LeopardLeopard
JaguarJaguarPhotographs 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.
But the leopard has kept up his habit of climbing trees. In fact that is the wayhe usually catches his prey. Does not that seem wonderful? I shall explain how he catches his prey in that way.
He chooses a tree near a stream, or near a pool of water, where different animals come to drink. The leopard climbs up to a bough of the tree, about ten or twelve feet from the ground. He lies flat on the bough and waits.
Presently a deer comes to the water to drink. The leopard waits till the deer is quite near, perhaps actually passing under the bough. Then suddenly the leopard jumps down on the deer and catches it.
The leopard often does that in the daytime, as well as at night. And in the daytimethe sun may be shining, and on some nights the moon may be shining. It isthenthat the spots are useful to the leopard. Can you tell why?
Because when the sun or the moon is shining, a little of the light peeps down between the leaves of the tree and reaches the ground. Have you ever noticed that? If so, you have seen that the light reaches the ground like littlebrightspots, but that there are littledarkspots also—the bright spots being the little patches of light peeping down, and the dark spots being the shadows where the light is shut off by the leaves.
In the same way there are bright patches and dark patches on the bough of the tree, where the light also falls in that manner.
And that is what a leopard's body looks like—bright patches and dark patches. The dark patches are his spots, and the bright patches are the ground color of his skin.
So if the deer did happen to look up to the bough when approaching the tree, it would not be able to distinguish the leopard from the natural patches of light and shadow near by. So the deer would not notice the leopard, and would be caught.
And that is why the leopard finds his spots so useful to him in catching his prey.
But why do different kinds of leopards have different kinds of spots? Because they live in different countries, which have different kinds of trees; and so the patches of brightness and darkness made by the sunlight or moonlight are also different.
Now I shall tell you the other qualities and habits of the leopard.
First, hissize. The leopard is smaller than the tiger; he is not quite three feet high at the shoulders. The length of the leopard's body, without the tail, is about five feet.
That is the average size of themaleleopard. In describing each kind of animal I am usually telling you about the male, because he is generally larger and stronger than the female. Why? Because the male has to do the fighting to protect the family, especially when the children are very young.
The leopard'sstrengthis so great that he can break a steer's neck with a blow of his paw. He cannot carry a steer on his back, which a tiger can do, but still the leopard can drag the steer for some distance. As for a deer, the leopard can easily carry it. That has been discovered in a strange manner. As I havetold you, a leopard lies on the bough of a tree and waits for a deer to pass under the tree. One time a leopard happened to kill a deer in that way. As he was not very hungry, he ate only a few mouthfuls from the throat and from the under part of the deer.
He wanted to keep the deer for his next big meal. But if he kept it on the ground, the jackals and hyenas would find it in his absence and eat it up. So what did the leopard do? Can you guess?
Well, the leopard carried the deer up that tree, and placed it crosswise on the fork of the bough. Then he climbed down and went for a prowl. He knew that the thieves of the jungle—the jackals and the hyenas—could not climb the tree and steal his dinner.
But a party of hunters passed that way and saw the deer's body on the fork of the tree; and they knew that a leopard had carried it up there.
How could they know that? Very easily. The hunters brought down the deer's body and examined it. They found that the deer's throat and under part had been eaten.
Now I must tell you that hunters know from the study of the jungle that each wild animalhas a different way of eating its prey. A leopard always eats first the throat and the under part; but a tiger always eats a hind leg first. So these hunters knew that it must be a leopard that had eaten the deer's throat and under part.
And the hunters also knew before, from their study of the jungle, that a leopard can climb trees; but they knew that more certainly after this incident. How? Because they knew from the deer's throat that a leopard had killed it and partly eaten it; and theyfound the deer in the tree. So they concluded that the leopard must have climbed the tree and hidden the deer there.
This also proves the fact that the leopard is really an intelligent animal. The lion and the tiger hide their prey by merely placing it in a hollow in the ground, and covering it loosely with sand or leaves. But unless the lion and the tiger are very watchful, the thieves of the jungle often steal their dinner; that is, the jackals and the hyenas smell the flesh, and uncover it and eat it up.
But the leopard hides his prey more securely. As he has the power of climbing trees, he uses that power to carry his prey to the fork of atree, where the thieves of the jungle cannot reach it.
