But they didn’t. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day; and though they could smell the animals and hear the animals, they never saw one of them.
‘Let us wait till dark,’ said the Leopard, ‘This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal.’
So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something. It breathed sniffily in the starlight, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it fell like Zebra, but he couldn’t see it. So he said,
‘Be quiet, an animal without any form. I will sit on your head till morning, because there is something about you that I don’t understand.’
Presently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out,
‘I have an animal that I can’t see. It smells like Giraffe, and it kicks like Giraffe, but it hasn’t any form.’
‘Don’t you trust it,’ said the Leopard. ‘Sit on its head till the morning – same as me. They haven’t any form – any of them.’
So they sat down on them hard till bright morning-time, and then Leopard said,
‘What have you, Brother?’
The Ethiopian scratched his head and said,
‘It is orange-tawny from head to heel, and it must be Giraffe; but it is covered all over with chestnut blotches. And what have you, Brother?’
And the Leopard scratched his head and said,
‘It is greyish-fawn, and it must be Zebra; but it is covered all over with black and purple stripes. Zebra, what’s wrong with you? When you were on the High Veldt, you looked different. And now you haven’t any form.’
‘Yes,’ said the Zebra, ‘but this isn’t the High Veldt. Can’t you see?’
‘I can now,’ said the Leopard. ‘But I couldn’t see yesterday. What happened?’
‘Come,’ said the Zebra, ‘and we will show you.’
The Zebra and the Giraffe got up; and Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy[14], and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy[15].
‘Now watch,’ said the Zebra and the Giraffe. ‘One – two – three! And where’s your breakfast?’
Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest. Not a sign of Zebra and Giraffe! They just walked off and hid themselves in the shadowy forest.
‘Hi! Hi!’ said the Ethiopian. ‘What a trick! We must learn it. Take a lesson by it, Leopard.’