It had been weeks and weeks since rain had been seen in the Savannah. The rivers had dried up, the ground was hard and cracked, the grasses had turned brown. The animals were so thirsty they could couldn’t even hunt. If something wasn’t done soon, there would be no animals left for Lion to rule. So, he called a meeting.
The gazelles galloped over, the monkeys swung in, the elephants trumped up, snakes slithered by and even the rhino found a rock for her rump. When everyone was gathered, Lion looked down at his subjects.
“Something must be done,” he said.
The animals muttered their agreement. Thank goodness for Lion, he would save them.
Baboon put up his hand. “What we gonna do, Lion?” he asked.
Lion paused. He had hoped someone might have an idea. Ideas were, naturally, his strong suit but he was very tired from all the leading he had to do. He was just about to suggest someone think of something when he caught an unexpected whiff on the breeze. It couldn’t be?
“Can you smell that?” Lion asked.
The animals stuck their noses, snouts and trunks in the air. They all smelt it. Rain was coming!
Baboon clapped his hands together. “We’re saved!” he cried. “You’re so clever, Lion.”
Lion nodded. He was clever. They were lucky he was there to think up ways to save them.
“Oh, clever Lion,” a voice called from the back of the crowd.
Lion knew that voice: Jackal. When had she slunk in?
“What will we do once the rain has passed?” Jackal asked. “And the Savannah dries up again?”
A murmur spread through the crowd. The animals looked at Lion for a new plan. Lion looked at Jackal. Why did she always ruin everything? Perhaps it was time he made a meal out of Jackal. Lion licked his lips.
At that moment, Old Tortoise croaked up. “So sorry I’m late,” Tortoise said. “What did I miss?”
Baboon hopped excitedly from one foot to the other. “Lion is going to tell us his plan,” he said.
But Lion didn’t have a plan. He had to sort out Jackal. He prowled through the crowd, eyes on his prey.
“Now, now Lion,” Jackal said, seeing him coming. “Don’t get your mane in a mess.”
Lion flicked out his claws, one by one.
“Remember the rules!” Jackal cried and dodged behind Baboon. Lion tried to catch Baboon’s eye, to get him to move. But Baboon was engrossed in whatever nonsense Old Tortoise was creaking away about.
“Baboon…” Lion whispered. “Get out of the way.” But instead of moving Baboon clapped his hands together and jumped up and down.
“Lion’s saved the day!” Baboon shouted. Then he began to sing. “For he’s a jolly good fellow! For he’s a jolly good fellow.”
Lion looked around. All the animals were singing along with Baboon and grinning at him.
“For he’s a jolly good fellow!” they sang.
Lion’s tail twitched along to the singing and he bobbed his head. It was true, he thought. He was a jolly good fellow. Lion was glad they’d noticed. He was so busy enjoying this sudden – but most deserving – appreciation, he didn’t notice Jackal slinking away. When the singing came to a stop, Old Tortoise was still croaking on and for some reason she had the attention of all the animals. Why anyone bothered to listen to an old stone like her, was beyond Lion. He prowled over to see what the fuss was about.
“So that is Lion’s great plan,” Tortoise said. “We must begin work at once.”
The animals cheered and congratulated Lion on his clever thinking.
“Well… er… you know,” Lion said. “... you’re welcome?”
Lion couldn’t remember having a great plan. But if there was a great plan, it must have been his! He was, after all, king of the animals.
Lion watched with interest as the animals went to work. Those with paws dug. Those with trunks scooped. Those with strength pushed and pulled at the earth until finally they had made a great big bowl in the ground. Just in time.
First, came a spit-spat. Then a pitter-patter. And a drip-drop. The sky darkened. The clouds gathered. The animals ran for shelter and watched as the rains came in and their bowl-in-the-earth filled with delicious, fresh, drinking water. Lion stretched and grinned.
“You know, sometimes, even I am surprised by my own brilliant thinking,” he said. “Let’s drink!”
