The jackal and the drum

This is a story about a jackal. He wasn’t the quickest jackal in his pack, or the biggest. He wasn’t the cleverest, either. But he was certainly the greediest!

Whenever his packmates found food, he would push to the front and gobble as much as he could before anyone else could swallow a mouthful.

“He’s so greedy that he hardly leaves anything for us!” the other jackals growled. That was why they decided to kick him out of the pack!

They didn’t like doing this, because jackals are very loyal, but they had no choice.

The greedy jackal pretended that he didn’t mind. “I’m tired of sharing food with all of you! There will be more for me if I’m on my own!” he muttered as he trotted away.

Before long, the jackal felt hungry. “I need a snack!” he told himself. Then, he smelled something—nuts! The delicious aroma was coming from a knothole in a tree trunk. The greedy jackal poked his nose into it.

OUCH! Something gave him a powerful nip!

“Get away from my hoard, you greedy jackal!” chittered a squirrel.

The jackal scampered away, his nose sore. But then, he smelled something else...

He followed the sweet scent through the forest. In a clearing, the jackal found a banana tree weighed down with bright yellow fruit.

“Yum, they look tasty!”

The jackal was about to grab a banana when something blocked out the sun.

“What do you think you’re doing? That’s my banana tree!” grumbled a long-tusked elephant.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry!” replied the jackal. He ran away as fast as he could!

By now, the jackal was feeling very hungry indeed. It had been ages since he had eaten anything!

Then, he noticed a delicious smell on the breeze. He followed it between the trees and over a hill until… there it was!

In front of a cave was a large and juicy chunk of meat! The jackal’s tongue hung out, and he began to dribble.

He scuttled towards it and was opening his jaws wide when he noticed that he was being watched by four pairs of yellow eyes.

“Look what we have here, my cubs!” purred a mother tiger. “After you’ve eaten your dinner, we can have a tasty jackal for dessert!”

The jackal’s fur stood on end in fear! He rushed away as fast as he could and hid under a bush, panting.

“I’m sooo hungry!” he howled. “It’s unfair that the other jackals were selfish about their food and kicked me out of their pack…”

Then, the jackal noticed a cloud of smoke drifting through the forest. Curious, he decided to see where it was coming from. He found an open field that was littered with broken shields and spears.

“I bet those human creatures had a battle here. They’re always fighting each other!” the jackal thought.

At the other end of the field was a tent under a tall tree. A fire smouldered beside it.

“There might be some food in there!” the jackal thought. Staying as low as he could, he sneaked towards the tent. As he got closer, he heard a sound.

BOOM!

The jackal scampered away. There was silence, so he crept forward again.

BOOM! BOOM!

The jackal ran away again! He waited for a while before returning.

BOOM!

This time, the noise was even louder. The jackal was about to run, but he decided to hide in some nearby bushes instead.

When the animal didn’t hear anything, he peeked out and saw a drum that someone had left outside the tent. The wind made a tree branch knock against it. It made this sound…

BOOOOM!

The jackal laughed. “How silly I was to run away from that!”

He went into the tent and found a pot of delicious stew. He ate his fill!

The greedy jackal decided to live in the nice, cosy tent. Every now and again, he banged the drum to make sure that no one would bother him—or take his dinner!