The Tortoise and the Leopard

Once upon a time there was a tortoise who lived in a forest. She was a large, fat tortoise with a green and brown shell on her back, and over her stomach she wore a yellow shell.

One day she was going for a walk in the dark, shady forest where she lived. She came to the edge of the forest beside a river, and in the sand beside the river she found some big eggs. She recognized them as being the eggs of a crocodile.

Now the tortoise was very fond of eating good food, and she knew that crocodile eggs have a delicious flavour. She picked up the eggs and hurried with them to the compound of a family which lived near the river.

After the tortoise had greeted the family and the family had greeted the tortoise, she said, “Please, may I enter your compound, for I have something to tell you?”

“Certainly,” replied the chief man of the compound, and he and his family allowed the tortoise to enter.

“If you let me use a cooking pot,” said the tortoise, “and some firewood, some oil, and some pepper, and if you let me use three big stones to support the cooking pot over the fire, I will make a magic cake for you with the eggs which I am carrying. After you have eaten the magic cake you will always have good luck.”

The chief of the compound and his family agreed to what the tortoise suggested. They brought a cooking pot, firewood, oil, pepper, and three big stones to support the cooking pot over the fire. The tortoise asked them to put everything in the room where the family stored its corn. When everything was made ready, the tortoise thanked the family, entered the room and shut and bolted the door.

All day the tortoise cooked the crocodile eggs. She mixed them with the oil and the pepper and the corn which was stored in the room, and she made a very large cake.

When night came and the family were sleeping, the tortoise put the cake in a bag, left the compound very quietly and then ran quickly into the forest.

The next morning the people in the compound woke up. They looked for the tortoise but they could not find her. They knew they had been tricked.

Meanwhile, the tortoise was going deep into the forest carrying the bag with the cake inside it. The day became very dark, for there were many clouds in the sky. The tortoise heard thunder; then she felt rain. The day became darker and darker, the rain became heavier and heavier. The tortoise was beaten by the rain, but she did not dare return to the compound where she had cooked her cake, so she went on and on, hoping to find shelter. At last she came to the top of a little hill where, through the clearing in the trees, she could see smoke. The tortoise knew that the smoke came from a house and that where there was a house there was shelter. She walked and walked while the rain became stronger and stronger. At last she reached the house.

“Greetings, friend,” the tortoise called at the doorway, “please will you let me in, for I am tired and wet from the rain?”

It was a leopard that came to the door.

“Greetings,” said the leopard. “Come in.”

Inside the house the tortoise found a warm place near the fire. She took her bag with the cake in it, and hung it up on a bamboo pole inside the house. As night had come by that time, the tortoise said good night to the leopard and went to sleep beside the fire.

The next morning when the tortoise woke up she saw that her bag was empty and that the cake had disappeared. It had been eaten by the leopard. The tortoise feared the leopard, so she did not say anything about the cake. Instead, she said, “I thank you, leopard, for giving me shelter. Now, if you will do what I say, I will make a magic powder for you. The magic powder will make you successful whenever you go out hunting.”

The foolish leopard was very pleased and he agreed to do what the tortoise said.

The tortoise said that he should go out into the forest and bring forked sticks, four of them, each about six feet high. This the leopard did. The tortoise then said that the leopard should bring two strong poles to be tied on the tops of the forked sticks. The leopard went into the forest again and brought back the poles, tied them to the forked sticks, and drove one end of each forked stick firmly into the ground.

Then he allowed the tortoise to tie him to the poles and sticks.

“When will you untie me?” asked the leopard.

“Never,” replied the tortoise. “You ate my cake without asking my permission to eat it. Therefore I shall not untie you. I shall leave you to your fate.”

The tortoise then ran off and disappeared in the thick forest.

After several hours some monkeys passed the leopard.

“Monkeys,” said the leopard, “please untie me.”

“Not us,” replied the monkeys, “we are too frightened of you.”

The monkeys went on their way. The leopard became very hungry. After several more hours an old mother monkey passed the leopard.

“Oh, Monkey,” cried the leopard, “please untie me. I have been here for a long time.”

The old mother monkey came back.

“Very well,” she said to the leopard, “although I fear you, I will untie you.”

The monkey freed the leopard, but she was not free from him. The leopard jumped on her and ate her up. After that, with a roar of rage, he ran into the forest to look for the tortoise.

The leopard went through the forest, but he could not find the tortoise. The leopard went beside the forest near the river, but still he could not find the tortoise. For ever afterwards the leopard searched beside the forest, and whenever one sees a leopard beside a forest, one knows he is looking for a tortoise.