Hare and Leopard

Pass on the love of reading! Read this children’s story to a lucky young person.

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This story was told to Marlene Winberg by Andry Kashivi in 1999. Hare and Leopard is a fable that teaches us that betrayal can happen in the best of friendships.

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Hare was Leopard’s best friend. One day, Leopard went hunting and came back with a buck for the pot.

He said to his friend, ‘Hare, you must roast the head of this animal nicely on the fire while I go back to hunt some more.’

Hare made a fire. He dug a hole next to the fire and put the head inside. He closed it up and put ash and coals over it. The he put more wood onto the fire until the flames leapt into the air.

When Leopard returned from the bush, he looked for the roasted head on the fire. Where was it? He said to Hare, ‘Hey my friend, where is our food?’

“Oh’, replied Hare, “Come and look closer in the fire, it is there.”

And so Leopard looked more closely. While he bent over the fire like this, Hare pushed him deep into the flames.

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Thank you to the Manyeka Arts Trust for allowing FunDza to republish this story. To find out more about the Manyeka Arts Trust, visit: www.manyeka.co.za