he panther gave a loud roar, and sprang forward, but the
jackal was too quick for him and plunged into a dense thicket, where the
panther could not follow.

Disgusted with his failure, but more angry than ever, the panther lay
down for a while to consider what he should do next, and as he was
thinking, an old man came by.

'Oh! father, tell me how I can repay the jackal for the way he has
served me!' And without more ado he told his story.

'If you take my advice,' answered the old man, 'you will kill a cow, and
invite all the jackals in the forest to the feast. Watch them carefully
while they are eating, and you will see that most of them keep their
eyes on their food. But if one of them glances at you, you will know
that is the traitor.'

The panther, whose manners were always good, thanked the old man, and
followed his counsel. The cow was killed, and the partridges flew about
with invitations to the jackals, who gathered in large numbers to the
feast. The wicked jackal came amongst them; but as the panther had only
seen him once he could not distinguish him from the rest. However, they
all took their places on wooden seats placed round the dead cow, which
was laid across the boughs of a fallen tree, and began their dinner,
each jackal fixing his eyes greedily on the piece of meat before him.
Only one of them seemed uneasy, and every now and then glanced in the
direction of his host. This the panther noticed, and suddenly made a
bound at the culprit and seized his tail; but again the jackal was too
quick for him, and catching up a knife he cut off his tail and darted
into the forest, followed by all the rest of the party. And before the
panther had recovered from his surprise he found himself alone.

'What am I to do now?' he asked the old man, who soon came back to see
how things had turned out.

'It is very unfortunate, certainly,' answered he; 'but I think I know
where you can find him. There is a melon garden about two miles from
here, and as jackals are very fond of melons they are nearly sure to
have gone there to feed. If you see a tailless jackal you will know that
he is the one you want.' So the panther thanked him and went his way.

Now the jackal had guessed what advice the old man would give his enemy,
and so, while his friends were greedily eating the ripest melons in the
sunniest corner of the garden, he stole behind them and tied their tails
together. He had only just finished when his ears caug