Mr Leopard Fools The Other Animals

This tale has been adapted from the original for readability:

Two animals had put on a little performance, Leopard and all the other creatures. The animals had agreed to meet and play one evening when the moon was shining. They gathered in a clearing, fenced the place in, and built a small shelter inside the fence. The next evening they began, beating drums and dancing together.

Old Mr Leopard was hungry, and he came with a plan. He wanted to catch the animals and eat them, so he lay down flat on the ground and pretended to be dead. He closed his eyes and held himself still, as if life had left him.

One of Leopard’s children came out to play and ran into the shelter. When the youngster saw his father lying there, he was truly frightened. He crept closer and asked, “Daddy, what’s happened to you?”

There was no answer. The child began to wail and ran to the others, crying, “Oh no. Our father’s died. We haven’t got a father today.”

They all cried together, then raced out to the other animals and called, “Our father’s died, you must come and cry for him.”

So the animals came and gathered around, full of sorrow, ready to mourn Leopard, who they believed was dead. They made a great noise, grieving as people do when someone has truly died. Then Cunning Rabbit arrived. He looked at Leopard for a long time and said, “This one isn’t dead. He’s only pretending.”

He moved away and sat at a distance where he could run quickly if trouble started. Then he called out, “A dead person doesn’t breathe.”

Leopard was still, but he was breathing just a little, so lightly that the others did not notice. When Rabbit said again that the dead do not breathe, the animals jeered at him. “Rabbit, you’re the one playing tricks,” they said.

“All right,” Rabbit replied. “If you say I’m the fool, then I’m the fool.”

And he stayed where he was, ready to bolt.

The animals who had mocked him sat close around Leopard, crying and crying. Then, all at once, Leopard sprang up to seize them. The animals who had listened to Rabbit’s warning ran at once and escaped. But the ones who had called Rabbit a fool were caught, and Leopard took them all.

After that, Leopard and his children lived on the animals he had caught, right up until the hunger had passed.