Leopard and Lion: A Third Fable

Once upon a time in the jungle, there lived a leopard and a lion. Lion was the king of the jungle and could make the ground tremble beneath the feet of the other animals with a mighty roar while Leopard spent his days in the trees and took each catch up to a branch where it could not be reached by the other animals.

One day, Lion spotted Leopard and began to laugh. He found Leopard’s spots funny and each time he paused in his laughter, he wiped tears from his eyes and then began to laugh once more. Leopard was puzzled. He didn’t understand what was so funny. He had spots and he saw his spots as part of him and no matter how he tried asking Lion, Lion simply shook his mane and laughed harder, never once explaining why he found Leopard’s spots so amusing.

Each day after, Lion would come and sit for an hour to laugh at Leopard’s spots and not once did he share with anyone why he was laughing. He would point with his large paws and laugh and laugh and soon enough, other animals were drawn by the laughter. It had been a dry season and most of the animals had little to laugh about and yet each day they heard the king of the animals laughing with such depth that they knew it had to be something very funny.

The other animals arrived and found Lion laughing at Leopard and all he would say is ‘his spots, his spots’ and then continue on with his laughter. Soon the animals joined in. They understood that there must be something funny and thought it would be best to laugh even though the reason was beyond them.

Leopard grew to dread hearing Lion’s approach each day. He could smell Lion from a distance and he knew that Lion’s arrival would attract the other animals.

He tried covering his ears, he tried asking for an explanation, he tried to get down from the tree to see if there was something he was missing, but to no avail.

The daily visits of Lion and the other animals went on for years and one day Leopard wondered if he should just join in the laughter. They had found his spots very funny for a long time so maybe there was something funny about them.

Once the animals had retreated for the day, Leopard lay on his branch and wondered if he should laugh tomorrow. Maybe his spots were funny and by laughing a bit, it would ease his loneliness once and for all.

Leopard slept that night with this question on his mind, aware the laughter had struck him as cruel all along…