The Jackal and The Drum

The Jackal and the Drum is a story that belongs to the collection of stories called the Panchatantra. The Panchatantra tales are moral stories or fables that impart vital life lessons. They are short, easy to understand, contain animals that possess human abilities and virtues, and impart moral lessons to their readers.

Like all Panchatantra stories, the story of the Jackal and the Drum also teaches its readers an important life lesson. It teaches us that small well-thought-out efforts can lead to success. It also tells children that one should always have courage.  Read ahead to know more about the story.

Jackal Lived in The Woods 

Once upon a time, there lived a wily jackal in the woods. He’d been living in these woods with a pack of jackals. He, other than being wily, was also a greedy little jackal. He would often steal and eat animals or prey killed by other jackals of his pack. 

Jackal Steals Everyone’s Food

As our wily jackal would steal their food, the other jackals of the pack became very angry with him. They were tired of him and wanted to punish him. So they banished him from the pack. Now the jackal was alone and had to hunt for food all on his own. 

One Day He Found a Battlefield

One day as he was wandering in the woods alone, scared and hungry he came across a battleground. A few days ago, the King and his army had fought a war on this battleground but now the war was over and the field lay deserted. The jackal thought to himself “I can definitely find some food here.” So the jackal began to move towards the battlefield slowly. 

A Loud Noise Erupted

While the jackal was moving towards the battleground, he heard a very loud shriek-like sound coming from the battleground. The sound scared the wits out of him!

He wondered what kind of animal could make a sound like that. He was scared that he was now doomed to die. He thought “disaster has struck me. I am as good as dead already! Only a monster that I’ve yet to see can make a sound like that.”

He was terrified that if he went any closer then the big scary monster-like animal that made this sound would come and eat him alive.

The Jackal was Terrified

Frightened for his life, the jackal decided to run away from the battleground. However, before he could get very far, he stopped and thought “Is it wise to run away based on just an assumption without checking the facts?” He was unsure whether it was actually an animal that made that sound or was it something else that made that horrid sound. 

He Found The Animal! 

The jackal made his way back to the battleground to find out what was making the sound. He slowly crept his way towards the source of the sound. To his surprise, he finally located what was making that sound. 

In the corner of the battleground stood a big strong war drum. The war drum was under a tree with big branches that were being swept around by the wind. Due to the strong blowing, one of the branches slid across the drum, once again making that shrieking terrifying sound. 

Jackal Found The War Drum 

His Realisation

After seeing this the Jackal realised that it was no monster making the sound but actually just a branch hitting the war drum. He laughed to himself and thought “How foolish I was to have almost run away from something because I was scared.”

He realised how silly it would’ve been if he had not come back to check what made the sound. Then the jackal moved around freely on the battleground looking for food, satisfied with himself. 

Moral of The Story

The moral of the story is that only the brave and those willing to take chances succeed in life. Had the jackal not been brave he would not have found out that it was a drum making the noise and would’ve had to stay hungry until he found another food source. 

Summary

A jackal lived in the forest. He was greedy so the other jackals in the pack banished him. One day he came across an abandoned battlefield but before he could go look for food in it, he heard a scary sound. He was terrified for his life and ran away, but then at the last minute, he decided to first investigate what was making this sound.

Upon returning to the battleground he realised that it was a war drum and a branch making the sound. He felt a little silly about almost running away and went into the field happily looking for his food.