The Jackal Who Heard a Noise

There was a jackal in the forest. Suddenly he heard a strange sound, a loud sound, and it scared him. "What can that be?" He was sure it must be something dangerous.
Following the sound, he found a drum rolling on the ground, but he had never seen a drum before. "What kind of fierce creature can this be?" he wondered.
Finally, the jackal grew bold enough to attack the strange creature, and he found it was only skin stretched over wood.
"I thought this was some great marvel," he said, "but instead it was nothing at all."

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Inspired by: The Panchatantra, translated by Arthur Ryder. It is in Book 1, Story 3.
Notes: The story is also in Bidpai. Compare the story in Aesop of the fox who finds an actor's mask: The Fox and the Actor's Mask.

(Kalila-wa-Dimna illustration)