1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Books at Bedtime by Calming Anxiety 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,000 How the leopard got his spots by Rudyard Kipling 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,000 In the days when everybody started fair, best beloved 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,000 The leopard lived in a place called the Highvealt 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Remember it wasn't the lowvealt or the bushvealt or the sauervealt 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:30,000 But the exclusively bare hot sunny shiny highvealt 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Where there was sand and sandy coloured rock 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,000 And exclusively tufts of sandy yellowish grass 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:44,000 The giraffe and the zebra and the yellow and the cadoo 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,000 And the heartbeasts lived there 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,000 And they were exclusively sandy yellow brownish all over 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:01:00,000 But the leopard he was the scleuthiest, sandiest yellowishy brownest of them all 13 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,000 A greyish yellowish catty shaped kind of beast 14 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:14,000 And he matched the exclusively yellowish greyish brownish colour of the Highvealt to one hair 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 This was very bad for the giraffe and the zebra and the rest of them 16 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:26,000 For he would lie down by the exclusively yellowish greyish brownish stone or clump of grass 17 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:35,000 And when the giraffe or the zebra or the yellow and or the cadoo or the bushback or the bontieback came by 18 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,000 He would surprise them out of their jumps and lives 19 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 He would indeed 20 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:51,000 And also, there was an Ethiopian with bows and arrows, a scleuths of the greyish brownish yellowish man he was then 21 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Who lived on the highvealt with the leopard 22 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:01,000 And the two used to hunt together, the Ethiopian with his bows and arrows 23 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 And the leopard exclusively with his teeth and claws 24 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Till the giraffe and the ellen and the cadoo and the quagga and all the rest of them didn't know which way to jump 25 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Best beloved, they didn't indeed 26 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000 After a long time, things lived for ever so long in those days 27 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:30,000 They learned to avoid anything that looked like a leopard or an Ethiopian 28 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000 And bit by bit, the giraffe began it 29 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Because his legs were the longest, they went on away from the highvealt 30 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 They scuttled for days and days and days 31 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Till they came to a great forest 32 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Sglucively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy, blatchy shadows 33 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,000 And there they hid 34 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:04,000 And after another long time, what would stand in half in the shade and half out of it? 35 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And what would the slippery shady shadows and the trees falling on them? 36 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:15,000 The giraffe grew blotchy and the zebra grew stripy 37 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 And the ellen and the cadoo grew darker 38 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 With little wavy cray lines on their backs like barks on a tree trunk 39 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:32,000 And so, though you could hear them and smell them, you could very seldom see them 40 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 And then only when you knew precisely where to look 41 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:44,000 They had a beautiful time in the exclusively speckly, sprickly shadows of the forest 42 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:54,000 While the leopard and the Ethiopian ran about all over the exclusively greyishy yellowish reddish highvealt outside 43 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Wondering where all their breakfasts and their dinners and their teetid con 44 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:09,000 At last, they were so hungry that they ate rats and beetles and rock rabbits, the leopard and the Ethiopian 45 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,000 And then they had a big bad tummy ache, both together 46 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And then they met Bavian, the dog headed barking the boon, who is quite the wisest animal in all South Africa 47 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Said leopard to Bavian and it was a very hot day 48 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Where as all the gang gone and Bavian went, he knew 49 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Said the Ethiopian to Bavian, can you tell me the present habitat of the Aboriginal fauna 50 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:53,000 That meant just the same thing but the Ethiopian always used long words, he was a grownup 51 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000 And the Bavian went, he knew 52 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:10,000 Then said the Bavian, the game has gone into other spots and my advice to you leopard is to go into other spots as soon as you can 53 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:20,000 And the Ethiopian said, that is all very fine but I wish to know with it the Aboriginal fauna has migrated 54 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Then the Bavian said, the Aboriginal fauna has joined the Aboriginal flora because it was high time for a change 55 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:37,000 And my advice to you Ethiopian is to change as soon as you can 56 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:45,000 That puzzled the leopard and the Ethiopian but they set off to look for the Aboriginal flora 57 00:05:45,000 --> 00:06:04,000 And presently, after ever so many days, they saw a great high tall forest full of tree trunks all exclusively speckled and spottled and bottled, dotted and splashed and slashed and hatched and cross-hatched with shadows 58 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Say that quickly aloud and you will see how very shadduy the forest must have become 59 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:20,000 "What is this?" said the leopard, that it is so exclusively dark and yet so full of little pieces of light 60 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:32,000 "I don't know," said the Ethiopian, "but it ought to be the Aboriginal flora, I can smell giraffe and I can hear giraffe but I cannot see giraffe 61 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,000 "That's curious," said the leopard 62 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:47,000 "I suppose it is because we have just coming out of the sunshine, I can smell zebra and I can hear zebra but I cannot see zebra 63 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:56,000 "Wait a bit," said the Ethiopian, "it's a long time since we've hunted him, perhaps we've forgotten what they look like 64 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:04,000 "Diddle," said the leopard, "I remember them perfectly on the high belt, especially their marivones 65 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:21,000 "Giraffe is about 17 feet high, obesculuively, fulvest, golden yellow from head to heel and zebra is about four and a half feet high, obesculuively grey-formed color from head to heel 66 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:30,000 "Hmm," said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckly, speckly shadows of the Aboriginal flora forest 67 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:39,000 "Then they ought to show up in this dark place, like right bananas in a smokehouse, but they didn't 68 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:49,000 "The leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day and though they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them 69 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,000 "Goodness, sake," said the leopard at tea time 70 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:59,000 "Let us wait till it gets dark, this daylight hunting is a perfect scandal 71 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:13,000 "So they waited till dark, and then the leopard heard something breathing, sniffly in the star night, that felt all stripy through the branches, and he jumped at the noise 72 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:23,000 "And it smelled like zebra, and it felt like zebra, and when he knocked it down, it kicked like zebra, but he couldn't see it 73 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:35,000 "So he said, 'Be quiet, are you person without any form? I am going to sit on your head till morning, because there is something about you I don't understand 74 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:51,000 "Presently, he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out, I've called to think that I can't see, it smells like giraffe, and it kicks like giraffe, but it hasn't any form 75 00:08:51,000 --> 00:09:00,000 "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 76 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:11,000 "So they sat down on them, hard, until the bright morning time," and then leopard said, "What view at your end of the table, brother?" 