“Yes, sir,” answered the Leopard, and descending the palm-tree he went softly and meekly to his wine-booth and found a person there with a long beard and large horns.
“Pour me out some wine,” said the Goat. This the Leopard did at once. Pouring the wine into a glass, he knelt and offered it to the Goat, who drank it off glass after glass as the Leopard crouched in a humble position before him. This happened several days running--the Goat ordering the palm-wine and the Leopard offering it on his knees as to a great chief.
One day, while the Leopard was paying homage in this way to the Goat, a Gazelle arrived and stared in surprise at what he saw, and after the Goat had gone, he said to the Leopard: “Uncle Leopard, do you know who that is?”
“No,” replied the Leopard; “I do not know in the least who it is, but he has a long beard and big horns.”
“Oh! oh!” laughed the Gazelle; “that is foolish. Do you not see that you are paying homage to empty size? He has no strong teeth for biting hard things and for fighting. If you do not believe me, try him to-morrow.”
Next day the Goat came as usual, and demanded his palm-wine. He found the Leopard and the Gazelle already there in the booth. The Gazelle took from his bag a kola nut, and, breaking it, he gave one section to the Goat, another to the Leopard, and took one himself. The Leopard crunched his section at once with his powerful teeth, and the Gazelle bit his part to pieces, but the poor Goat, having no strong teeth, turned his section of the nut over and over in his mouth, first one side and then the other.
The Gazelle made a sign with his lips to the Leopard, as much as to say: “Do you see, he has no teeth. I told you so.” The Leopard thereupon jumped on the Goat and killed him without a struggle, and from that time the Leopard has never again been afraid of the Goat’s long beard and big horns. A beard and horns do not make a strong animal, but a powerful mouth is necessary. Pomposity without real authority will not be respected for very long.
XXIII
Why the Owls and the Fowls never speak to each other
A Fowl and an Owl became friends, but they built their houses at some distance from each other. One day the Owl heard that his friend was very sick, so he gathered some money together and went to pay a visit to the Fowl. When he arrived he inquired after the health of his friend, and finding he was still very ill he sent for a “medicine man,” and in due time his friend the Fowl recovered, and the Owl returned to his town.