The animals gulped and slurped and guzzled and burped as they drank away their thirst. Soon everyone felt much better. The water hole was declared a success and Lion a hero for having come up with such a wonderful idea. Lion shrugged modestly. “All in a day’s work,” he purred.
That night there was a visitor to the water hole, Jackal. Even though she had done nothing to help dig the water hole, she drank and drank and drank her fill. Then, she decided to have a swim. Covered in mud and dust and dirt, Jackal jumped into the water. She kicked and she splashed and she washed herself clean. And the lovely, fresh, delicious drinking water got dirtier and dirtier.
“Ah! That’s just what I needed,” Jackal said as she left the water hole.
The next morning the animals returned to the water hole to drink but the water tasted odd.
Baboon spat out his mouthful. “Yucky,” he said. “This water tastes like puddles!”
Someone had been swimming in their well! But who? Lion had his suspicions.
“Baboon!” he said. “You will guard the well tonight.”
Baboon was happy to guard the well while the other animals slept. He had a fighting stick and a song. It went like this:
(singing) “I can floor a rhino with one whack. Land a giraffe on his back. Kill a whole hyena pack. Only a fool would attack.”
Jackal listened to Baboon’s song. She was thirsty and in need of a bath but she would need to get rid of Baboon first.
“Mmm, ymmm, hmm,” she murmured, loud enough for Baboon to hear. “This is soooo delicious!”
Baboon paused in his patrol. “Who’s there?” he called.
“Oh, wow, yumm, hmm.” Jackal said, a little louder. “What lovely, delicious, delectable honey.”
Baboon’s favourite thing in the whole world was honey. His mouth was already watering when he found Jackal lolling about in the moonlight.
“Did you say honey?” Baboon asked when he saw Jackal.
Jackal sat up. “Oh! You found me!” she exclaimed.
Baboon looked around for the honey. “Can I have some?’
Jackal looked at Baboon’s stick.
“Please don’t hurt me!” she cried. “I hear you can defeat a lion with one tap!”
Baboon wouldn’t dream of hurting a lovely girl like Jackal, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a master in karate. He held out his stick. “Here,” he said. “You take it.”
Jackal took the stick, broke it in half and threw both parts away. Then she smiled at Baboon. “I have a whole pit full of honey,” she said. “I would take you to it, but…” Jackal looked at Baboon’s big arms and sharp teeth. “You might attack me.”
Baboon wouldn’t dream of attacking a girl as generous and kind as Jackal, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a lethal fighting machine.
“What if I stay here and you bring me the honey?” he said.
Jackal thought about this for a moment. “Mmmm. But… you might follow me and hit me on the back when I wasn’t looking,” she said.
Baboon would never do something so two-faced, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a deadly ninja.
“Would it make you feel better if I sat by this tree?” Baboon asked.
Jackal considered the tree. “A little,” she said. “But still you could easily jump up and attack me.”
That was true. “What if you tied me up?” Baboon asked.
Jackal liked that idea. “That would be OK, if you were tied up tight,” she said.
So, Baboon let Jackal tie him up nice and tightly. So tight, in fact, he could hardly move.
“Now,” Baboon said, licking his lips. “How about this honey?”
Jackal began to cackle. She ran over to the water hole and leapt in. Baboon realised then that Jackal had tricked him. She was the night-time swimmer. He squirmed and wriggled and kicked, but Jackal had tied him up so tight he was never getting free.
Jackal laughed and sang at him. “Dum, dee, dee, dum, dee doon. What a silly Baboon! Dum, dilly, dum, dee, dim. So easy to trick him!”
Poor Baboon could do nothing but watch, as the smelly, stinky, dirty Jackal swam around and around in the water hole all night long.
“Lion’s not going to be happy,” Baboon thought.
And he was right. Lion was not happy, when he found Baboon tied to the tree and the water hole even more dirty than it had been the day before.
