“No,” said the Leopardess; “but this is not like the smell of roast meat. Rake out all the ashes that I may see the bones and satisfy myself.”
Monkey, compelled to do as he was commanded, put in his stick, and drew out several half-baked nuts, the shells of which were cracked and gaping open. These Leopardess no sooner saw than she seized Monkey, and furiously cried:
“You wretch, you have deceived and trifled with me! You have permitted the murderer of my cub to escape, and your life shall now be the forfeit for his.”
“Pardon, mighty Leopardess, but let me ask how do you propose to slay me?”
“Why, miserable slave, how else should I kill you but with one scratch of my claws?”
“Nay, then, great Queen, my blood will fall on your head and smother you. It is better for yourself that you should toss me up above that thorny bough, so that when I fall upon it the thorns may penetrate my heart and kill me.”
No sooner had Monkey ended, than fierce Leopardess tossed Monkey upward as he had directed; but the latter seized the bough and sat up, and from this he sprang upward into another still higher, and thence from branch to branch and from tree to tree until he was safe from all possible pursuit.
Leopardess perceived that another of her intended victims had escaped, and was furious with rage.
“Come down this instant,” she cried to Monkey, hoping he would obey her.
“Nay, Leopardess. It has been told me, and the forest is full of the report, that your cruelty has driven from you Jackal and Dog, and that they will never serve you again. Cruel people never can reckon upon friends. I and my tribe, so long servants to you, will henceforth be strangers to you. Fare you well.”