My dear children, there are many people who do not use the natural gifts they have. The leopard does better than that. He uses his gift of climbing trees in two ways: first tocatchan animal passing beneath, and then tohidethe prey in the tree. Had the lion and the tiger continued to use their former gift of climbing trees, they too would have been able to hide their dinner safe from the thieves. Instead, they now find it stolen many a time, and have to go hungry.
The leopard, of course, uses his other gifts in catching his prey in various ways. Being a feline, he too can give a big bound like a cat, and as he also has padded feet, he can catch his prey by stalking it. He creeps silently through the jungle, till he comes near his prey; then he gives a sudden bound and falls upon it.
The leopard has splendid muscles; the muscles are not big, but they are hard. The leopard leads such an active life that he is generally slim, without any flabbiness. In fact, the leopard is a perfect type of feline grace, beauty, and agility. The lion is the laziest animal of the Cat Tribe; the leopard is themost active. The leopard is even more active than the tiger.
There is no such animal as thepanther. That is only the popular name for a large leopard—particularly a large and ferocious leopard.
Some people fear a large leopard even more than they do a tiger, because a large leopard attacks a man even more often than a tiger does. Other wild animals as a rule avoid man, as I have told you before. But a tiger very often attacks man, and a large leopard does so almost every time he can. He is by nature even more ferocious than a tiger.
The leopard has this very bad quality: he is perhaps the only animal that kills for the mere "fun" of killing—just like some men who call themselves "sportsmen." If a large leopard gets among a herd of cattle, he kills several of them, one after another. He does the same with wild pigs, wild goats, and wild sheep. He kills many more than he can possibly eat. In fact, the bad name some people give to the tiger in that respect really belongs to thepanther or large leopard. When a large number of animals are found killed, a tiger is usually blamed for it.
But wise people, who have studied the ways of animals, never make that mistake. Of course, they cannot always tell by the paw marks on the ground whether a small tiger or a large leopard did the killing—because the paw marks of a large leopard look so much like those of a small tiger. But if a single one of the animals killed has been eaten, then they know whether it was a tiger or a leopard that did the killing. How do they know that? By examining the part eaten—as I have already described to you on page178.
A leopard usually seizes his prey by the throat. He grips the throat in his jaws, and holds on till the animal cannot breathe and is suffocated.
If the prey is large, such as a big stag, the leopard's grip on the throat may not suffocate it completely; then the leopard uses another method. He keeps his grip on the throat of the prey, andpulls downwardwith his full weight. The prey tries to rear up on its hindlegs to throw off the leopard—but then the leopard pulls downward with a sudden jerk. This breaks either the animal's spine or its neck, and it falls to the ground.
The leopard seizes his prey by the throat when it is a swift-footed animal, like the deer. But when it is a slow-footed animal, like cattle, the leopard uses another method—at least on some occasions. He rushes to the prey from the side or the back, and kills it by a blow of his paw on the neck from above—as a tiger does. If one blow only stuns the prey, and it falls, the leopard just startseatingthe throat, which of course kills the prey.
The leopard is said to have at least one amiable quality. It is said that he is so fond of beautiful perfumes that he can be tamed with them! That is, if you use some beautiful perfume which the leopard likes, you can tame him with it for a time. But I cannot tell you whether that isalwaystrue.
There are many things said about animals that are not always true, for instance, that every animal can be charmed with music—ifonly we use the particular kind of music which that particular animal likes. No doubt, particular kinds of animalhavebeen charmed in that way for thousands of years; and even the most terrible kind of snake, called the cobra, is regularly charmed in India with a flute.
You must have read of these serpent-charmers in storybooks, as they charm evenwildcobras in that way. So it is quite true that several kinds of animals can be charmed with particular kinds ofsoftmusic, such as the music of the flute and the violin. I shall tell you all about that in my next book.
But about taming leopards with perfumes—we are not sure thatallwild leopards can be tamed with beautiful perfumes. It is at least true thatsomewild leopards have been tamed in that way. I shall now tell you a true story, to show you how that once happened.
Once a wild leopard had been caught in a trap in the jungle. He was put into a cage and carried overland to a seaport. There the leopard in his cage was put on a ship to be taken to England. The cage was placed on the deck of the ship.