“Baboon you fool!” he growled.
Lion was just working out how to punish Baboon when Tortoise crept up.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Lion,” Tortoise said. “That Jackal is a wily girl.”
Jackal! Again, Lion thought. He should have known. Jackal was always causing problems. He really must catch her. But he had tried so many times and never succeeded.
“Could I have a go?” Tortoise croaked.
Lion almost coughed up a hairball. Tortoise?! Catch Jackal. What a silly idea. But Lion didn’t want to seem unfair.
“If you think you’ll have more luck,” he said.
That night Jackal bounced along the path to the water hole. Pausing just before she got there, she had a look around.
“Oh…” she said, disappointed. “No Baboon to play with tonight.”
Jackal took a step towards the water hole but she couldn’t take a second step, because her foot was stuck to a stone.
“Hey! What’s going on?” she cried.
She tried to pull her paw free. She heaved and she clawed and she used her other paw.
“Ohhh no!”
Now her other paw was stuck to the stone. It was a big green, smooth stone… which moved.
“Hello, Jackal,” Tortoise smiled up at her.
It wasn’t a stone she was stuck to at all. It was Tortoise’s shell.
Jackal was astonished. “Tortoise! You tricked me?!” she said.
Tortoise chuckled and began a slow walk up the hill, dragging Jackal along with her.
Jackal protested, loudly. “Let me go. I’ll jump on you and crush your shell,” she said.
Tortoise kept on walking, “Do what you must,” he told her.
Jackal picked up her hind legs and brought them down as hard as she could on Tortoise’s back. But instead of breaking Tortoise’s shell. All she did was get her back legs stuck too.
Tortoise chuckled, that morning she had rubbed her shell on a sticky, gum tree. There was no way Jackal could get free.
“I’ll eat you alive if you don’t let me go,” Jackal said.
Tortoise shrugged and carried on walking. “Do what you must,” she told her.
So, Jackal bit down on Tortoise’s shell. But now her mouth was stuck too!
Tortoise chuckled and carried on her slow climb up the hill. By the time they reached the top, the sun had risen in the sky and the animals were waking up.
Lion saw them coming. “Tortoise!” he said, surprised. “You caught Jackal?” He was impressed. Tortoise was almost as clever as he was.
He turned to Jackal and licked his lips. Finally, he was going to get his paws on Jackal. He grabbed hold of her middle and pulled in one direction. The other animals took hold of tortoise and pulled in the other direction. The gum holding Jackal in place was stretched and stretched and stretched until…. finally… Jackal was pulled free.
After a quick lick of her sore paws, she threw herself in front of Lion.
“Lion, merciful, wonderful, gracious Lion!” she said.
“Careful…” Tortoise warned. “She’s a crafty one.”
But Lion wasn’t listening to Tortoise. Jackal was saying nice things.
“You are such a kind, just and fair leader, Lion,” Tortoise said. “I know you’ll respect my animal rights.”
Lion nodded. He was indeed kind and fair and just.
“My tribe have a death ritual,” Jackal explained. “We have our tails shaved and greased and then get swung around three times, before being struck on the head.”
Lion had never heard of such a strange death, but Jackals were a funny lot. And like Jackal said, he was kind and just, it was important to respect her traditions.
“Very well,” he said and looked around for an animal that could carry out such an odd execution. He saw Hyena.
“You, Hyena,” he said. “You will carry out the death sentence.”
Giggling, Hyena stepped forward. He had been hoping Lion would pick him for such a strange job.
Hyena shaved Jackal’s tail, and covered it in grease. Then he picked Jackal up by the tail and swung her around, once, twice and on the third swing Jackal slipped right out of Hyena’s paw.
“Weeee! I’m freee!!!” Jackal laughed and ran off across the Savannah.
Never to be seen again.
That is, until the next time.
