The jackal used to go every day to a certain tank to drink:  and to reach the water he used to sit on the root of an arjun tree which projected from the bank.  The crocodile observed this habit and one day lay in wait under the water by the arjun tree and when the jackal came to drink caught him by the leg.  The jackal did not lose his presence of mind but called out “What a fool of a crocodile to catch hold of the root of the tree instead of my leg.”  On hearing this the crocodile let go its hold and the jackal laughed and ran away.

Every day the jackal used to lie in the sun on the top of a stack of straw.  The crocodile found this out and buried itself in the straw and waited for the jackal.  That day it happened that the jackal found a sheep-bell and tied it round his neck so that it tinkled as he ran.  When it heard the bell the crocodile said “What a bother!  I am waiting for the jackal and here comes a sheep tinkling its bell.”  The jackal heard the crocodile’s exclamation and so detected the trick; he at once went and fetched a light and set fire to the heap of straw and the crocodile was burnt to death.

CXXIV.  The Fool and His Dinner.

A man once went to visit his mother-in-law and for dinner they gave him rice with a relish made of young bamboo shoots.  The man liked it extremely and thought that it was meat, but he saw no pieces of meat; so he asked his mother-in-law what it was made of; and behind him was a door made of bamboos:  so the mother-in-law said, “I have cooked that which is behind you;” and he looked round and saw the door; so he resolved to carry off the door, as it made such good eating, and in the middle of the night he took it off the hinges and ran away with it.  In the morning the door was missed and the mother-in-law guessed what had happened and had a hearty laugh.

Meanwhile the man went home with the door and chopped it up and gave the pieces to his wife to cook; the wife said that it was useless to cook dry chips but he insisted and said that her mother had made a beautiful dish of them.  So they were cooked and the man sat down to eat; but they were all hard and tasteless; then he scolded his wife and she told him to cook them himself if he was not pleased; so he cooked some himself and the result was the same; and his wife laughed at him and when the villagers heard of it they nicknamed him “Silly”, and used to call the name after him when they met him.

CXXV.  The Stingy Daughter.

Once a man went to visit his married daughter:  he intended to arrive in time for dinner; so though he passed some edible herbs on the way he did not stop to eat them.