Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was a Lion living in a cave on the hills. One day he came out and saw floods at the mountain-foot. In the middle of the water, there was a grassy field wherein deers and rabbits were eating the grass. “I will have that deer!” thought the Lion; and with a lion’s leap he sprang from the hillside towards it. But the deer, frightened to death, ran away. The Lion could not stop it; down on the mud he fell, and sank in, so that he could not get out; and there he remained for seven days, his feet fixed like four posts, with nothing to eat.

Then a Jackal, hunting for food, chanced to see him; and ran in terror. But the Lion called out to him “I say, Jackal, don’t run; here I am caught in the mud. Please save me!” Up came the Jackal. “I could pull you out,” says he, “but I fear that as soon as you come out you might eat me.” “Fear nothing, I wont eat you,” says the Lion. “On the contrary, I’ll do you great service only get me out somehow.”

The Jackal, accepting this promise, worked away the mud around his four feet, and the holes wherein his four feet were fixed he dug further towards the water; then the water ran in, and made the mud soft. Then he got underneath the Lion, striked the Lion’s belly with his head. The Lion strained every nerve, and scrambled out of the mud; he stood on dry land. After a moment’s rest, he plunged in the lake, and washed and scoured the mud from him. Then he killed a buffalo, and with his fangs tore up its flesh, of which he gave some to the Jackal, saying, “Eat! comrade!” After this, the Jackal took a piece in his mouth. “What’s that for?” the Lion asked. “For my mate, who awaits me at home.” “All right,” says the Lion, taking a bit for his own mate. The Lion took the jackal to the place where he lived, and settled them in a cave near to his cave.

Ever after that, he and the Jackal used to go a hunting together, leaving their mates behind; all kinds of creatures they would kill, and eat to their hearts’ content, and then bring back some for their mates. And as time went on, the she Jackal and the Lioness had each two cubs, and they all lived happily together.

One day, a sudden thought struck the Lioness. “My Lion seems very fond of the Jackal and his mate and young ones. What if there be something wrong between them! Well, I will tease and frighten her and they will leave this place.”

So when the Lion and the Jackal were away on the hunt, she teased and frightened the Jackal’s mate, asking her why she stayed there, why she did not run away? And her cubs frightened the young jackals after the same fashion. The she Jackal told her mate what had been said. She said, “It is clear! One day we will be killed by the lion. Let us go back to the place where we lived before!”

On hearing this, the Jackal approached the Lion, with these words. “Master, we have been here a long time. While we are away, your Lioness scolds and terrifies my mate, by asking why she stays, and telling us to leave the place. Your young ones do the same to mine. If any one does not like a neighbour, he should just ask him to go; what is the use of all this plaguing?”

The Lion listened; then turning to his Lioness, he said, “Do you remember I was hunting for a week, and then after a week brought back this Jackal and his mate with me?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“well, do you know why I stayed away all that week?”

“No, Dear.”

“My Dear! In trying to catch a deer, I made a mistake, and stuck fast in the mud; there I stayed and I could not get out a whole week without food. My life was saved by this Jackal. This friend saved my life! A friend in need is a friend indeed, be he great or small. Never again treat their family like this.”

The Lioness, when she heard this tale, made peace with the Jackal’s mate, and ever after lived at amity with her and her young ones. And the young of the two pairs played together in their early days, and when the parents died, they did not break the bond of friendship, but lived happily together as the old ones had lived before them. Indeed, the friendship remained unbroken through seven generations.