The End
The gazelles galloped over, the monkeys swung in, the elephants trumped up, snakes slithered by and even the rhino found a rock for her rump. When everyone was gathered, Lion looked down at his subjects.
“Something must be done,” he said.
The animals muttered their agreement. Thank goodness for Lion, he would save them.
Baboon put up his hand. “What we gonna do, Lion?” he asked.
Lion paused. He had hoped someone might have an idea. Ideas were, naturally, his strong suit but he was very tired from all the leading he had to do. He was just about to suggest someone think of something when he caught an unexpected whiff on the breeze. It couldn’t be?
“Can you smell that?” Lion asked.
The animals stuck their noses, snouts and trunks in the air. They all smelt it. Rain was coming!
Baboon clapped his hands together. “We’re saved!” he cried. “You’re so clever, Lion.”
Lion nodded. He was clever. They were lucky he was there to think up ways to save them.
“Oh, clever Lion,” a voice called from the back of the crowd.
Lion knew that voice: Jackal. When had she slunk in?
“What will we do once the rain has passed?” Jackal asked. “And the Savannah dries up again?”
A murmur spread through the crowd. The animals looked at Lion for a new plan. Lion looked at Jackal. Why did she always ruin everything? Perhaps it was time he made a meal out of Jackal. Lion licked his lips.
At that moment, Old Tortoise croaked up. “So sorry I’m late,” Tortoise said. “What did I miss?”
Baboon hopped excitedly from one foot to the other. “Lion is going to tell us his plan,” he said.
But Lion didn’t have a plan. He had to sort out Jackal. He prowled through the crowd, eyes on his prey.
“Now, now Lion,” Jackal said, seeing him coming. “Don’t get your mane in a mess.”
Lion flicked out his claws, one by one.
“Remember the rules!” Jackal cried and dodged behind Baboon. Lion tried to catch Baboon’s eye, to get him to move. But Baboon was engrossed in whatever nonsense Old Tortoise was creaking away about.
“Baboon…” Lion whispered. “Get out of the way.” But instead of moving Baboon clapped his hands together and jumped up and down.
“Lion’s saved the day!” Baboon shouted. Then he began to sing. “For he’s a jolly good fellow! For he’s a jolly good fellow.”
Lion looked around. All the animals were singing along with Baboon and grinning at him.
“For he’s a jolly good fellow!” they sang.
Lion’s tail twitched along to the singing and he bobbed his head. It was true, he thought. He was a jolly good fellow. Lion was glad they’d noticed. He was so busy enjoying this sudden – but most deserving – appreciation, he didn’t notice Jackal slinking away. When the singing came to a stop, Old Tortoise was still croaking on and for some reason she had the attention of all the animals. Why anyone bothered to listen to an old stone like her, was beyond Lion. He prowled over to see what the fuss was about.
“So that is Lion’s great plan,” Tortoise said. “We must begin work at once.”
The animals cheered and congratulated Lion on his clever thinking.
“Well… er… you know,” Lion said. “... you’re welcome?”
Lion couldn’t remember having a great plan. But if there was a great plan, it must have been his! He was, after all, king of the animals.
Lion watched with interest as the animals went to work. Those with paws dug. Those with trunks scooped. Those with strength pushed and pulled at the earth until finally they had made a great big bowl in the ground. Just in time.
First, came a spit-spat. Then a pitter-patter. And a drip-drop. The sky darkened. The clouds gathered. The animals ran for shelter and watched as the rains came in and their bowl-in-the-earth filled with delicious, fresh, drinking water. Lion stretched and grinned.
“You know, sometimes, even I am surprised by my own brilliant thinking,” he said. “Let’s drink!”
The animals gulped and slurped and guzzled and burped as they drank away their thirst. Soon everyone felt much better. The water hole was declared a success and Lion a hero for having come up with such a wonderful idea. Lion shrugged modestly. “All in a day’s work,” he purred.
