Week 7 Story: What the Jackal Did

What the Jackal Did, based on The Jackal and the Crocodiles (Santal Folklore from "Folklore of the Santal Parganas" translated by C. H. Bompas)

"What did you do to get yourself in here, Pop?"

The old Jackal scowled at his new cellmate, a young, robust Hare who was covered from head to toe in colorful tattoos. The Hare shrugged and hopped up into the top bunk.

"Alright, we don't have to talk."

The Jackal paced around the cell, debating to himself whether it was worth the trouble of explaining himself just for a little company. He had grown bitter in the time he'd spent in that small room with only porridge to eat and a little bit of sunlight coming in through the cracks in the ceiling. He cleared his throat.

"I'll tell you, but only if you'll shut up and listen."

The Hare rolled over and his long ears perked up.

Jackal by Carrie Cizauskas via Flickr

"It started when I was young. I didn't have much to live on. It was just me and my wits, so I used my wits to get what I needed. You wouldn't think it looking at me, but I love to eat and when I see food, there's not much you or anyone else can do to keep me away from it"

The Hare nodded in agreement. "I'm the same way," he said.

"I told you not to interrupt. Anyway, it's different for me. I'm an omnivore. So anyway, when I was young I lived near a pond, and one day I spied a little human kid with a sack full of books. Now, schoolbooks are worth money, and if you know how to use them right you can get even more. So I ran up and pushed him over and grabbed the bag and went."

"You got this much time just for stealing books?"

"No," snarled the Jackal. "I was getting to the next part. Now let me talk."

The Hare shrugged again and let the Jackal continue.

"So I thought, I could sell these books and take the money and buy myself some food. Or, I could invest. So I read them. I learned the material and I decided to become a tutor and find myself some bright, young pupils. I was walking along one day and I met an old Crocodile with five little babies - round, tender little kids, delicious-looking..." The Jackal trailed off, and the Hare began to feel uncomfortable. He gestured to the Jackal to continue.

"I couldn't help myself. I was teaching them their lessons, and I got hungry and I just had to! I grabbed the littlest one and ate him up. Of course, I felt pretty bad about eating my student, but I thought it would be best just to keep going with the lesson. I put the crocodiles to bed that night and swore that the next day I'd do better."

"Geez, you ate your student? No wonder you've got such a bad reputation around here." The Hare, being an herbivore, felt offended.

"Shut up! Do you want to hear my story or not?"

The Hare nodded, now too involved in the story, and too horrified, to cut it short.

"So the next day we had our lesson and lunchtime came around, and I tried to resist it! But I couldn't. So I popped the next littlest in my mouth. And it went on like that for the next few days until I realized that there was only one little crocodile left. And then the worst happened."

The Hare was feeling queasy, and did not even want to imagine what could be worse.

"The Crocodile father came to check on his babies. So of course, I told him they were underwater, but he said he wanted to see them, so I picked up the same one five times, you know, to make it look like all five were still there. But he didn't buy it. I knew he had seen through my trick, so I ran. The police caught up to me and I've been in here since."

"Don't you feel awful?" asked the Hare.

"I mostly just feel hungry," answered the Jackal with a vicious snarl, and he returned to his bunk.


Author's note: The original Santal tale is very similar to this, but told in real time rather than through dialogue. I decided to change the setting to animal prison and to let the Jackal reflect on his actions through a conversation with his new cellmate.