THE LEOPARD AND THE DOG
On the third night of the Alo Man’s stay in the village there was a
great disturbance out near the goat pen. The frightened bleating of the
goats was almost drowned by the barking and growling of dogs, and the
angry snarl of some fierce animal.
Some of the hunters caught up their spears and ran to see what the
matter was, and Mpoko, catching up his own little spear, raced after
them, for he could hear the furious barking of his own dog in the pack.
Even the baby brother, who could only just stand on his feet, lifted
his head and listened, saying, “Mfwa! Mfwa!” Mpoko’s dog was one of
the family; he had played with the children ever since he was a little
yellow-brown flop-eared puppy.
[Illustration]
But the trouble was soon over. Before any one had had time to ask
many questions, the hunters came back in triumph with the body of a
big, fierce leopard. He had leaped upon the roof of the goat pen and
tried to break in, but the dogs had found it out at once. They had
set up such a baying and yelping that the robber was frightened, and
he was trying to get away when the hunters arrived with their spears.
They tied his paws together and slung him over a pole carried on their
shoulders, and tomorrow he would be taken about to all the villages and
exhibited. And the chief would have the skin.
[Illustration]
Mpoko was very proud to be able to tell his sister that he had seen the
leopard killed, and that his dog had been in the very thick of the
fight. Moreover, he was sure that when he flung his own spear at the
leopard it had gone through the skin somewhere, even if he could not
point out the exact place.
“Mfwa! Mfwa!” said the baby, with his fat fists waving at the dog, and
all the dogs strutted about, very proud of their night’s work.
“I wonder why dogs hate a leopard so,” said Nkunda, as the excitement
quieted down.
“My dog belongs to me, and he knows the leopard is my enemy,” said
Mpoko.
“Cats and dogs hate each other too, and the cat is not my enemy,” said
Nkunda, trying to coax her pet cat down from the branch of a tree where
she crouched, hissing at the dogs.
“Cats and dogs always hate each other,” said Mpoko, and he seemed to
think that that was reason enough.
[Illustration]
“There is a good reason why the dog and the leopard do not like each
other,” said the Alo Man. Then he told the story of the Leopard and
the Dog.
* * * * *
I often tell of the time when all the animals lived in a country by
themselves, and the mother of leopards had two fine young cubs in her
cave in the forest. As they grew older, she knew she must go out to
find food for them, and she was afraid that if she left them alone,
they would be stolen from her.
She began to look about among the animals to find some one to take care
of her cubs while she went hunting.
“What will you give me to come and take care of your cubs?” asked the
Hyena.
“I will give you a good home in my cave and plenty of food,” said the
Leopard.
“He-yah! he-yah! he-yah!” laughed the Hyena, in a loud, harsh voice
that almost frightened the Leopard herself.
[Illustration]
“Your voice is too loud,” she said. “You would make such a noise that
my cubs would be frightened to death.”
The Hyena laughed again louder than before and went away to tell how he
had scared the Leopard with his laughing.
“What will you give me to take care of your cubs?” called the Owl up in
the tree top.
“I will give you a good home in my cave and plenty of food,” said the
Leopard.
“Hoo! hoo! hoo-oo!” hooted the Owl, glaring down at the Leopard with
great round eyes that almost frightened the Leopard herself.
“Your eyes are too large and bright,” said the Leopard. “My cubs would
be frightened out of their wits when you stared at them.”
The Owl hooted even louder than before and flew away to tell all the
animals how he had frightened the Leopard by staring at her.
“What will you give me to take care of your cubs?” asked the Snake from
the tall grass.
“I will give you a good home in my cave and plenty of food,” said the
Leopard.
“Tsz! tsz! tsz!” hissed the Snake, so loudly that the Leopard jumped
and was almost frightened at the noise.
“I do not want you to take care of my cubs,” said the Leopard. “If
they heard you hiss like that, they would be frightened to death.”
The Snake hissed again louder than before, and slid away through the
tall grass to tell all the other animals how he had startled the
Leopard by hissing at her.
“What will you give me to take care of your cubs?” asked the Dog.
“I will give you a good home in my cave and plenty of food,” said the
Leopard.
“Mfwa! Mfwa!” barked the Dog, wagging his tail as hard as he could,
and grinning so that every one of his white teeth showed. The Leopard
looked at him and was pleased.
[Here the Alo Man, who had imitated the voice of each animal in the
story, barked so well that all the dogs barked and whined, and came
to rub their heads against his legs. Everybody laughed, and it really
seemed as if the dogs understood the story as well as any one.]
The Leopard went to her cave, with the Dog trotting after her and
sniffing at her tracks. She gave him a good supper of rabbit bones,
and when she told him how to take care of the cubs he listened very
carefully.
The next day the Leopard went out to hunt, and the Dog stayed in the
cave and did exactly as he had been told. After a while the Leopard
came back, dragging a fine Antelope.
“This is for my supper and the cubs’ supper,” she said, “and tomorrow
you shall have the bones for your dinner.”
