This is another nice story/ tale from the collection
of Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there lived a hunter in a
village. He was living there happily with his family. One fine morning,
he set out from his home with the intention of hunting a deer in the
nearby forest. It was a fortunate day as he saw a deer and killed him
instantly. He hung the carcass of the deer over his shoulder and happily
started for his home.
The Hunter had barely walked a distance, when he saw a wild Boar. He
quickly dropped the dear on the ground and shot the boar with an arrow.
The arrow pricked the Boar’s neck projecting through his back.
Before collapsing, the Boar gave a fearful groan and killed the Hunter
with his pointed tusks. In no time, the Hunter and the Boar, both were
lying dead at the same spot.
After some time, a Jackal happened to pass through that place. He saw a
man and a boar, both lying dead at the same spot. At a distance, he also
found a dead deer. The hungry Jackal got crazy to find so much to eat at
the same time and that too without any effort. He was overjoyed at the
sight of mouth relishing flesh and said, “Ah! What a luck I have!
It looks as if I am going to have a feast, but I'II eat only a little at
a time so it will last longer”.
He began to think that with whose flesh to start his feast, the man or
the animal. He decided to lick the blood first and taste a little flesh
stuck around the arrow. But, as soon as, he put the pointed arrow in his
mouth, it pricked his jaws and went through his head. The Jackal died a
greedy death on the spot.
Moral: Greed never pays.
