g under the largest of the wild fig-trees,
where the ground was covered with the fallen fruit, he collected a
quantity of it together, and, burying himself under the great heap,
waited for the Jackal to appear. But no sooner did the cunning little
animal see this great heap of wild figs all collected together than
he thought, "That looks very like my friend the Alligator." And to
discover if it were so or not, he called out: "The juicy little wild
figs I love to eat always tumble down from the tree, and roll here and
there as the wind drives them; but this great heap of figs is quite
still; these cannot be good figs; I will not eat any of them." "Ho,
ho!" thought the Alligator, "is that all? How suspicious this Jackal
is! I will make the figs roll about a little, then, and when he sees
that, he will doubtless come and eat them."

So the great beast shook himself, and all the heap of little figs went
roll, roll, roll--some a mile this way, some a mile that, farther than
they had ever rolled before or than the most blustering wind could
have driven them.

Seeing this, the Jackal scampered away, saying: "I am so much obliged
to you, Alligator, for letting me know you are there, for indeed I
should hardly have guessed it. You were so buried under that heap of
figs." The Alligator, hearing this, was so angry that he ran after
the Jackal, but the latter ran very, very fast away, too quickly to be
caught.

Then the Alligator said to himself: "I will not allow that little
wretch to make fun of me another time and then run away out of reach;
I will show him that I can be more cunning than he fancies." And early
the next morning he crawled as fast as he could to the Jackal's den
(which was a hole in the side of a hill) and crept into it, and hid
himself, waiting for the Jackal, who was out, to return home. But when
the Jackal got near the place, he looked about him and thought: "Dear
me! the ground looks as if some heavy creature had been walking over
it, and here are great clods of earth knocked down from each side of
the door of my den, as if a very big animal had been trying to squeeze
himself through it. I certainly will not go inside until I know that
all is safe there." So he called out: "Little house, pretty house, my
sweet little house, why do you not give an answer when I call? If
I come, and all is safe and right, you always call out to me. Is
anything wrong, that you do not speak?"

Then the Alligator, who was ins