The jackal and the war drum

Once upon a time, there was a dense forest lived a jackal named Gomaya. One day, he was very hungry and was wandering in search of food. While searching food, he came across a battle field. There he saw a big drum lying under a tree. When the wind blew, a tender branch grown at the root of the tree struck the drum producing sound of a drum beat. He was about to run away, he had a second thought. "It is unwise to run away from something without knowing. Instead, I must be careful in finding out the source of this noise". 

The jackal examined the drum from all sides and then beat the drum with his front paws. The drum made a sound. Now the jackal thought that there might be some other small animal inside the drum and that would make a very tasty meal for him. But he found the top of the drum too tough to tear off with his paws. He tried a lot with his paws and teeth but in vain.

At that time a leopard passing by while he was searching his foods. He was attracted towards the sound of the drum, came near it. He saw the jackal and said I will kill you for my mill. The jackal said to the leopard, "Your Majesty, please leave me and I will give you a good meal instead of me. There is a goat hiding inside the drum. Since you have sharp claws and strong teeth, you can tear off the top of the drum and catch your enemies for your midday mill. I want to drink some water near to that stream. Leopard said ok you can go now. 

The leopard was himself hungry. So he hit top of the drum with his heavy paws. The drum burst with a sound, but there was no animal inside. The drum was empty. Seeing the empty drum, the leopard became very angry and said to the jackal, "You have wasted my time. There is no food inside the drum. So I will kill and eat you." He saw there was no jackal because he allows him for drinking water. He continued his search for food, and near the drum he found sufficient food and water.