The leopard was very wild and ferocious. If any of the passengers or crew came anywhere near the cage, he snarled with rage and leaped at the bars of the cage. He shook and bit the iron bars, as if he wanted to get out and attack the people. He was well fed all the time, but still nothing seemed to lessen his ferocity.
Then, one day, a lady happened to take out her handkerchief. She was standing about three or four yards from the cage, and a fresh breeze was blowing from her direction toward the cage. Immediately a change came over the leopard. A minute before he had been snarling with rage at sight of her, and trying to get out to attack her.
But as soon as she took out her handkerchief, the leopard ceased to snarl and to bite the bars. Instead, he tried to put his head through the bars, as if to get hisnoseas near her as possible.
Of course the lady did not understand that. She merely wondered why the leopard had changed his behavior so suddenly. She now noticed that the leopard was bending down, and scratching the floor of the cage near the front of the bars—just as a pet cat or dog will scratch the floor outside your doorto be let in. The lady wondered still more, and came a little nearer to the cage.
Immediately the leopard got up, and began pacing the cage in joy. The lady now stood about two yards away. Then the leopard put his paw through the bars and began tosnatchwith it. The lady was a little frightened at first, but presently she noticed that the leopard was not snatching ather, but at thehandkerchief, which was still in her hand. And the leopard was not snatching ferociously, but almost playfully, like a great big cat.
After a moment's thought the lady realized that the leopard wanted the handkerchief—but why he wanted it, she did not know. So she threw the handkerchief at the bars. The leopard caught it in his paw, and pulled it into the cage.
Then you should have seen how that wild and ferocious leopard behaved! He played with that handkerchief more joyously than any kitten ever played with a ball. He put the handkerchief on the floor of the cage, leaped upon it, rubbed his nose on it, and even rolled over it.
Gradually the lady began to understand why he did that. The handkerchief had been scentedwith lavender. She wondered if it could be thelavenderthat he loved, and not the handkerchief itself?
Struck by this idea, the lady went to her cabin and brought out a small bottle of lavender scent. She opened the stopper, and splashed a few drops of the scent through the bars. Then the leopard simply went crazy with delight. He leaped upon the places on the floor where the drops had fallen, and he rubbed his nose on them, and rolled over them. Then the lady knew that it was the scent that the leopard loved.
After that she gave him the lavender to smell every day, and the leopard became so tame that he allowed her to come to the bars and pat his body.
But as this is a true story, I must tell you the ending. One of the men passengers on that ship gave the leopard a large piece of cotton-wool soaked in lavender. That was unfortunate—I mean it was unfortunate that the man used cotton-wool instead of a handkerchief or even a piece of cloth.
The leopard played with the cotton-wool in delight, and rubbed his nose and face on it. In doing so he must have got the cotton-woolinto his mouth—and then he must have taken in a deep breath. We don't know whether he meant to do that, as he liked the perfume so much, or whether he took the breath without meaning to do so. In any case, the cotton-wool got into his windpipe, and he tried to cough it out; but he could not. The foolish passenger did not know what was the matter; and so he did nothing.
Then in a few days an inflammation set in, and the poor leopard died. Some people are so thoughtless!
Now I shall tell you about an American leopard. He is called thejaguar. He lives mostly in Central America and South America. His favorite country is Brazil, near the Amazon and other rivers that flow into the Amazon.
Some people call the jaguar the Americantiger. This is a mistake, because a tiger is striped, not spotted; and the jaguar is spotted, like a leopard. So it is more correct to call the jaguar the Americanleopard.
He has all the qualities of other leopards that I have already described to you. But his spots are a little larger and not quite so completely round; they are more nearly square, with rounded corners.
All four-footed animals can swim naturally in some fashion, but leopards can swim especially well. And the jaguar, who lives near the Amazon and other rivers, is a champion swimmer. He swims as easily as he climbstrees. So he eats fish as often as he eats monkeys!
Yes, he actually catches a monkey sleeping on the bough of a tree! He climbs up so silently that the monkey does not awake. At least, those monkeys that do not cultivate the keenest sense of hearing, even in their sleep, get eaten by the jaguar. But a jaguar that is clumsy in his movements awakes the sleeping monkey—and then that jaguar has to go without his dinner. So, again, life is like a competition or trial in the jungle, as I have told you in Book I, pages 118-119. Those animals that cultivate their gifts escape their enemies and they get enough to eat. Those that do not cultivate their gifts are either killed by their enemies, or are themselves starved to death.