That night there was a visitor to the water hole, Jackal. Even though she had done nothing to help dig the water hole, she drank and drank and drank her fill. Then, she decided to have a swim. Covered in mud and dust and dirt, Jackal jumped into the water. She kicked and she splashed and she washed herself clean. And the lovely, fresh, delicious drinking water got dirtier and dirtier.
“Ah! That’s just what I needed,” Jackal said as she left the water hole.
The next morning the animals returned to the water hole to drink but the water tasted odd.
Baboon spat out his mouthful. “Yucky,” he said. “This water tastes like puddles!”
Someone had been swimming in their well! But who? Lion had his suspicions.
“Baboon!” he said. “You will guard the well tonight.”
Baboon was happy to guard the well while the other animals slept. He had a fighting stick and a song. It went like this:
(singing) “I can floor a rhino with one whack. Land a giraffe on his back. Kill a whole hyena pack. Only a fool would attack.”
Jackal listened to Baboon’s song. She was thirsty and in need of a bath but she would need to get rid of Baboon first.
“Mmm, ymmm, hmm,” she murmured, loud enough for Baboon to hear. “This is soooo delicious!”
Baboon paused in his patrol. “Who’s there?” he called.
“Oh, wow, yumm, hmm.” Jackal said, a little louder. “What lovely, delicious, delectable honey.”
Baboon’s favourite thing in the whole world was honey. His mouth was already watering when he found Jackal lolling about in the moonlight.
“Did you say honey?” Baboon asked when he saw Jackal.
Jackal sat up. “Oh! You found me!” she exclaimed.
Baboon looked around for the honey. “Can I have some?’
Jackal looked at Baboon’s stick.
“Please don’t hurt me!” she cried. “I hear you can defeat a lion with one tap!”
Baboon wouldn’t dream of hurting a lovely girl like Jackal, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a master in karate. He held out his stick. “Here,” he said. “You take it.”
Jackal took the stick, broke it in half and threw both parts away. Then she smiled at Baboon. “I have a whole pit full of honey,” she said. “I would take you to it, but…” Jackal looked at Baboon’s big arms and sharp teeth. “You might attack me.”
Baboon wouldn’t dream of attacking a girl as generous and kind as Jackal, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a lethal fighting machine.
“What if I stay here and you bring me the honey?” he said.
Jackal thought about this for a moment. “Mmmm. But… you might follow me and hit me on the back when I wasn’t looking,” she said.
Baboon would never do something so two-faced, but he could understand her worries. He was, after all, a deadly ninja.
“Would it make you feel better if I sat by this tree?” Baboon asked.
Jackal considered the tree. “A little,” she said. “But still you could easily jump up and attack me.”
That was true. “What if you tied me up?” Baboon asked.
Jackal liked that idea. “That would be OK, if you were tied up tight,” she said.
So, Baboon let Jackal tie him up nice and tightly. So tight, in fact, he could hardly move.
“Now,” Baboon said, licking his lips. “How about this honey?”
Jackal began to cackle. She ran over to the water hole and leapt in. Baboon realised then that Jackal had tricked him. She was the night-time swimmer. He squirmed and wriggled and kicked, but Jackal had tied him up so tight he was never getting free.
Jackal laughed and sang at him. “Dum, dee, dee, dum, dee doon. What a silly Baboon! Dum, dilly, dum, dee, dim. So easy to trick him!”
Poor Baboon could do nothing but watch, as the smelly, stinky, dirty Jackal swam around and around in the water hole all night long.
“Lion’s not going to be happy,” Baboon thought.
And he was right. Lion was not happy, when he found Baboon tied to the tree and the water hole even more dirty than it had been the day before.
“Baboon you fool!” he growled.
Lion was just working out how to punish Baboon when Tortoise crept up.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Lion,” Tortoise said. “That Jackal is a wily girl.”
Jackal! Again, Lion thought. He should have known. Jackal was always causing problems. He really must catch her. But he had tried so many times and never succeeded.
