Читать книгу The Girl Who Married A Lion - Alexander McCall Smith - Страница 8

t used to be that Leopard, Goat, Guinea Fowl and Wild Cat were all good friends. They lived together in the same place, near some hills that came out of the plains, and where there was good water and cool places to sleep.

Goat had some very fine children, of which she was justly proud. There were strong and healthy and they could stand on their back legs and eat the leaves from the shrubs that other animals could not reach. They were very clever children, too, and knew a lot about the world, which made other children envious. Leopard’s children were not very strong. They could not run as fast as leopard children normally run, and their coats were dull and matted.

When Leopard saw Goat’s children playing in the grass, her heart was filled with hatred for them. These children made her own children look so thin and weak that she wished that they could be got rid of. In that way her own children would be the healthiest and strongest children in that place. But how was she to get Goat to go away for long enough for her to deal with Goat’s children? The idea came to her that she would ask Goat to go and look for a new dress for her, as she had been invited – or so she would say – to a party to be held by her cousins.

Goat agreed to Leopard’s request, and she went off to the other side of the river to look for a fine new dress for her friend, Leopard. She left her children behind, telling them not to wander away but to stay within sight of Leopard, who would look after them. These strong children, who were also very obedient, agreed to do what their mother had asked them. All the time, Leopard was watching this, watching, watching.

Once Goat had gone, Leopard crouched down and began to stalk Goat’s children through the long grass. The poor children, not knowing the danger that was now so close to them, were full of happiness. Then, in an instant, Leopard was upon them. She seized them and carried them back to her place by the scruff of their necks. The children thought that this must be a game, as Leopard was their mother’s friend, and they continued to laugh and smile even as they were dragged along.

Once she had captured all the children, Leopard tied up their mouths and wrapped them in leaves. Now they were bundles ready to take off to the party, where Leopard and her cousins would eat them. Unknown to Leopard, though, Guinea Fowl and Wild Cat had returned from a journey, and they watched in dismay as they saw what Leopard was doing. They were saddened by the thought that Goat’s happy children would no longer be jumping up and down in the grass and singing their goat songs that they all so liked to hear. They could not believe that Leopard would be wicked enough to do such a thing, but now they saw it all before their very eyes.

Shortly afterwards, Goat returned from the other side of the river, bearing a fine new dress which she had bought for Leopard. Leopard was very pleased with this, as she was a vain person who liked to wear fine dresses and admire her reflection in the water.

While Leopard was busy trying on her new dress, Guinea Fowl and Wild Cat crept round to the place where the parcels were stored and they took the leaves off Goat’s children.

“You must go and hide,” they said to the children. “Make sure that Leopard doesn’t see you, though, for she is very wicked.”

Goat’s children, shocked by what had happened to them, went off into the bushes, stifling their tears as they did so. Guinea Fowl and Wild Cat did not go with them, as they had business to do. Seeing Leopard’s children nearby, they went over to them and very quickly overpowered them. It was not difficult to do that, as Leopard’s children were weak and sickly. Then they wrapped them in leaves – the very leaves which only a short time ago had been wrapped around Goat’s children.

It was now time for everybody to set off to the party. Leopard, who was pleased with herself in her new dress, did not bother to find out where her children were and had no idea that they were inside the parcels which she was carrying. So when Guinea Fowl and Wild Cat asked her what was in these parcels, she replied only that there was good meat for them to have at the party.

When they arrived at the party, Leopard told her cousins that they should put the parcels into the pot unopened. She did not want Goat, who was there, to see that her children were being put into the pot. Guinea Fowl, though, realised the danger that they were in, and she whispered to Goat and Wild Cat that they should all run away before the parcels were taken out of the pot.

Later when Leopard took out the parcels and opened them, she saw that her own children were inside and had been cooked. This made her cry out in anger and run back to their place by the hills, so that she might catch Goat and her children and punish them. But they had left by the time she got there, and that is why even to this day we see leopards searching for goats.