The jaguar is very fond of monkey for his dinner, just as you are fond of roast turkey. The things he likes next best are fish and turtle. He catches a fish by pouncing on it from the bank. Turtles that he finds on the bank he merely turns over on their backs, so that they cannot run away. Then he leisurely scoops out the flesh with his paws and eats it.
But when the jaguar is in the water pouncingon fish, he in turn has an enemy that wants to eathim. When the jaguar has pounced on a fish, a silent snout may come up to him from behind—and grab him! Yes, an alligator! And the alligator needs only to hold the jaguar in his jaws, and drag him down, and keep him under water till the jaguar is drowned. Then the alligator can have jaguar flesh forhisdinner.
Here again we have an example of competition in the jungle. The jaguar must cultivate not only quickness in catching fish, but also his own sense of hearing, so as to escape from the alligator in time.
"But what about the alligator?" you may ask. "Doesn'theneed to cultivate some gift to escape his enemy? Is there no enemy that tries to eat the alligator in his turn?"
No! There is no other animal in the water that wants to eat the alligator, or that can do so. But still the alligator may have an enemy near by, who wants to kill him. There may be a hunter on the bank who wants to shoot the alligator to provide you with purses, handbags, or satchels. So the alligator too must be on his guard against his own enemy.
The Chain of Conflict in the JungleThe Chain of Conflict in the Jungle
You can understand the whole story by supposing that there are in that place:
A small fish,A bigger fish,A jaguar,An alligator, andA hunter.
Then let us suppose that the small fish is trying to catch some tiny creature of the water on which it feeds. But while the small fish is catching the tiny creature, the fish itself must look out for its own danger. Otherwise:
A bigger fish comes, and eats the small fish. But the bigger fish also must look out for its own danger. Otherwise:
The jaguar comes, and eats the bigger fish. But the jaguar also must look out for his own danger. Otherwise:
The alligator comes, and eats the jaguar. But the alligator also must look out for his own danger. Otherwise:
The hunter comes, and shoots the alligator.
So you see that the animals that dwell in the jungle have to cultivate all their gifts to get on in life.
I have told you of several flesh-eating animals that are of the Cat Tribe. But there are some flesh-eating animals that are of the Dog Tribe. The most important one of these in the jungle is thewolf.
How can you tell the difference between the Cat Tribe and the Dog Tribe? By the four qualities that the Cat Tribe has, and which the Dog Tribe does not have.
I. The members of the Cat Tribe have four fangs. Those of the Dog Tribe do not have fangs. They have special teeth of their own kind.
II. The members of the Cat Tribe have a rough tongue. Those of the Dog Tribe have a tongue which is not quite so rough. They do not need a very rough tongue, as they can scrape the meat from a bone with their teeth.
III. The members of the Cat Tribe have retractile claws. The Dog Tribe's claws arerigid and stiff; that is, they are thrust out all the time. The members of the Dog Tribe do not use their claws in seizing or holding their prey; they hold the prey in their jaws.
IV. All of the Cat Tribe have padded paws: they have them for many reasons, which I have mentioned on pages71-72. But the paws of the Dog Tribe are not so thickly padded with muscles. The Dog Tribe do not need the thick padding of muscles, because:
1. They do not need to stalk their prey silently. They catch their prey by running it down, as a greyhound catches a hare.
2. They do not strike down their prey with their paws, but seize it in their jaws.
3. They do not need to give aboundin catching their prey, so the muscles under their feet need not act likesprings.
The members of the Dog Tribe gain on their prey by moving their legsquickly, not by covering a large amount of ground with each movement of their legs. But the Cat Tribe do just the opposite: they do not move their legs so quickly, but they cover a larger amount of ground at each movement of their legs. As I have told you already, a doggallops, but a catbounds. The dog's legs move much fasterthan the cat's, but the cat gives a bigger jump than the dog each time.
I have said that the most important wild animal of the Dog Tribe is the wolf. Wolves are found in every continent—Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. And there are many species of wolves in these continents. I shall tell you more about them in another book, but now I must tell you about the American gray wolf.
There is in the United States one of the most wonderful animals in the world—the American gray wolf. He is perhaps the only animal in the worldthat has beaten man!
