By and by the Leopard returned again from the hunt with some more meat; but the Tortoise pretended that the children were asleep; so the meat was again put through the window, and off went the Leopard to hunt in the forest.
The Eagle then came and begged for another child, and receiving it he went and ate it on a high tree.
When the Leopard returned next time, she insisted on seeing the children, but the Tortoise said: “You stop there and I will show them to you at the window.”
The Tortoise then took up the only child left, and holding it at the window he said, “That is one.” He put it down and held it up again, and said, “That is two.” Then he showed it again at the window for the third time, and said, “That is three.” The Leopard, thereupon, went away satisfied.
The Eagle came again and asked for the “other child to eat.”
“What shall I do,” asked the Tortoise, “when the Leopard returns and finds all her children are gone?”
“Oh, I will take care of you,” said the Eagle reassuringly; “I will fly with you to a high tree.” The last child was given and eaten, and then the Eagle took the Tortoise to the branch of a very high tree.
Shortly after the Eagle had carried off the Tortoise the Leopard returned, and finding all her children gone she wept very loudly for some time; then looking about her she saw the Tortoise on the top of a tree.
The Leopard gnawed at the tree, and just as it was going to fall the Tortoise called out to his friend, the Eagle, to help him. The Eagle carried him to another tree. The Leopard gnawed that one; so the Eagle removed the Tortoise to another high tree; but the Leopard gnawed that also.
The Tortoise called for his friend, the Eagle; but the Eagle replied: “I am tired of helping you, take care of yourself,” and off he flew, leaving his friend in the lurch, and never returned again. The tree fell, and the Leopard killed the Tortoise. That is why the bush animals are afraid to hurt the Leopard’s children.