A retelling of How Leopards Got Their Spots from the book Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.

Before our story begins, let’s talk about a particular place called the veldt. Imagine a land so wide and open that the sky seems to stretch forever. The veldt is a vast, grassy plain under the hot African sun.

The veldt (which you might sometimes see spelled as “veld”) is like nature’s giant playground. It’s mostly flat, with gentle hills here and there. Tall, golden grass sways in the warm breeze, dotted with hardy shrubs and the occasional tree standing tall and proud.

The veldt in Africa

This sun-baked land might look empty at first glance, but don’t be fooled! The veldt is teeming with life. All sorts of animals call it home – from tiny insects hiding in the grass to large antelopes grazing peacefully. Birds soar overhead, their keen eyes always looking for a tasty meal scurrying below.

In our story, we’ll be visiting the High Veldt. This kind of veldt sits up high, almost like it’s on top of a giant table. The air here is cooler and crisper than in the lower areas.

Now, close your eyes and picture the warm sun on your face, the gentle rustle of grass, the distant call of wild animals. Can you feel the adventure waiting to happen? That’s the magic of the veldt, where our story is about to unfold!

Long ago, when the world was young, everything on the High Veldt shimmered in shades of gold and brown.

In this golden world lived a clever Leopard. But this Leopard wasn’t spotted like the ones you might see today. Oh no! He was a solidly greyish-yellowish catty-shaped kind of beast, perfectly blending in with the landscape around him. This was very bad for the Giraffe and the Zebra and the rest of the animals, for he would lie down by a yellowish-greyish-brownish stone or clump of grass, and when the Giraffe or the Zebra or the Eland or the Koodoo or the Bush-Buck or the Bonte-Buck came by he would surprise them out of their jumpsome lives. He would indeed!

The leopard with no spots

The High Veldt was home to many animals – but here’s the funny thing – they were all the same sandy color as the Leopard! Can you imagine a yellowish-greyish-brownish Zebra without stripes?

Now, the Leopard had a friendโ€”a man from Ethiopia. This man’s skin was the same greyish-yellow as the Leopard’s fur. Together, they were the craftiest hunting team in all the High Veldt.

Their excellent camouflage was a big problem for the animals. They never knew when the Leopard might be lurking behind a rock or when the Ethiopian might be hiding in the tall grass. It made life on the High Veldt very tricky indeed!

The leopard and the Ethiopian man

Little did they know, a great adventure was about to begin – one that would change how they all looked foreverโ€ฆ

It was the Giraffe who first had the idea to leave. With his long legs, he led the others away from the High Veldt.

For days and days, the animals traveled until they found a vast, mysterious forest. This was different from the open plains they knew. The forest was filled with trees, bushes, and dancing shadows that made stripes and spots everywhere you looked, and this is where they hid.

At first, the animals felt out of place in their yellowish coats. But after a long timeโ€”things lived for ever so long in those daysโ€”something started to happen. As they stood in the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, their bodies began to change!

Zebra gets his stripes in the forest

What with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidey shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with little wavy grey lines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk. They had a beautiful time in the forest’s speckly shadows. These animals became masters of hide-and-seek. You might hear them rustle leaves or catch a whiff of their scent, but seeing them? That became nearly impossible unless you knew exactly where to look!

Giraffe in the forest

Meanwhile, back on the High Veldt, the Leopard and the Ethiopian ran about over the greyish-yellowish High Veldt, wondering where all their breakfasts, dinners and snacks had gone. 

At last, the very hungry Leopard and Ethiopian ate rats, beetles and rock rabbits. Then they both had the Big Tummy Ache.

When they thought things couldn’t get any worse, they met a strange creature called Baviaan. He was a dog-headed, barking Baboon, known far and wide as the Wisest Animal in All South Africa. Little did the hungry hunters know, but Baviaan was about to send them on the adventure of a lifetimeโ€ฆ

The Leopard, his tummy rumbling, asked Baviaan, “Where have all the animals gone? We’re starving!”

And Baviaan winked. He knew.

The Ethiopian, persisting, said, โ€œCan you tell me the present habitat of the aboriginal Fauna?โ€ (That meant just the same thing, but the Ethiopian always used long words. He was a grown-up.)

At this, Baviaan spoke in riddles: “The animals have gone into other spots, and my advice to you, Leopard, is to go into other spots as soon as you can.โ€

The Ethiopian frowned, โ€œThat is all very fine, but I wish to know whither the aboriginal Fauna has migrated.โ€

Baviaan grinned. “They’ve joined the plants because it was high time for a change. And my advice to you, Ethiopian, is you should also change.”

The Leopard and Ethiopian scratched their heads, confused. But they decided to follow Baviaan’s advice and set off to find this mysterious place full of plants.

After many days of traveling, they saw a great, high, tall forest full of tree trunks all speckled and spotted, dotted and splashed and hatched and cross-hatched with shadows. (Say that quickly aloud, and you will see how very shadowy the forest must have been.)

It was unlike anything they’d ever seen! The tree trunks were covered in spots and stripes, splashes and squiggles. Shadows danced everywhere, making patterns that boggled the mind.

“Wow,” gasped the Leopard. “It’s so dark but filled with little spots of light!”