The Dog thought of the good dinner he would have off those large bones,
and he wagged his tail and grinned.
“But remember this,” went on the Leopard, “you must never take bones
outside the cave. We never eat outside our caves, but always inside. If
people change their customs, there is no telling what will happen.”
[Illustration]
Next day the Leopard went to hunt, and the Dog lay down across the
doorway of the cave and watched over the cubs. At dinner time he began
to gnaw at the bones of the Antelope, as he had been told, inside the
cave. But it was inconvenient. The rock floor was uneven, and he could
not get his teeth into the bones properly. When he cracked the bone to
get at the marrow he got some earth into it, and he did not like that
at all.
“I may as well take the bones out on the clean grass and finish my
dinner,” said the Dog to himself. “Nobody will ever know.”
But when he had taken the bones out of the cave upon the grass, the
strangest things began to happen. The bones began to move about as if
they were coming to life. Before the Dog could catch them and drag them
back into the cave, one of the great leg-bones of the Antelope hit a
Leopard cub on the head and killed it dead.
This was a dreadful thing indeed. The Dog had never dreamed of hurting
the cub. He dragged all the bones back into the cave as quickly as he
could, for fear the other cub might be killed. He could not think what
he should do in this terrible situation, and while he stood trembling
and whimpering with fear and grief, he heard the Leopard coming.
“I will try to hide the dead cub until the Leopard has gone to sleep,”
he said to himself, “and then I will run away.”
The Leopard came up to the cave, dragging a fine fat wild pig. First
of all she asked, “Are the cubs well and happy?”
The Dog was very much frightened, but he went into the cave and fetched
out the live cub. “See how well he looks,” he said.
The Leopard looked the cub all over and licked it with her strong
tongue. Then she said, “This one seems very well. Now show me the
other.”
The Dog took the live cub back into the cave and brought it out again.
The two cubs looked so much alike that he had never been able to tell
them apart, and he thought that perhaps the Leopard would be deceived.
But the Leopard gave one look at the cub and then sprang at the Dog.
“You stupid creature,” she snarled, “do you think you can fool me in
that way?”
The Dog made one dash away from the cave entrance and down the path
through the forest, with the Leopard at his heels. He ran out of the
forest and across the plain, up hills and down valleys, with the
Leopard at his heels. He ran until he was almost dead, and when he had
hardly strength to go another step he saw a hollow tree with a hole in
it big enough for him to get into, but too small for the Leopard to
follow him. Into it he went, his tail curled between his legs and all
four feet gathered under him. Hard as she tried, the Leopard could not
quite reach him with her paw.
In the tree sat a Monkey, watching the goings-on and chattering with
excitement. The Leopard looked up and saw him.
“Come down out of that tree and watch this hole for me,” said the
Leopard. “I am going to gather sticks and kindle a fire to burn up this
good-for-nothing Dog.”
The Monkey dared not refuse, and he came down and sat in front of the
hole.
When the Leopard had gone away, the Dog peeped out very cautiously.
“I know where there is a tree full of ripe nuts,” he said to the
Monkey. “If you will let me get away, I will show you where it is.”
“But I am afraid of the Leopard,” chattered the Monkey.
“The Leopard will never know,” said the Dog. “When the tree burns, she
will think that I am burning inside of it.”
Finally the Monkey let the Dog out, and he crept into the grass and
hid, for he saw the Leopard coming back with a load of sticks.
“Have you kept close watch of the hole?” asked the Leopard.
“I have not gone away for a minute,” said the Monkey. “I have kept my
eyes on the hole ever since you went away.”
Then the Leopard made a fire and the tree began to blaze up.
“Hear the Dog’s bones crackle!” chattered the Monkey as the branches
began to snap in the flames.
The Dog thought that this might be a good time for him to escape
through the grass, but the Leopard saw the grass wave where he was
hiding, and she made a quick jump for the place. Away ran the Dog once
more for dear life, with the Leopard coming after him in great leaps.
[Illustration]
It would have been a sad day for the Dog if there had not been coming
that way a party of Men. He rushed up to them and crouched at the feet
of the Chief and looked up into his face for protection.
When the Chief saw the Leopard, who had often carried off goats and
cattle from his village, and looked down at the panting, terrified Dog,
he was sorry for the Dog and, bending over, patted him on the head.
“Do not be afraid,” he said. “The Leopard shall not hurt you.”
The Leopard looked at the sharp spears of the Chief and his followers,
and went growling away to her cave in the forest. Ever since that time
the Dog loves man better than he does any of the animals of the forest,
and serves him against all his enemies; and if the Leopard comes to
steal from the village, the Dog will call for the man to drive him away.
[Illustration]
“Mfwa! Mfwa!” said Mpoko’s dog, looking up into his master’s face and
then grinning at the leopard. And Mpoko and Nkunda were certain that he
had understood every word of the story that the Alo Man had told.
[Illustration]