came back and said, “Do you want to go back now? It’s getting late and it’s time that we were leaving.”
“Yes,” answered the camel, “get on my back and I’ll carry you across.”
When the camel got to the middle of the stream where the water was very deep, he turned his head toward the jackal and said, “That was a mean trick you played me. You made so much noise that the people beat me. Why did you do it?”
“Oh, it is just a habit I have of singing and shouting for joy after I have eaten,” answered the jackal.
“That’s queer,” answered the camel. “I have a very different habit after eating. I always roll over.” So saying, the camel rolled over and the jackal sank and was drowned.
