Old Hendrik’s Tales

At noon beside the Vaal River, three children pounce on a sleeping old kitchen boy and declare they’ve finally caught Old Jackal. Old Hendrik wakes grinning: Wolf, he says, has never been clever enough to catch Jackal yet.

On a hot South African farm, beneath blue-brown koppies, Old Hendrik spins an animal tale in the language he says English can’t quite do justice to. Old Jackal is hungry, idle, and watching Wolf carry home a fat eland—when a message arrives from King Lion, who needs his doctor at once. Jackal claims he is too sick to move, but the prospect of breakfast is hard to ignore, and the king’s summons may be harder still. Can the sly Jackal get his share of the meat and keep the Lion waiting?

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