The Jackal and the Otters
Also known as Dabbhapuppha Jataka
- 2 minute read
- Ages 7-11
- Jataka Tales
Two otters were fishing in the river and between them they caught an enormous fish.
One had taken hold of the head and one had taken hold of the tail, and together they had dragged it up onto the bank, and now they were arguing about how to divide it.
"I caught it," said the first. "I had the head. The head is the catching end."
"I stopped it escaping," said the second. "Without me you would have lost it in the current."
They went round this for some time and got nowhere at all.
The judge
A jackal came along the bank and stopped.
"Friends," he said, "why the noise?"
They explained. Both of them, at once, at length.
"Well," said the jackal, "this is easily settled. I have no interest in the matter. I am neither of you and I want nothing from the river. Shall I divide it for you?"
The otters looked at each other, and agreed, and stepped back.
The division
The jackal bit the fish into three parts.
He put the tail on one side and the head on the other, and the whole middle of it, the thick part where all the meat is, he set down between his own front paws.
"The tail," he said, "for the one who held the tail. The head for the one who held the head. And the middle for the judge, which is the usual arrangement."
And he took it in his jaws and left at a comfortable pace.
The two otters stood on the bank with a head and a tail and watched him go.
At home
The jackal's wife was extremely pleased with him.
"Where did you get that?"
"From two fools who could not agree," he said. "The ones who argue get the ends. The one who settles it gets the middle. That is how it works and it has never once failed me."
Moral of the story
While two people fight over something, a third quietly takes it. Settle it between yourselves before someone offers to settle it for you.
Questions and answers
- How did the otters catch the fish?
One took hold of the head and the other the tail, and together they dragged it onto the bank.
- What were they arguing about?
How to divide it. Each believed his own part in the catch had been the important one.
- Why did they trust the jackal?
He said he had no interest in the matter and wanted nothing from the river, so he seemed neutral.
- How did the jackal divide the fish?
He gave the tail to the otter who held the tail, the head to the one who held the head, and kept the entire middle himself as payment for judging.
- What is the lesson for the otters?
That they lost far more by arguing than either would have lost by simply agreeing to share it in half.
Word meanings
- otter
- A river animal with thick fur that swims and catches fish.
- current
- The flow of water in a river.
- neutral
- Not supporting either side in a disagreement.
- settled
- Decided or resolved.
Questions about The Jackal and the Otters
What is the moral of The Jackal and the Otters?
That people who cannot agree often lose everything to a third party. The jackal did no fishing and ate the best of the catch.
Is the jackal's division actually unfair?
It is technically defensible, which is what makes it clever. He gave each otter exactly what they claimed to have held, and charged a fee they never agreed to.
What is this tale called in the original?
The Dabbhapuppha Jataka. Versions of the same story appear across Asia and Europe, usually with a fox or a lawyer in the jackal's place.
What is a good discussion question?
Ask what the otters should have said when the jackal offered to help, and what a fair fee for judging would have been.