The Blue Jackal – A Panchatantra Story for Kids

It’s time for a wonderful Panchatantra story! Let’s read it.

Once, in a dense green forest, there lived a jackal named Chandarava. (The jackal used to make a high-pitched wailing sound, so चण्ड=very sharp or intense, रव=sound, was his name!) Chandarava was very lazy. Hunting for food was his least favorite thing to do, so he preferred wandering around looking for some leftovers.

One evening, Chandarava was very hungry. His stomach was making a weird grumbling sound- GUDGUD, GUDGUD! He roamed around for a while, yet could not find anything to eat in the forest. Gathering all his courage, he decided to sneak into a nearby village. But you know what happens when a wild jackal enters a village, right? BIIGGG TROUBLE!!

The village dogs spotted him… GRRR…. GRRR.. BHOW, WOW, BHOW, WOW!

A whole pack of mean street dogs started chasing after him. Terrified, Chandarava ran for his life with all the strength he had. He sprinted down narrow lanes, ducked under carts, and finally leaped over a wall into a laundry man’s house. In the middle of the courtyard of the house, a huge clay tub filled with indigo blue liquid dye was kept. Running frantically, Chandarava tumbled straight into the tub of blue dye!

‘SPLAASSSHHHH’!

The dogs barked outside for a while and eventually went away. Chandarava stepped out of the tub. He was shivering. But when he looked down at his paws, he was stunned! From head to tail, he was fully painted in bright, glowing cobalt blue! His original dull brown fur was completely covered in this weird blue hue.

When Chandarava walked back into the jungle, a strange thing happened. The wild animals, from the noble Lion, the fierce Tiger, the mighty Elephant, the timid Deer to the playful Rabbits; all stared at him in utter shock! They had never seen any such blue creature in their lives. Scared, they began running away!

Seeing them all in terror, wily Chandarava smiled. A cunning idea popped into his head!

Settling on a stump (You know that it’s the leftover bottom part of a tree stem after the tree is cut down, right?). So, sitting on the stump, raising his head boldly, Chandarava announced in a deep, booming voice, “Halt, animals of the forest! Do not fear! Lord Brahma himself has painted me blue and sent me from the heavens to be your King and protect you!”

The animals looked at his unique blue coat and believed every word this new creature said. Even the lion and tiger bowed before the Blue Jackal!

The whole jungle started treating Chandarava like a king! The Lion, the Tiger, the Bear, the Wolf and many other animals hunted fresh meat for him every single day, while he relished this free food relaxing on his royal rock throne! Now, to protect his secret, Chandarava sent away all the other jackals from the forest so that nobody would recognize him.

Everything was going perfectly well, until that one full moon night…

The moon was shining brightly in the night sky. Deep in the distant hills, a pack of wild jackals gathered and began to howl together,

“AWOOOOOOO! AWOOOOOOO!”

Chandarava was sitting on his high throne, surrounded by his animal subjects. Now, tell me one thing that no matter how regal a jackal pretends to be, can a jackal ever change his true nature? As soon as the sound of howls reached his ears, Chandarava could not resist the natural instinct.

He couldn’t control himself!

Overjoyed Chandarava looked up to the moon and at the top of his lungs howled,

“AWOOOOOOO! AWOOOOOOO!”

The animals felt fooled after knowing that Chandarava wasn’t any heavenly king, he was just an ordinary jackal!

“HE IS AN IMPOSTOR!” roared the angry Lion.

Within a moment, the angry animals chased the deceitful blue jackal out, caught him and beat him to death!

The moral

False appearances and fake titles cannot hide true character for long. No matter how much one pretends, a person’s true nature always reveals itself!

Read more short stories for kids at Swati’s Journal.