he Goat goes into the forest and meets a Jackal--"I am going to
eat you." "Wait till I get fat in the forest." "Good: look out for me
when you come back"--Meets a Wolf--Same thing happens--Finds a temple of
Mahadeva--In it are gold coins--Swallows them--Goes to a
flower-seller--"Cover me with flowers"--He does so, and the Goat voids
two mohurs--Sets out to return--Meets the Wolf--"Have you seen a Goat?"
"No"--Meets the Jackal--"Have you seen a Goat?" "Yes, some distance
back"--Proceeds to the Butcher, and voids the rest of the coins--The
Butcher is grateful, and never kills him as long as he lives.

Agra district. Tales of animals spitting gold are common, as in Grimm's
"Three Little Men in the Wood" ("Household Tales," i. 56) and in
Oriental Folk-lore (Tawney, "Katha Sarit Sagara," ii. 8, 453, 637;
Knowles, "Folk-tales of Kashmir," p. 443).

20.--The Cunning Jackal

Told by BAL BIR PRASAD, teacher of the school at
Sultanpur, Oudh.

A Jackal sees melons on the other side of a river--Sees a Tortoise--"How
are you and your family?" "I am well, but I have no wife." "Why did you
not tell me? some people on the other side have asked me to find a match
for their daughter." "If you mean it I will take you across"--Takes him
across on his back--When the melons are over the Jackal dresses up a
jhau-tree as a bride--"There is your bride, but she is too modest to
speak till I am gone"--Tortoise carries him back--Calls to the stump--No
answer--Goes up and touches it--Finds it is a tree--Vows revenge--As
Jackal drinks, catches his leg--"You fool, you have got hold of a stump
by mistake; see, here is my leg," pointing to a stump--Tortoise leaves
hold--Jackal escapes--Tortoise goes to Jackal's den--Jackal returns and
sees the footprints leading into the den--Piles dry leaves at the mouth,
and fires them--Tortoise expires.

This is an unpublished variant of the "Jackal and the Crocodile"
(Temple, "Wide-awake Stories," 243).

21.--The Farmer's Ass

Told by RAM SINH, Haidar-Garh, district Barau Banki.

A Washerman has an Ass that brays on hearing a conch-shell, thinks he
must have been a saint in a former life, but something went wrong (kahin
chuk gaya) and he became an Ass--Names him Tulsi Das--Ass dies--"He was
valuable to me," shaves head, performs obsequies, gives feast to
clansmen--Goes to shop of a Banya--"Why are you in mourning?" "Tulsi
Das, who was a great saint, is dead"--Banya shaves,