The Deer, the Crow, and the Jackal

A deer and a crow had been close friends for years, grazing and resting together in the forest each day. One afternoon a jackal approached the deer with elaborate flattery, praising his grace and offering to show him a nearby field bursting with young, tender wheat that no other animal had discovered yet.

The crow, listening from a branch above, felt a flicker of unease — jackals rarely offered gifts without a reason — but the deer, charmed, agreed to follow him at once.

The field was real, but so was the snare hidden cleverly beneath the wheat at its center, set by a farmer who had grown tired of animals raiding his crop. The moment the deer stepped into the field, his leg caught fast in the trap, and the jackal, who had led him there precisely for this purpose, settled down nearby to wait for the farmer to arrive and finish the deer off, planning to feast on the leftovers himself.

The crow, who had followed at a careful distance, flew down and instructed the trapped deer to play dead the instant the farmer approached and loosened the snare to check him. The deer did exactly that, then sprang up and bolted the moment he was freed — while the jackal, rushing forward too eagerly for his own promised scraps, was caught and struck down by the startled farmer instead.