XXXI
The Leopard is Badly Tricked by the
Gazelle, Rat and Frog
The Leopard owned a fine plum-tree,[[76]] and the Gazelle, while out walking one day, discovered it, and, noticing the fruit was ripe, he threw up a rope which caught on one of the main branches, and was soon among the plums. He put some in a bag, and as he turned to descend he saw a Squirrel and her nest on one of the forks of the tree. The Squirrel observed the Gazelle, and as she was the Leopard’s watchman she told the Leopard all about the theft.
As the Gazelle was returning home he saw a Palm-rat weaving, and, throwing a plum at him, it broke the web, whereupon the Palm-rat turned angrily on the Gazelle; but on receiving some plums and tasting them his anger passed away, and he asked where he could procure some more. The Gazelle told him to make a bag without any bottom to it, and in the morning he was to come directly he heard his whistle.
The next morning, directly he heard the Gazelle’s whistle, the Palm-rat picked up his bottomless bag and joined the Gazelle. After a short walk they reached the plum-tree, and the Gazelle said: “Shut your eyes while I climb.” The Palm-rat obeyed the order, and the Gazelle went to his rope and climbed the tree.
The Palm-rat asked: “How am I to climb the tree?”
“Oh, knock your head against the tree, and you will soon be up,” replied the Gazelle.
So the Palm-rat put his claws into the tree and knocked his head against it (that is why he has a swollen head), and at last reached the branches.
The Gazelle told him to pull all the green plums, which he stupidly did, and when he put them in his bag they fell through to the ground. When the Gazelle had plucked all the ripe plums he wanted, he said to the Palm-rat: “Look and see if the Squirrel is on that fork of the tree.”
The Palm-rat saw the Squirrel, and while he was looking the Gazelle threw a plum at her, and she cried out: “Oh, Leopard, come quickly, the Gazelle is pulling all your plums!”
When the Leopard heard this he came running to the tree, and called out: “Come down, and I’ll cure you of your sickness.”