knowing that he was stupid enough to be easily taken in, the jackal said, "I see the alligator is not dead yet, for in that case his ears and tail would move."
The trick had the desired effect, and the alligator commenced moving his ears and tail; and the jackal sped away heartily laughing at its folly. There were some goat-herds near by, and at the sight of the alligator they exclaimed, "Ho, here is the alligator that despoiled us of some of our calves," and they chased him with their sticks until he saved himself by taking refuge in an adjacent river.
The jackal, in the meanwhile, resorted to a field of brinjals, and commenced eating them with great avidity. But fate soon deprived him of the treat. A thorn in the stem of a brinjal pierced him in the nose; and so great was the pain and the bleeding, that he was compelled to go to a barber[1] to have the thorn taken out. He stopped at the outer door of the barber's house; for it was not gentlemanly for him, though only a jackal, to enter the Zenana; and called aloud, "Mr. Barber, come out, I am in a fix, and have none but you to save me." The barber came out, and being told what the matter was, commenced the required operation; but unfortunately, instead of taking out the thorn he cut the patient's nose, whereupon the jackal cried out in a rage, "Rogue of a barber, I came to you for relief, and you have cut my nose; set it right, or I will punish you." Great was the poor barber's fear. He made a thousand apologies, but they were quite unheeded. At last, however, the jackal's anger being appeased a little, he let the offender off on receiving as a gift the iron instrument the barber used in paring nails. The cunning beast then went away, and happened to find a potter digging the ground for the mud required for his profession with his nails; for in the district in which he lived there was no blacksmith to make spades or shovels. The jackal pretended great sympathy, and offered the iron instrument with him to the potter, who taking it for trial, accidentally broke
- ↑ In times gone by, the barber was credited with great surgical skill.
