to change that.’
‘What to?’ said the Leopard, tremendously excited.
‘To a nice working blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in it, and touches of slaty-blue.
It will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees[86].’
So he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited than ever; he had never seen a man change his skin before.
‘But what about me?’ he said, when the
Ethiopian had worked his last little finger into his fine new black skin.
‘You take Baviaan’s advice too. He told you to go into spots.’
‘So I did,’ said the Leopard. ‘I went into other spots as fast as I could. I went into this spot with you, and a lot of good it has done to me.’
‘Oh,’ said the Ethiopian, ‘Baviaan didn’t mean spots in South Africa. He meant spots on your skin.’
‘What’s the use of that?’ said the Leopard.
‘Think of Giraffe,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Or if you prefer stripes give them perfect satisfaction[87].’
‘Umm,’ said the Leopard. ‘I wouldn’t look like Zebra – not for ever so.’
‘Well, make up your mind[88],’ said the Ethiopian, ‘because I’d hate to go hunting without you, but I must if you insist on looking like a sunflower against a tarred fence.’
‘I’ll take spots, then,’ said the Leopard; ‘but don’t make ’em too vulgar-big. I wouldn’t look like Giraffe – not for ever so.’
This is the picture of the Leopard and the Ethiopian after they had taken Wise Baviaan’s advice and the Leopard had gone into other spots and the Ethiopian had changed his skin. The Ethiopian was really a negro, and so his name was Sambo. The Leopard was called Spots, and he has been called Spots ever since. They are out hunting in the spickly-speckly forest, and they are looking for Mr. One-Two-Three-Where’s-your-Breakfast. If you look a little you will see Mr. One-Two-Three not far away. The Ethiopian has hidden behind a splotchy-blotchy tree because it matches his skin, and the Leopard is lying beside a spickly-speckly bank of stones because it matches his spots. Mr. One-Two-Three-Where’s-your-Breakfast is standing up eating leaves from a tall tree. This is really a puzzle-picture like “Find-the-Cat”.
‘I’ll make ’em with the tips of my fingers,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘There’s plenty of black left on my skin still. Stand over!’
Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together (there was plenty of black left on his new skin still) and pressed them all over the Leopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard’s skin you like, Best Beloved. Sometimes the fingers slipped and the marks got a little blurred; but if you look closely at any Leopard now you will see that there are always five spots – off five fat black finger-tips.
‘Now you are a beauty!’ said the Ethiopian. ‘You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the naked rocks and look like a piece of pudding-stone. You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves; and you can lie right across the center of a path and look like nothing in particular. Think of that and purr[89]!’
‘But if I’m all this.’ Said the Leopard. ‘why didn’t you go spotty too?’
‘Oh, plain black’s best for a nigger,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Now come along and we’ll see if we can’t get even with Mr. One-Two-Three-Where’s-your-Breakfast!’
So they went away and lived happily ever afterward, Best Beloved. That is all.
Oh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say, ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots?’ I don’t think even grownups would keep on saying[90] such a silly thing if the Leopard and the Ethiopian hadn’t done it once – do you? But they will never do it again, Best Beloved. They are quite contented[91] as they are.
I am the Most Wise Baviaan,
saying in most wise tones,
‘Let us melt into the landscape[92] —
just us two by our lones.’
People have come – in a carriage – calling.
But Mummy is there…
Yes, I can go if you take me —
Nurse says she don’t care.
Let’s go up to the pig-sties[93]
and sit on the farmyard rails!
Let’s say things to the bunnies[94],
and watch ’em skitter their tails!
Let’s – oh, anything, Daddy,
so long as it’s you and me,
And going truly exploring,
and not being in till tea!
Here’s your boots (I’ve bought ’em),
and here’s your cap and stick,
And here’s your pipe and tobacco.
Oh, come along out of it – quick!
Questions and tasks
1. Why couldn’t the Leopard and the Ethiopian find any breakfast?
2. What was the Baviaan’s advice? Did the Leopard and the Ethiopian follow this advice?
3. How did the animals hide from the Leopard?
4. What was the use of spots for the Leopard?
5. How did the spots appear on the Leopard?
6. Retell the story.
The Elephant’s Child
On the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk[95]. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he could wriggle about from side to side; but he couldn’t pick up things with it. But there was one Elephant – a new Elephant – an Elephant’s Child – who was full of ’satiable curtiosity[96], and that means he asked ever so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his ’satiable curtiosities. He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich[97], why her tail-feathers grew just so, and his tall aunt the Ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw
It will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees. – Это будет как раз то, что нужно, для того, чтобы прятаться в низинах и за деревьями.very –
to give satisfaction – принести удовлетворе-ние, принести извинения
to make up one's mind – решиться на что-либо или сделать что-либо
to purr – мурлыкать, урчать
to keep on doing smth – продолжать делать что-либо
to be contented – быть довольным, удовлетво-риться
landscape – ландшафт, пейзаж
pig-sty – свинарник
bunny – кролик
trunk – хобот
’satiable curtiosity = in satiable curtiosity – огромное (ненасытное) лю-бопытство
the Ostrich – страус
