The Otters And The Wolf [More Jataka Tales]
ONE day a Wolf said to her mate, "A longing has come upon me to eat
fresh fish."
"I will go and get some for you," said he and he went down to the river.
There he saw two
Otters standing on the bank looking for fish. Soon one of the Otters saw a
great fish, and entering the water with a bound, he caught hold of the tail of
the fish.
But the fish was
strong and swam away, dragging the Otter after him. "Come and help
me," the Otter called back to his friend. "This great fish will be
enough for both of us!"
So the other Otter
went into the water. The two together were able to bring the fish to land.
"Let us divide the fish into two parts."
"I want the
half with the head on," said one.
"You cannot
have that half. That is mine," said the other. "You take the
tail."
The Wolf heard the
Otters and he went up to them.
Seeing the Wolf,
the Otters said: "Lord of the gray-grass color, this fish was caught by
both of us together. We cannot agree about dividing him. Will you divide him
for us?"
The Wolf cut off
the tail and gave it to one, giving the head to the other. He took the large
middle part for himself, saying to them, "You can eat the head and the
tail without quarreling." And away he ran with the body of the fish. The
Otters stood and looked at each other. They had nothing to say, but each
thought to himself that the Wolf had run off with the best of the fish.
The Wolf was
pleased and said to himself, as he ran toward home, "Now I have fresh fish
for my mate."
His mate, seeing
him coming, came to meet him, saying: "How did you get fish? You live on
land, not in the water."
Then he told her of the quarrel of the Otters. "I took the fish as pay for settling their quarrel," said he.
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