Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/217

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THE JACKAL AND THE PEA-HEN

ONCE upon a time a Jackal and a Pea-hen swore eternal friendship. Every day they had their meals together, and spent hours in pleasant conversation.

Now, one day, the Pea-hen had juicy plums for dinner, and the Jackal, for his part, had as juicy a young kid ; so they enjoyed themselves immensely, But when the feast was over, the Pea-hen rose gravely, and, after scratching up the ground, carefully sowed all the plum-stones in a row.

‘It is my custom to do so when I eat plums,’ she said, with quite an aggravating air of complacent virtue ; 'my mother, good creature, brought me up in excellent habits, and with her dying breath bade me never be wasteful. Now these stones will grow into trees, the fruit of which, even if I do not live to see the day, will afford a meal to many a hungry peacock.’

These words made the Jackal feel rather mean, so he answered loftily, ‘Exactly so! I always plant my bones for the same reason. And he carefully dug up a piece of ground, and sowed the bones of the kid at intervals.

After this, the pair used to come every day and look at their gardens; by and by the plum-stones

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