I mean this: Man has killed off many four-footed wild animals; that is, he has killed so many of those animals in a place, that they havedied outin that place. He has not succeeded in killing off the American gray wolf.
In some places man has almost killed off certain animals, even when he did notwantto do so. He killed the animal merely for sport or for profit—but he did not want that species of animal to die out altogether; for then he could not have any more sport or profit from it. And yet, the hunter killed so many of that species of animal that it has almost died out in some places. In this manner, as I have already told you, almost all the elephants have been killed off in parts of Africa, for the sake of sport or for the sake of the tusks. In the same way, the buffalo has almost disappeared from the United States.
Gray WolfGray WolfFrom a photograph copyrighted by the New York Zoological Society.
But in the case of the American wolf, manwantedto kill him off altogether as a race of animals; and yet he has not been able to do so. At first the hunter may have killed the wolf only for the sake of its fur; but in the last few years the American farmer and the ranchman have tried to wipe out the wolf altogether as apest—because the wolf kills their sheep and cattle. And yet, the wolf flourishes in the West. He has beaten the farmer and the ranchman.
The wonderful part of it is that the American wolf has beaten manby his own efforts. And for an animal to beat man in that manner is a great achievement.
I have told you before that one animal has to use its gifts against another animal, to protect itself from danger; for instance, the fish has to look out for the jaguar, and the jaguar in his turn has to look out for the alligator. But in that competition of the jungle, the animal has generally to use its wits merely against another animal—not against man. But the American wolf had to use his wits against man; and he has beaten man, as I shall describe to you.
About a hundred years ago, when people began to go West, they shot many buffaloes, wolves, antelopes, and deer. They did that for sport or for profit; they made a profit, because they sold the skins and other parts of the animals' bodies. At that time the hunters did not want the animals to be killed off altogether, but they actually killed so many of these animals in a few years that the buffalo, the deer, and the antelope became scarce. These particular animals, of course, tried to use their wits to escape from the hunters. They did not succeed in doing so. They fell as victims of the gun.
But not so the wolf. He began to use his wits against man and his gun. He soon realized that man was his enemy and also that man could kill him from a considerable distance. A wolf saw a man at a distance; then the wolf heard a bang, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his body. That wolf fell and died. But another wolf saw his brother die like that. He set his wits to work. He concluded that the man had caused the bang which made his brother fall and die. Hence the wolf realized that man was dangerous to him, even at a distance. So after that the wolf resolved to run away from man. And other wolves learned to do the same.
Of course, the whole race of wolves did not learn this lesson so quickly. Many hundreds of wolves meanwhile fell victims to man's gun; but a few wolves escaped. These few wolves also saw repeatedly that if any of their brothers allowed a man to approach anywhere near him, he was killed. So after seeing that happen many times, the surviving wolves learned that they must always run away from the presence of man.
These few surviving wolves taught their children to do the same. Some of these wolf children did not heed that lesson when they grew up; so they too were killed. But a few of the wolf children remembered the lesson when they grew up; so they escaped getting killed.
In turn these wolves also taughttheirchildren to run away from the presence of man. So in a few generations a race of wolves grew up in the West that the hunterdid not even get the chance to shoot.
That in itself was a great achievement for the wolf. Why? Because some species of animals as a race do not learn so quickly to run away from the mere presence of man; one or two animals personally may learn quickly to do that, but not all the animals of a species. That is why the buffaloes and some of the antelopes and deer in the West were wiped out; they did not learn in those same few years to run away from the presence of man. The wolves alone learned this, and they have survived as a race.
But the battle was not yet over. Seeing that his gun had now failed, man used his wits to kill the wolf in another way. He settrapsfor the wolf; and he cunningly baited the traps with tempting food. Then the man went away from the traps. He thought that because he was not himself anywhere near thetraps, the wolf would not be afraid to approach them. Well, at first some wolves did go up to the traps, and were caught by them.
But a few other wolves saw that fate of their unwary brothers. So those surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover the cause of this new danger. And after a time they saw the steel traps. "So,thisis our new enemy!" they said.
After that they avoided the traps, even if the traps were baited with the most tempting food. And they taught their children to do the same.
So again man was beaten in this battle of wits. He found that the trap could catch the wolf no more.
But man tried again. Hehidthe trap cunningly under leaves or under snow; only the tempting bait was placed in sight. He thought that because the wolf could not nowseethe trap, he would fall into it.