“Could I have a go?” Tortoise croaked.
Lion almost coughed up a hairball. Tortoise?! Catch Jackal. What a silly idea. But Lion didn’t want to seem unfair.
“If you think you’ll have more luck,” he said.
That night Jackal bounced along the path to the water hole. Pausing just before she got there, she had a look around.
“Oh…” she said, disappointed. “No Baboon to play with tonight.”
Jackal took a step towards the water hole but she couldn’t take a second step, because her foot was stuck to a stone.
“Hey! What’s going on?” she cried.
She tried to pull her paw free. She heaved and she clawed and she used her other paw.
“Ohhh no!”
Now her other paw was stuck to the stone. It was a big green, smooth stone… which moved.
“Hello, Jackal,” Tortoise smiled up at her.
It wasn’t a stone she was stuck to at all. It was Tortoise’s shell.
Jackal was astonished. “Tortoise! You tricked me?!” she said.
Tortoise chuckled and began a slow walk up the hill, dragging Jackal along with her.
Jackal protested, loudly. “Let me go. I’ll jump on you and crush your shell,” she said.
Tortoise kept on walking, “Do what you must,” he told her.
Jackal picked up her hind legs and brought them down as hard as she could on Tortoise’s back. But instead of breaking Tortoise’s shell. All she did was get her back legs stuck too.
Tortoise chuckled, that morning she had rubbed her shell on a sticky, gum tree. There was no way Jackal could get free.
“I’ll eat you alive if you don’t let me go,” Jackal said.
Tortoise shrugged and carried on walking. “Do what you must,” she told her.
So, Jackal bit down on Tortoise’s shell. But now her mouth was stuck too!
Tortoise chuckled and carried on her slow climb up the hill. By the time they reached the top, the sun had risen in the sky and the animals were waking up.
Lion saw them coming. “Tortoise!” he said, surprised. “You caught Jackal?” He was impressed. Tortoise was almost as clever as he was.
He turned to Jackal and licked his lips. Finally, he was going to get his paws on Jackal. He grabbed hold of her middle and pulled in one direction. The other animals took hold of tortoise and pulled in the other direction. The gum holding Jackal in place was stretched and stretched and stretched until…. finally… Jackal was pulled free.
After a quick lick of her sore paws, she threw herself in front of Lion.
“Lion, merciful, wonderful, gracious Lion!” she said.
“Careful…” Tortoise warned. “She’s a crafty one.”
But Lion wasn’t listening to Tortoise. Jackal was saying nice things.
“You are such a kind, just and fair leader, Lion,” Tortoise said. “I know you’ll respect my animal rights.”
Lion nodded. He was indeed kind and fair and just.
“My tribe have a death ritual,” Jackal explained. “We have our tails shaved and greased and then get swung around three times, before being struck on the head.”
Lion had never heard of such a strange death, but Jackals were a funny lot. And like Jackal said, he was kind and just, it was important to respect her traditions.
“Very well,” he said and looked around for an animal that could carry out such an odd execution. He saw Hyena.
“You, Hyena,” he said. “You will carry out the death sentence.”
Giggling, Hyena stepped forward. He had been hoping Lion would pick him for such a strange job.
Hyena shaved Jackal’s tail, and covered it in grease. Then he picked Jackal up by the tail and swung her around, once, twice and on the third swing Jackal slipped right out of Hyena’s paw.
“Weeee! I’m freee!!!” Jackal laughed and ran off across the Savannah.
Never to be seen again.
That is, until the next time.
The End
The original story was sourced from African Folk Tales selected and retold by Roger D Abrahams; Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library.
This version was written for open source education by Vicky McFarland for Onebillion.org. If you are going to republish this version, I would appreciate a link back to this site or credit. Cheers.
This version was written for open source education by Vicky McFarland for Onebillion.org. If you are going to republish this version, I would appreciate a link back to this site or credit. Cheers.