77 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:26,000 The Ethiopian scratched his head and said, "It ought to be exclusively a rich, fulver's orange tawny from head to heel, and it ought to be a giraffe, but it is covered all over with chestnut blotches 78 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 "What view at your end of the table, brother?" 79 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:45,000 And the leopard, he scratched his head and said, "It ought to be exclusively a delicate, grayish form, and it ought to be zebra, but it is all covered all over with black and purple stripes 80 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:56,000 "What in the world have you been doing to yourself, zebra? Don't you know that if you are on the high-veld, I could see you ten miles off, you haven't any form?" 81 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,000 "Yes," said zebra, "but this isn't the high-veld, can't you see?" 82 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:08,000 "I can now," said leopard, "but I couldn't tell all of yesterday, how is it done?" 83 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,000 "Let us up," said the zebra, "and we will show you." 84 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:22,000 They let the zebra and the giraffe get up, and zebra moved away to some little formbushes where the sunlight fell or stripy 85 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:28,000 And the giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell or blotchy 86 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,000 "Now watch," said the zebra and the giraffe 87 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:40,000 "This is the way it's done, one, two, three, and where's your breakfast?" 88 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see was stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest 89 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,000 But never a sign of zebra and giraffe 90 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:00,000 They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest 91 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:05,000 "Hi, hi," said the Ethiopian, "now that's a trick worth learning 92 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:13,000 Take a lesson by it leopard, you show up in this dark place like a bar of soap in a cold scuttle 93 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:23,000 "Oh, oh," said the leopard, "would it surprise you very much to know that you'll show up in this dark place like a mustard plaster on a sack of coals?" 94 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:28,000 "Well, calling names won't catch dinner," said the Ethiopian 95 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:33,000 "The long and the little of it is that we won't match our backgrounds 96 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:38,000 I'm going to take Bavarian's advice, he told me I ought to change 97 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:43,000 And as I've nothing to change except my skin, I'm going to change that 98 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,000 What too?" said the leopard, tremendously excited 99 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:56,000 To a nice working blackish brownish colour, with a little purple in it and touches of slaty blue 100 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:02,000 It will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees 101 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:09,000 So he changed his skin then and there and the leopard was more excited than ever 102 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,000 He had never seen a man change his skin before 103 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:21,000 "But what about me?" he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last little fingers into his fine new black skin 104 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:27,000 "You take Bavarian's advice too, he told you to go into spots 105 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:33,000 So I did," said the leopard, "I went into other spots as fast as I could 106 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,000 I went into this spot with you and a lot of good it has done me" 107 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:45,000 "Oh," said the Ethiopian, "Bavarian didn't mean spots in South Africa 108 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,000 He meant spots in your skin 109 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,000 "What's the use of that?" said the leopard 110 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,000 "Think of giraffe," said the Ethiopian 111 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,000 "I prefer stripes, think of zebra 112 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:02,000 They find their spots and stripes given the per-feet satisfaction 113 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,000 "Mmm," said the leopard 114 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,000 "I wouldn't look like zebra, not forever so 115 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Well, make up your mind," said the Ethiopian 116 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,000 "Because I'd hate to go hunting without you 117 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:23,000 But if I'm masked, if you insist on looking like a sunflower again, on a tarred fence 118 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,000 I'll take spots then," said the leopard 119 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:32,000 "But don't make him too vulgar big, I wouldn't look like giraffe, not forever so 120 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:37,000 I'll make him with the tips of my fingers at the Ethiopian 121 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,000 There's plenty of black left on my skin 122 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Stand over there 123 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Then, the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together 124 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:51,000 There was plenty of black left on the new skin still 125 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 They pressed them all over the leopard 126 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000 And wherever the five fingers touched 127 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:02,000 They left five little black marks all close together 128 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:07,000 You can see them on any leopard skin that you like best but luck 129 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Sometimes, the fingers slipped and the marks got a little blurred 130 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,000 But if you look very closely at any leopard now 131 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:24,000 You'll see that there are always five spots of five fat black fingertips 132 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,000 "Now, you are a beauty," said the Ethiopian 133 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,000 "You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles 134 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:38,000 You can lie out on the naked rocks and look like a piece of pudding stone 135 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:45,000 You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves 136 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:51,000 And you can lie right across the centre of the path and look like nothing in particular 137 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,000 Think of that and purr 138 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 "But if I am like this," said the leopard 139 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,000 "Why didn't you go spotty too?" 140 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,000 "Oh, plain backs best for me," said the Ethiopian 141 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:11,000 "Now come along and we'll see if we can get even with Mr. 1-2-3 142 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,000 Where's your breakfast?" 143 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,000 So they went away and lived happily ever after best beloved 144 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,000 That is all 145 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,000 And now and then you will hear grown-ups say 146 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:28,000 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" 147 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:33,000 "I don't think even grown-ups would keep on saying such a silly thing 148 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:38,000 If the leopard and the Ethiopian hadn't done it once, do you?" 149 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,000 But they will never do it again best beloved 150 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,000 For they are quite contented as they are 151 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:55,000