The Leopard and the Man
In days of yore, it was the wont of leopards to seize persons by the arm, which did oft allow for their escape.
“Verily, the leopard was grievously foolish!” one man did boast. “Had he but seized me by the throat, I should ne'er have broken free. But the creature, in its folly, grasped my arm, and thus I did escape.”
A leopard, concealed within the bush, did overhear the man's pronouncements. “The greatest fool of all,” quoth he to himself, with mirth, “is he who doth instruct his enemies in the arts of one's destruction.”
Since that time, leopards have been wont to seize persons by the throat, whence none may escape, all due to the vainglory of the aforementioned man.
The Lion's Kin and the Leopard
The Lion having absented himself for a considerable duration, his consort and offspring were left destitute of sustenance.
Upon perceiving the Leopard traversing the vicinity, the Lioness entreated him for succour.
’The Lion hath not yet returned to his abode,’ quoth she, ‘and we are in a state of grievous starvation.’
The Leopard, moved by compassion for the diminutive cubs, procured an eland and conveyed it to their lair.
Precisely as the cubs commenced their repast, their sire returned with precipitate haste, emitting a stentorian roar.
Seized with trepidation, the Leopard absconded and concealed himself amidst the verdant herbage.
The Lion, incensed with jealous ire, rebuked his spouse: ‘How dare ye accept assistance from the Leopard!’
To eschew an encounter with the Lion, the Leopard doth henceforth confine his perambulations to the nocturnal hours.
The Flying Lion
It was once the case that the Lion possessed the faculty of flight, his power being derived from the osseous remains of those unfortunate enough to become his victims.
He did then appoint the Crow to undertake the guardianship of these said bones, issuing the imperative directive: “Let it be so that none shall fracture these bones!”, a command most serious in its implication.
However, the Frog did then arrive and proceed to shatter the bones, declaring to the Crow, “I harbour no fear,” and further instructing him, “Inform the Lion that it was I who perpetrated this deed!”
Upon the Lion's realisation that his power of flight had been irrevocably lost, he retreated with haste to his domicile.
The Crow did then emit a raucous squawk, proclaiming, “The Frog came and did break the bones.”
The Lion, in his fury, attempted to seize the Frog, but on each occasion, the Frog eluded his grasp by hopping a further distance away.
Thus, bereft of his ability to fly, the Lion did then inflict punishment upon the Crow for his failure in the safeguarding of the bones, such that henceforth none could comprehend the Crow's utterances.
The Genesis of the Lion
In bygone eras, the lion was naught but a common domestic feline, cohabiting with the villagers in amiable concord.
However, a lamentable turn transpired when this cat, in pursuit of a fowl, did seize and consume it, thereby incensing the village populace.
On the subsequent morn, the cat committed an even graver transgression: it assailed a babe and inflicted upon it grievous lacerations.
The cat's possessor, in vehement indignation, did exclaim, 'I shall bring about thy demise!'
The cat, cognisant of the peril besetting it, did abscond and conceal itself within the thicket, remote from human habitation.
Verily, it transformed into a lion, and thenceforth, lions and mankind have remained perpetual adversaries.
The Genesis of the Baboons
A certain woman was possessed of three offspring.
Contemplating the corn burgeoning in the fields of others, she resolved, 'We shall appropriate that grain for the sustenance of our kin.'
Her progeny purloined the grain, but the chieftain apprehended them. He dispatched two of the children, yet one eluded capture.
Her intimates exhorted her to sever her tresses in lamentation, but she demurred, proclaiming, 'I shall not shear my hair!'
Subsequent to this lamentable event, the woman absconded, accompanied by her surviving child.
The woman's hair continued its proliferation, as did the hair of her child.
They progressed upon all fours, and were gradually enveloped in fur.
Thus, they were transformed into baboons.