The Wonders of the Jungle Volume Ii Part 14

My dear children, this story has a special meaning for us. We are told that if we cast our bread upon the waters, it shall be returned to us.

That means that if we do an act of kindness, we shall have our reward.

Androcles did an act of kindness to the lion in the jungle. In return Androcles was given back his life in the arena.

_The Lady and the Lioness_

I shall close this chapter by telling you another true story. It happened quite recently, in America. In a zoo there was a lioness. She had two little cubs. She was very fond of them, and she used to lick them with her tongue many times every day to keep them clean. They used to trot around her and scramble over her, then lie down beside her, one on each side, to have another cleaning with her tongue.

One day the lioness and her two cubs were lying like that quite close to the bars of the cage. One of the visitors there happened to be a man who had an umbrella. Very foolishly he poked one of the cubs with the umbrella. He did not mean to hurt the cub; I suppose he only wanted to _feel_ it. But still it was very foolish to poke the cub with the umbrella.

In an instant the lioness jumped up with an angry roar, and thrust out her paw between the bars. Luckily for the man, she could not quite reach his arm; otherwise she would have dragged him to the bars of the cage and killed him instantly. Instead, she could only reach the umbrella. So she seized the umbrella, and wreaked her vengeance on it. She smashed it to a thousand bits. The man, of course, ran away.

Then gradually the lioness quieted down. She lay down as before in front of the bars, with the cubs beside her, one on each side. Now and again she gave them an affectionate lick with her tongue, first one, then the other. That helped to sooth her feelings somewhat. Still, as you may well understand, she was bitter at heart at the foolishness of some people.

Now it so happened that a lady had observed the whole incident. She had been standing all the time in front of the cage, a few yards away. And this lady had two little girls with her, one four years old, and the other six years old.

You may be sure that the lioness saw the lady and the two little children. After a time the lady came a little nearer to the cage, the two little girls standing beside her, one on each side. The lady tried to catch the lioness's eye. Presently their eyes met. While the lioness was still looking at her, the lady patted her two little girls on the cheek.

Then the lady came a step nearer the cage. As the lioness licked her cubs, the lady patted her own little children; and she smoothed their cheeks and hair.

_The lioness saw that._

The lady was just waiting for that. She came still nearer to the cage.

Each time the lioness licked her cubs, the lady stroked the cheeks of her own children affectionately.

Then the lady began to speak. She spoke in a very soft voice, very gently and very slowly. She spoke softly as if she meant only the lioness to hear her. This is what she said:

"I at least understand you. I too am a mother, like you. See, these are _my_ two children! I love them as you love yours."

Then the lady took up the children, one on each arm. She kissed the children, first one, and then the other--and the kiss seemed almost like the act of the lioness in licking the faces of her own cubs. By that the lady meant the lioness to understand that the children were just the same to her as the cubs were to the lioness.

Then the lady spoke again, as softly and tenderly as before:

"My children also love your children. Wouldn't it be nice if they could play together!"

Then the lady held the smaller girl in front of her. Very timidly the little girl held out her hand--while her mother looked into the lioness's eyes.

Well, my dear children, I cannot tell how it happened. Perhaps some message of love and sympathy and understanding pa.s.sed between the two mothers--the mother of the two little girls, and the mother of the two little cubs. At any rate, this is what actually happened:

Very timidly and very slowly the lady stepped to the cage. The little girl put her hand between the bars, and petted the cub nearest to her.

The lady moved a little, and the girl petted the other cub. The lioness looked on all the time.

Then something still more wonderful happened. As the little girl was petting the cub, the lioness also began to lick the cub; then the lioness's tongue pa.s.sed over the cub's body and came to the child's hand--and _the lioness began to lick the child's hand as if the child were her own_.

Remember that this was a wild lioness, and untamed. n.o.body had ever dared before even to come within her reach.

Then the lady turned a little, and brought the other girl to the bars of the cage--and she too petted the cubs. Lastly, the lady put the girls down, and pa.s.sed her own hand through the bars. She too petted the cubs, then finally she stroked the lioness herself.

And that was like a kind of handshake as a good-bye. They parted friends--like two mothers who had met by chance on the roadside, and each had admired the children of the other.

CHAPTER XIII

The Leopard

The _leopard_ is another animal of the Cat Tribe. You may know him at once by the _spots_ on his body; and of course the female leopard also has the spots. These spots are usually black in color, or sometimes very dark brown. But the color of the body, or "ground color" as it is called, is different among the several kinds of leopards.

For, I must tell you, the leopard lives in so many countries that he varies in size and in ground color in different countries. He is found in almost all parts of Africa. In Asia he lives mostly in the hot countries in the south; but a special kind of leopard, called the snow leopard, is found in the cold countries in the north of Asia. On the American continent there is also a kind of leopard, called the jaguar.

Now I shall describe in detail all the qualities of these different kinds of leopards.

First, as leopards are felines, they have the fangs, the tongue, the claws, and the paws of the Cat Tribe, which I have already described to you.

_The Leopard's Ground Color and Spots_

The ground color of the leopard's skin is usually yellow, but the shade of yellow varies in different leopards; sometimes it is a bright yellow, sometimes a brownish yellow. There are leopards whose skin is even darker than that,--some actually black.

"But why do different kinds of leopards have different ground colors?"

you may ask.

Because they live on different kinds of soil and amidst different kinds of vegetation. You will remember what I have already told you: that _the color of an animal's body is very often the same as the color of the place where he lives_. Then the animal's prey or enemy is not able to distinguish him from his surroundings. So the animal finds it easier to catch the prey, or to escape from the enemy. And, because the color of the soil and vegetation in different countries varies from yellow to brown, the color of the leopard's body also varies in that manner, at least as a rule.

Now I shall tell you about his spots, which are always of a dark color.

But they vary in shape in different kinds of leopards. In some leopards the spot is a solid round disc, like the shape of a coin.

In other leopards the spot is like a thick ring; that is, there is a gap at the center. In some leopards the ring is broken up in parts; that is, the ring is not a complete line, but is made up of a number of short lines. The spot then looks like a rosette, because these lines spread outward like rose petals.

All these that I have just mentioned are regular shapes. But in many leopards the spots are quite irregular.

The spots also vary in _size_. In some leopards the spots are larger than a silver dollar, and in some they are as small as a quarter-dollar.

_Why the Leopard has Spots_

Now you may wonder why different kinds of leopards have different kinds of spots, both in shape and in size. I shall tell you. Each has the kind of spot that is most useful to him. How is that? How can the spots on the leopard's skin be _useful_ to him? Why does the leopard have spots at all?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leopard]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jaguar

Photographs from the American Museum of Natural History, N. Y.]

First, I must mention that all leopards can climb trees, just like cats.

People believe that once upon a time lions and tigers could also climb trees. Of course, they climbed only big trees, which have a very thick bark into which they could dig their claws deep enough to bear their weight. But now the lion and the tiger have forgotten how to climb trees. Perhaps they did not keep up the use of their power to climb trees.