Week 7 Storytelling: The Trickster's Failed Attempt

(Meerkats)

Once upon a time, down near a farm, there lived a tricky, little jackal. The jackal knew all of the ins and outs of the area; he knew exactly when the owner of the farmer turned in for the night, which could only mean one thing: the farm was free range. So, every night, right at sundown, the farmer would attempt to lock everything and head inside for the remainder of the night. And every night, the jackal would steal food from the barn. He knew it was foolproof; there was no way he would get caught. That is, until the farmer started noticing the food was missing. In order to catch this horrid thief once and for all, the farmer set out a trap.

"There's no way, whatever this little creature is, will get out of this trap now! I'll get ya, ya little thief!" the farmer said as he carefully set up the trap, just before sundown.

A few lots over from the farmer's land, there was a meerkat. He watched the jackal every night as he stole the food, and he night he would try and come up with a plan to stop the jackal. However, every night, he failed. The meerkat saw, in delight, that the farmer had set up the trap. He, like the farmer, knew the jackal was toast.

So, the next evening after the trap had been set, the jackal set out on his typical adventure to steal food, and of course was caught by the trap. The meerkat, who had been watching his endeavors, laughed from afar. The meerkat was known for his integrity and always doing the right thing, so he was happy that the jackal had been caught.

"HAHAHA! It's about time you get caught for being a little thief. The farmer works hard every single day to care for his animals and crops, and you think it's just okay to steal all of his products?" the meerkat taunted the jackal.

"Oh, please little meerkat. This isn't a trap. The farmer left this for me to play with. Come over here, you should be able to enjoy its fun too. The coil on the machine rolls back and forth. It's actually really entertaining!" the jackal slyly tried to convince the meerkat.

"What on earth makes you think I believe you? That is CLEARLY a trap. You're the idiot; you are trapped and just really want my help getting out. But, you can't always get what you want, little jackal," said the meerkat.

"Okay, look. I promise it's a lot of fun. I just don't want you to miss out on all of the fun," and with that, the jackal began turning flips inside of the trap.

The meerkat began to look intrigued. Being a bit of an acrobat himself, he started to walk closer to the trap.

"Okay, Jackal. You promise it's not a trap? I had no idea you could flip and turn inside of it. That actually looks like a lot of fun!"

"Cross my heart, little meerkat. Come on over here. All you have to do is flip this little coil right here and you can sit in here and play all day long!"

And with that, the meerkat flipped the coil, and the next thing he knew, he was planted inside the trap with no way to get out.

"HAHAHA! I knew I'd get ya! Have fun with the farmer my little friend!" the jackal said as he laughed and ran off into the now rising sun.

The farmer awoke at sunrise, like he did every morning, ready to check his trap and see once and for all who the thief was.

"So, YOU meerkat? I would have never expected it to be you. What on earth possessed you to do this? Don't you get enough food on your own?" the farmer said, raising his gun into position.

"Please, Mr. Farmer. I promise it wasn't me! The jackal is the guy that you want! He's the one been stealing all of your food every night. I've watched him! He tricked me into getting him out of the trap, and I can't believe I fell for it!" the meerkat cried out.

"Okay, look. I can clearly see you are telling me the truth. I'll tell you what. I'll let you out of the trap if you can tell me where the jackal went. Not only will I let you out, I will also give you enough food to last you for the next year," the farmer proposed.

"Absolutely! Let's go on a hunt! You're awesome, Mr. Farmer!" the monkey thanked him.

Together, the two of them took off and hunted the jackal for the next 3 days. They finally found him nestled up in a burrow about 10 miles outside of the farm.

"Ah hah! I've found you, you pesky little critter!" the farmer said as he cornered the jackal.

"MEERKAT!!!! How on earth are you still alive?! How did you even believe him, farmer? He's such a little idiot!" the jackal cried.

"Doesn't matter how it happened, but the meerkat deserves to be rewarded. Say goodnight, little jackal. You can't get away with this!" the farmer said.

And with that, the farmer fired the gun, killing the jackal. The meerkat ran back with the farmer to the farm and became one of the pets on the land. Each night, the meerkat would come up to the trough and eat the food the farmer had set out for him.

(Jackal)

Author's Note: I decided to go with the South African folktale Jackal and Monkey because I thought the story would be easy to retell with my own spin. In South African stories, the jackal is seen as the trickster (often like the fox is seen in Aesop's Fables). I changed the animal from a monkey to a meerkat, just to change it up a little bit. Meerkats are another animal that are found in South Africa, and I thought they would be a small enough animal to fit in a trap. In the original, the jackal is able to trick the monkey, but the monkey ends up being the one who dies. I thought it would be fun to change the story up and make it to where the "underdog" of the story was the one who wins.

Bibliography: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910)