The Mahabharata, an ancient Hindu text, tells a story of the golden jackal. In it, the jackal

befriends a wolf, a tiger, a mouse, and a snake. The jackal asks the tiger to kill a gazelle

for them all to share. The tiger obliges and leaves to complete the task. And when the tiger

returns, the jackal lies to the tiger and tells him that while he was away, the mouse had bragged that he had

in fact killed the tiger, and that's why he had gone. This, of course, upsets the tiger. How could a mouse

brag about killing me? And then the jackal runs and also lies to the mouse, saying that the

snake had bit the gazelle that the tiger brought back, and so the flesh is poisonous.

This, of course, makes the mouse fearful, and so the flesh is poisonous. This, of course, makes the mouse fearful,

and so the mouse leaves. The jackal then lies to the wolf as well, and says that the tiger

is looking for him, because he wants to eat him. And so the wolf flees too. The tiger searches for the

mouse to exact revenge, but the mouse has left with the wolf flees too. The tiger searches for the mouse to exact revenge, but the mouse

has left with the wolf. And when the snake wonders where everybody went, the jackal informs him that

he has vanquished all of them. And so the snake, terrified for obvious reasons at the jackal's power,

the snake flees as well.

And so the jackal, having lied to everyone, is left alone with the gazelle that he can eat himself.

In this story, the jackal is portrayed as a trickster, an archetype that appears in almost all cultures

and is often represented by

similar animals. Think about the fox in Western culture, or for that matter the fox in Japanese

culture, small dogs that are intelligent, sneaky, and deceitful in the myths. And perhaps in this case,

that's a fair assessment.

Today we'll get a chance to think about it.

Today, we'll be talking about the golden jackal, Canis orius.

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