Once upon a time, there was a cunning jackal that lived in a jungle. The jackal used to pay frequent visits to a particular sweetmeat shop in the small town that was situated beside the jungle. Every night the jackal used to steal into the shop and gobble up sweet delicacies.
Every morning the shop owner or Sheth, after noticing the decrease in the number of sweets, wondered as to who was stealing the goodies. One day he came a little early and caught the jackal in the act. The shop owner gave the jackal a sound beating and threw him out.
The jackal played dead as a crowd gathered around him, expressing their sympathy for the beat-up jackal. Villagers talked about punishing the shopkeeper for his cruelty towards the jackal. Hearing this, the cunning jackal continued to play dead.
While the villagers talked about the incident, a man who was passing by requested the shopkeeper, "May I take the jackal's ears?" Since the jackal was playing dead, the Sheth said, "I don't have any problem with that. Please go ahead!" The jackal continued to lie motionless and bore the pain of his long ears being cut off by the stranger. This he did because he wanted the shopkeeper to be punished for beating him.
A little while later another man approached the Sheth and sought permission to take some of the jackal's teeth. Hearing this, the jackal got scared and though: "If my teeth are pulled out, I will not be able to hunt and probably die of hunger." Scared by this the jackal got up and ran away from the spot.
Running for his life, the jackal fell into a well that was full of coloured water. The well was used to dye clothes by washermen of the village. By the time the jackal managed to climb out of the well he had been dyed in a different colour, which was very different from his usual look.
When the jackal returned to the jungle, other animals were shocked and scared on seeing an animal with such a strange look and colour. Seizing this chance the cunning jackal identified itself as Kukaddam.
Kukaddam then did not waste much time and quickly proclaimed himself as the king of the forest. He surrounded himself with his kind - jackals and kept other animals lik tigers, lions and panthers at a distance.
But, how long can a jackal suppress his basic nature? Every night his jackal subjects would howl and call out at each other in the jungle. Kukaddam initially was successful in suppressing his desire to call out like his brethren. He feared that if he behaved like a jackal in any manner, his bluff would be caught.
The jackal's worst fears came true when one night he could not resist and joined the chorus of his brethren. Seeing Kukaddam in his true colors the lion growled and pounced upon the cunning jackal, and punished him.
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