“The lion did not know and did not care what the animals were thinking, nor what the jackal was planning.  A wise king surely would not make such a mistake.” “Sometimes even the wise are fooled, Your Majesty, as in the tale of the drum,” the storyteller replied.  “Which drum?” asked the king.  The storyteller bowed and told him the next story.

“The jackal failed to do so once, and it was his death. You see, he found a hunter's bow, the string of which was newly made from sheep gut. The jackal liked the smell, so he started chewing on it. The string snapped, so that the bow jumped and hit him on the head. It killed him. Or like the puddle of blood another jackal found and began to lick at once, without paying attention to what went on around him. The blood came from two wild boars who were fighting. When they suddenly ran at each other again, the poor jackal found himself between the mighty beasts with their formidable tusks. His bones were crushed when they met.”