The Ethiopian nodded. “This must be the place Baviaan meant. I can smell Giraffe and hear Giraffe, but I can’t see any Giraffe!”

โ€œThatโ€™s curious,โ€ said the Leopard. โ€œI suppose it is because we have just come into this dark forest out of the sunshine. “How strange,” said the Leopard. “I can smell and hear Zebra, too, but they are invisible!โ€

โ€œWait a bit,โ€ said the Ethiopian. โ€œItโ€™s a long time since weโ€™ve hunted them. Perhaps weโ€™ve forgotten what they were like.โ€

โ€œFiddle!โ€ said the Leopard. โ€œI remember them perfectly on the High Veldt, especially their marrow-bones. Giraffe is about seventeen feet high, golden-yellow from head to heel, and Zebra is about four and a half feet high, of a grey-fawn color from head to heel.โ€

โ€œUmm, said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckly shadows of the forest. โ€œThey should be easy to spot in this dark place. They’d stick out like ripe bananas.โ€

But they didnโ€™t. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day, and though they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them.

“This is ridiculous! Let’s wait until night. Maybe we’ll have better luck in the dark.”

So they waited until dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches. He jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra. When he knocked it down, it kicked like Zebra, but he couldnโ€™t see it. 

“Aha!” said the Leopard. “I don’t know what you are, but I’m going to sit on you until morning. There’s something fishy going on here!โ€

He heard a grunt, a crash, and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out, โ€œIโ€™ve caught a thing that I canโ€™t see. It smells like a Giraffe, and it kicks like a Giraffe, but I can’t see it at all!”

โ€œDonโ€™t you trust it,โ€ said the Leopard. โ€œSit on its head till the morningโ€”same as me. Don’t let it go!” the Leopard called back. “These creatures are playing tricks on us!”

So, the Leopard and the Ethiopian sat on their mysterious captives all night long. When the sun finally rose, they were in for a big surprise!

“What in the world?” gasped the Ethiopian, staring at his catch. “This should be a bright golden Giraffe, but it’s covered in brown splotches!”

The Leopard was just as confused. “And this should be a plain sand-colored Zebra, but it’s all stripy black and white! Zebra, what have you done to yourself? Back home, I could spot you from ten miles away!”

The Zebra, finally able to speak, said, “Yes, but we’re not in the High Veldt anymore. Can’t you see?”

The Leopard blinked. “I can see now, but I couldn’t yesterday. How did you do this?”

“Let us up,” said the Zebra, “and we’ll show you.โ€

They let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up. Zebra moved away to some little thorn bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe moved off to tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.

โ€˜Now watch,โ€™ said the Zebra and the Giraffe. โ€˜This is the way itโ€™s done. Oneโ€”twoโ€”three! And whereโ€™s your breakfast?โ€™

Leopard stared, and the Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest, blending perfectly with their surroundings.

The stripey blotchy forest light

“Incredible!” gasped the Ethiopian, his eyes wide with wonder. “That’s the cleverest trick I’ve ever seen. Leopard, we need to learn from this! In this shadowy forest, we stick out like a firefly at midnight!”

Thoughtfully, the Ethiopian continued. โ€œWe don’t match our new surroundings at all. I’m going to follow Baviaan’s advice and change.”

“Change how?” asked the Leopard, curious.

“I’m going to change my skin to a deep tree-bark color with hints of gold and bronze. Perfect for hiding in the shadows!”

Right there and then, the Ethiopian’s skin changed color. The Leopard watched in awe, never having seen anything like it before.

“But what about me?” the Leopard asked.

“Remember what Baviaan said? He told you to ‘go into spots,โ€™” the Ethiopian replied.

The Leopard looked confused. “I thought he meant to go to a different place!”

โ€œIt is clear to me now,” said the Ethiopian excitedly, โ€œthat he meant spots on your fur, like the Giraffe’s blotches or the Zebra’s stripes. It will help you blend in.”

After some thought, the Leopard agreed. “Alright, I’ll try spots. 

โ€˜Iโ€™ll make โ€˜em with the tips of my fingers,โ€™ said the Ethiopian. โ€˜they havenโ€™t completely dried. Stand still!โ€™ 

The Leopard urged, โ€œBut not too big, please!”

So the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together and pressed his moist fingertips all over the Leopard’s fur, leaving groups of five little spots everywhere he touched. Sometimes, the spots got smudged, but that only made the pattern more interesting.

“You look fantastic!” said the Ethiopian when he finished. “Now you can hide anywhere – in the grass, on rocky ground, even in trees. Think of that and purr!โ€

The Leopard admired his new coat. “This is great! Donโ€™t you want spots, too?”

“Oh, I am happy with my solid look!โ€ the Ethiopian replied. “Now, let’s go find breakfast!”

The Ethiopian and the leopard in the forest in the story of how leopards got their spots

And so, the Leopard and the Ethiopian set off into their new life in the forest, better equipped to survive in their new home. They lived happily ever after, content with their new appearances.

So, dear children, remember this story the next time you see a leopard’s spots or wonder about the different colors of people’s skin. It reminds us that change can be good and that our differences make the world more exciting.

Read more Just So Stories

Find Your Next Story

Related Stories

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content is protected !!