The blue Jackal, Stories from Panchatantra for your children

Long time ago there lived a jackal who strayed into a city in search of food. He was hungry and was being chased by a group of dogs. He accidentally entered the house of a dyer and fell into a drum of indigo (blue) dye, and was stained blue from head to toe. When he escaped from the house back into the forest, all animals were surprised at his appearance and could not place its identity. Taking advantage of the situation, the jackal decided to play the situation to his advantage. He proclaimed that he was fierce Owl, sent by the king of Gods, Indra, to earth to guard the forest.

The easy animals believed the jackal. The jackal then appointed the Lion as his Prime minister, Tiger as his guardian of the bed chamber and the Elephant was made the door keeper. He then drove all the Jackals out of sight from the forest for fear of being recognized. The animals would hunt food and bring it to the self proclaimed king and the king would distribute the food to all equally just as a king would do. So he was leading a life of luxury.

One day a herd of jackals were passing by howling to their glory. Unable to control his natural instinct, Fierce Owl showed his natural voice and howled at the top of his voice. Hearing this howl, the animals realized that they have been fooled by a jackal and killed the jackal instantly.

Story moral: Destiny cannot be changed.

Read more Panchatantra stories

• The brahmin's gift
• The Foolish lion and the clever rabbit
• The fox reared by the lion
• The Monkey and the crocodile
• The moon lake
• The Elephant and the sparrow
• The sage's daughter
• The Blue jackal
• The mongoose and the farmer's wife
• The greedy jackal
• The day dreaming priest
• The heron and the crab
• The crows and the serpent
• The gold giving serpent
• The swan and the owl
• The cat partridge and the hare
• The geese and the tortoise
• The mice and the elephants
• The bird with two necks
• The three fishes