Once upon a time, in a village far away, there was a family who had a cow they
loved dearly. Right next to their humble home lived a rich man.
One day, while the family was away on a trip, their cow gave birth to a cute little
calf. The rich man saw this tiny calf playing joyfully and decided to take it for
himself while the family was away. This greedy man tied the calf near his big bull
and pretended it was his own.
When the family returned, they were surprised to see their cow had given birth
but couldn’t find the calf anywhere. They searched and searched until they found
the calf tied up in the rich man’s garden.
So they went over there and asked for the calf.
“How can I give you the calf ? It’s my bull’s baby,” said the rich man.
Feeling sad and helpless, the family decided to seek help from the village chief.
They explained everything to him, and the village chief decided to hear from
everyone involved.
On the day of hearing, the rich man argued that the calf belonged to him since it
was his bull’s.
The village chief decided in favor of the rich man.
The poor family went home with heavy hearts.
The child of the house was sad to see the cow without its baby and cried a lot. A
clever jackal, who lives in the woods nearby, overheard the girl’s cry and
approached the little girl. The jackal asked the girl why she was crying.
After the little girl explained what happened, the jackal offered to help.
“Don’t worry, I will let you know a way to bring that calf back home.” said the jackal
to the child.
The jackal advised the family to tell the village chief that there was a jackal who saw
their cow giving birth to the calf. Following the jackal’s advice, the family told the
village chief about the witness.
So, the village head asked them to bring the jackal next day.
The next day, the jackal didn’t show up but sent the vixen instead. When the angry
village head asked why the jackal didn’t come, the vixen cleverly explained that the
jackal had a cub yesterday, and since he couldn’t leave the newborn cub alone, she
came in his place.
Do you take me for a fool? How could a male animal have a cub?” the village
head shouted.
“Then how could that rich man’s bull have a calf?” argued the vixen.
The village chief realized his mistake in favoring the rich man.
To make things right, the village chief ordered the rich man to return the calf to
the family and pay them fifty gold coins as a punishment for his dishonesty.
The family was overjoyed and thanked the jackal and the vixen for their help. They
went home happily with their beloved calf, knowing that honesty and cleverness
had won the day.