Two Crafty Jackals: The Animal Fables of Kalilah and Dimnah

Author: Elizabeth Laird

When bestselling British author Elizabeth Laird introduces the brother jackals Kalilah and Dimnah, she acknowledges a tradition that is as ancient as storytelling itself: the animal fable with a moral. Kalilah and Dimnah debuted in the Panchatantra (Sanskrit for Five Principles), composed in India in the 3rd century BCE. In that work, related as a series of nested tales-within-tales told to illustrate examples of right or wrong behaviour that lead to good or bad results, Dimnah destroys the friendship between a lion and a bull out of jealousy and has to face the consequences. 

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