The Twelve Princesses

The False Friend 

Two friends, a crow and a deer, lived in the same forest. One day, a jackal entered the forest. He spotted the deer and licked his lips. "What a nice meal this deer will make. But he's too big for me to kill." The jackal decided to make friends with the deer.

"Hello !" he said.

"Are you new here? I've never seen you before", the deer said.

"Yes. Will you be my friend?" the jackal asked and the deer agreed. The crow spotted two walking together.

"Who is that?" he asked the deer.

"He is my new friend", the deer replied.

"How can you be his friend when you hardly know him?" the crow asked as he knew that one couldn't trust the jackal

"How dare you insult me?" the jackal interrupted between the conversation of crow and deer. "You are jealous as the deer is my friend now". The jackal walked away with deer. Soon, they became good friend.  However, the crow was worried.

"I know a great place where we can get ",  the jackal said one day and led the deer to a corn field. Both of them ate heartily for a few days till the farmer spotted them.

"They are spoiling my crops!" the farmer exclaimed. "I shall set a trap and caught them both."

The deer was caught in the farmer's trap the next day.

"Save me friend!" he requested the jackal. But the jackal had an evil plan in his mind. "This is the opportunity I had been waiting for. I shall eat him after he dies".

He said to deer, "I am fasting today so I cannot bite the trap as it made of skin. But I shall free you tomorrow morning". Saying this, the jackal went away.

Morning came and there was no sign of the jackal. The deer was worried.

The crow was worried too and set off to look for the deer.

"What happened?" the crow asked when he had found the trapped deer. The deer told him everything.

Just then, they saw the farmer approach with a stick and the deer started crying.

"Don't worry. Pretend you are dead", the crow said. "When I caw, run away at my signal".

The farmer saw the deer lying still on the ground and was happy. The jackal was hiding and watching. The farmer set the trap free thinking the deer was dead and the crow cawed loudly. The deer leapt up and ran for his life.

"You think you can fool me ? Take that!" The farmer flung his stick at the running deer. But the stick  missed the deer as it ran very fast and hit the hidden jackal instead. "Ouch!" the jackal exclaimed, as the heavy stick landed on his head and killed him instantly.

"The evil jackal has paid for his bad deeds", the crow said.

"Yes, it is better to have many enemies than a false friend!" the deer replied.