Leopard and Porcupine

“!Xo and the Leopard”

Long ago, when the sky was lower and the rocks still remembered the footsteps of the gods, the animals held a gathering.

The leopard came with pride. His coat shimmered like gold dust spotted with shadows, and his hunger was great.

“Why does !Xo, the slow one, walk so boldly through my lands?” the leopard snarled. “He must fear me—or he must fall!”

The porcupine heard of this. But he was not afraid. He only said:
“Let the leopard come.”

And so, on a moonlit night, the leopard followed the winding paths between stone and bush until he found !Xo, round and still, standing by the mouth of his burrow.

“You are small,” said the leopard. “But I am quick. I am strong.”

“Yes,” said !Xo, “but you are always in a hurry.”

The leopard blinked. “What do you mean?”

!Xo turned slowly in the moonlight, and his quills caught the silver glow like spears stacked in silence.
“You chase what runs,” he said. “But what do you do when something waits?”

The leopard growled. “Then I strike!”

And with that, he leapt.

But !Xo did not flee. He did not flinch.
He simply twisted his body and lifted his back.

The leopard’s paws landed in a forest of needles. With a yelp, he tumbled into a thornbush. His pride dripped from his claws.

“You see,” said !Xo, retreating into the dark of his burrow,
“those of us who carry our spears on our backs do not run.”

And the leopard limped away, licking his wounds—and his pride.

From that night, the older leopards walk wide around the thorny ones.
But now and then, a young leopard forgets this lesson.
Especially the one with only one eye.

This is a silly little story but if anyone feels like improving it a bit, you are more than welcome.I need something to happen between a porcupine and a leopard for my story about Coenraad - he nearly gets killed by a leopard at Tierkop, a leopard with only one eye?