The Jackal and the Spring is an African fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected by E. Jacottet in Contes Populaires des Bassoutos. Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...

 included it in The Grey Fairy Book.

Synopsis

All the rivers and streams ran dry. The animals dug a well to keep from dying, but the jackal did not help. They set a guard to keep the jackal from drinking. The first, a rabbit, kept off the jackal until it bribed it with some honeycomb to let it tie it up; then the jackal drank its full. The second, a hare, met the same fate. The third

Rule of three (writing)

The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of...

, the tortoise, did not answer the jackal, so it thought it could kick it aside, but the tortoise grabbed its leg and never let it go. The jackal did not manage to free itself until the other animals appeared; then it managed to wrench itself free and flee without drinking.