Сказки / Fairy Tales. Уровень 1. Редьярд Джозеф Киплинг

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.’

      ‘Ho! Ho!’ said the Leopard. ‘Be a good student yourself!’

      ‘Well, if you tease each other, we won’t catch dinner,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘I want to take the Baboon’s advice. I must change. I have nothing to change except my skin. So I will change that.’

      ‘What to?’ said the Leopard, tremendously excited.

      ‘To a nice blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in it. It will help me a lot. I will be able to hide myself in hollows and behind trees.’

      So he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited than ever.

      ‘But what about me?’ said the Leopard.

      ‘Take the Baboon’s advice too. Just change. Change your skin. Do you want to get spots on your skin?’

      ‘What’s the use of that?’ said the Leopard.

      ‘Think of Giraffe,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Or if you prefer stripes, think of Zebra. They like their spots and stripes.’

      ‘Umm, I don’t want to look like Zebra – never! I’ll take spots, then,’ said the Leopard; ‘but don’t make them too vulgar-big. I don’t want to look like Giraffe – never!’

      ‘I’ll make your spots with the tips of my fingers,’ said the Ethiopian.

      Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together and pressed them all over the Leopard. Wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard’s skin. If you look closely at any Leopard now you will see that there are always five spots – five fat black finger-tips.

      ‘You are very beautiful now!’ said the Ethiopian. ‘You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the naked rocks and look like a piece of a stone. You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine. You can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular. Think of that and purr!’

      ‘But if I’m so beautiful,’ said the Leopard, ‘why didn’t you make spots for yourself?’

      ‘Oh, I prefer black colour of my skin,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Now let’s hunt those impudent animals’

      So they went away and lived happily ever. That is all.

      The Elephant’s child

      A long time ago the Elephant had no trunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot. He could wriggle it about from side to side; but he couldn’t pick up things with it. But there was one Elephant – a new Elephant – an Elephant’s Child – who was full of insatiable curiosity, and that means he asked many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his insatiable curiosity.