Self-Defeating Forethought

A hunter shot a great boar, but the wounded boar gored him fatally with his tusk before dying himself from the arrow. Both lay dead in the forest when a starving jackal wandered by and found this unexpected feast.

Delighted at his fortune, the jackal resolved to make the food last many days rather than gorge himself at once. He decided to begin with the sinew of the hunter's bow, nibbling it slowly and carefully, the way a wise man sips a rare elixir rather than gulping it down.

As he gnawed through the taut sinew at the bow's tip, the string suddenly snapped. The released bow-tip sprang up and pierced clean through the roof of his mouth.

The jackal died instantly from the very carefulness that was meant to preserve his fortune — his forethought about rationing had blinded him to the danger hidden in the very first bite.

The tale is remembered as a warning about greed dressed up as prudence: planning carefully to hoard more than you need can be more dangerous than simple hunger.