The Blue Jackal: the moral, the characters and a mask game

The story in two lines

A hungry jackal falls into a tub of blue dye, comes out bright blue and convinces the forest animals that he is their king. He is found out the moment he joins the other jackals in a howl.

What is the moral?

The tale is short, but children usually find more than one idea in it.

Be honest about who you are

The jackal won respect with a costume, not with anything he did. Once the costume slipped, the respect went with it. A good question for a child is whether being admired and being liked are the same thing.

Pride makes us push friends away

He sent his own family away so nobody could recognise him. In the end he had no one. Talk about how hiding the real you can feel lonely even when people are bowing to you.

Look at what people do

The animals believed a stranger because he looked unusual. Careful watching, and asking questions, would have told them more than the colour of his fur.

Meet the characters

The jackal

In our telling he is called Chandarava. He is clever and quick, and his first problem, hunger, is one every child understands. His mistake is that he chooses pretending over being himself.

The forest animals

Lions, tigers and elephants are the powerful ones in the forest, yet they are the easiest to fool. You can ask children why strong animals might still be fooled.

The other jackals

They never mean any harm. Their howl is simply who they are, and it is the sound the blue jackal cannot resist.

The blue dye

It is only a tub in a town, but it turns the whole story. A small accident can start a very big pretend.

Questions to ask, by age

For ages four to six

• What colour did the jackal turn?
• What did the animals call him?
• What sound gave him away?

For ages seven and up

• Why do you think the jackal wanted to be king?
• Was it fair to fool the animals, or was it only a game that went too far?
• What could he have done when the animals bowed to him?
• Have you ever pretended to be someone else? How did it feel?

Try it: the paper-mask game

Give each player a paper plate and a blue crayon or pencil. Make a mask and cut out two eye holes (a grown-up should handle the scissors). One person wears the blue mask and plays the jackal-king. The others are forest animals and bow, bring pretend gifts and ask the king to decide small things. Then the grown-up softly begins the jackal howl and the king has to decide whether to join in. Afterwards, take the masks off and talk about how it felt to hide, and how it felt to be seen.

Where does the story come from?

The Blue Jackal belongs to the Panchatantra, the old collection of animal fables credited to Vishnu Sharma. Like other Panchatantra tales, it has been retold in many languages, so the jackal’s name, the dye and the way he is found out can differ. Our telling is only one of them. A Hindi version is on नीला सियार.

More to explore on Rangooo

Browse all the Panchatantra stories, read the Talkative Tortoise, or learn how to tell moral stories to children.

Questions

What is the moral of the Blue Jackal story?

You cannot hide who you really are for long, so be honest. Pretending can win praise for a while, but it also costs you your real friends.

Is the Blue Jackal a Panchatantra story?

Yes, it is a well-known Panchatantra fable. Tellers differ on the details, such as the jackal's name and what gives him away.

Why did the blue jackal send the other jackals away?

He was afraid they would recognise him and show everyone he was only a jackal.

What is the Hindi name of this story?

It is usually told as नीला सियार, which means the blue jackal.