Well, some wolves did fall into it.
But a few other wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover a way of detecting the traps. Perhaps they saw the hunter's footprints; or perhaps theyrealized that the snow or the leaves covering the trap did not looknatural. You remember, in Book I, how Salar's father detected a very tricky trap because the ground there did not look natural. Well, in some way, the surviving American wolves detected the traps, even when the traps were covered up. So after that they began to avoid thesehiddentraps, and they taught their children to do the same.
Man found himself beaten once more by the wolf in this battle of wits. He found that the American wolf could not be caught even by a hidden trap.
That again was a great achievement for the American wolf. Why? Because even the elephant, clever as he is, gets caught at last by a tricky trap, even if he avoids it for a long time. To do better than the elephant is a triumph indeed!
So far the hunter had tried to kill the wolf for the sake of the fur; and the wolf took no revenge for these years of persecution. He bore no grudge against man, and did not try to pay him off. The wolf merely wanted to live, and to be let alone. Man would not let him alone. He wanted to kill the wolf just for the sake of money.
Then a new thing happened. Many people began to go West; farms and ranches began to be started. These farms and ranches had many sheep and cattle.
Then the wolf hadhisturn! He found that sheep and cattle were far easier to kill than the wild animals on which he had made a living so far. So the wolf began to raid farms and ranches at night. He still avoided man; he never let a man come near enough to shoot him; and he never touched a hidden trap. But still he began to kill sheep and cattle.
Man now found the tables turned on him! Formerly he had persecuted the wolf; now the wolf persecuted, or at least tormented,him! So man made one last desperate effort to beat the wolf in this battle of wits.
Man set his wits to work, and at last devised the use ofpoison. He selected different kinds of poison, with different tastes and different smells,—or no taste and no smell at all! He chose the nicest kinds of meat, on which to put the poison. Then he cunningly placed pieces of the poisoned meat all over the paths bywhich the wolves must come to raid the sheep and cattle. He thought thatnowhe would beat the wolf!
Well, some of the wolves did eat the poisoned meat; they died. But a few of the wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving wolves once more set their wits to work to discover the cause of this new danger. It may have taken them some time to suspect that the meat was the cause of this new danger; and a few more wolves may have died meanwhile from eating the meat.
But some of the wolves did detect the new danger. We do not know exactly how they did so. Perhaps this time they used one of their other gifts to save their lives; that is, they used their power ofsmell. They recognized man's scent in or about the meat. So they knew that man had put the meat there.
They had long known that anything that had to do with man was dangerous to wolves. So the wolves resolved to leave the meat untouched. Instead, they went on raiding the sheep and the cattle. And they taught their children, and their children's children, to do the same.
And now the American wolf has beaten man,finally and absolutely. The farmer and the ranchman can think of no other method of killing the wolf. So the American wolf continues to flourish merrily.
The marvel of all this is that the wolf is not naturally a very intelligent animal. Most animals have far more natural intelligence than the American wolf; and yet none of these animals seem to be able to beat man in the battle of wits. The American wolf alone has done it, though he naturally has very little brains.
Buthe has used all his brains. He has concentrated his efforts to save his life by beating man. He has not only used all his brains, but he has done soall the time. He determined to overcome each new danger as it arose. And heworked hard all the time.
My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. All children, or all men and women, do not have great talents; but everybody can use all the brains he or she has. Some few people prosper in life because they have talents and use them. Other people of talent are lazy, and do not use all their gifts; these people donotprosper. But many people, who have no talent at all, prosper just the same; they do what the American wolf has done.
1. They first decide on somethingworth doing, just as the wolf decided on saving his life.
2. Then theyuse all the brains they haveto do that thing.
3. Theyconcentratetheir efforts on it.
4. Theywork hard all the timeto do that thing.
5. As they meet each difficulty or danger or trap, they devise a method ofovercomingthat difficulty or danger or trap.
If you learn this much from the American wolf, you will learn the secret of success in the battle of life, when you grow up.
Meanwhile, remember all that I have told you, till I come back and tell you in the next book many more Wonders of the Jungle.
Till then, as they say in the Orient, God and His peace be with you!
Transcriber's noteThe following changes have been made to the text:Page vi: "as Heroic Husband" changed to "asaHeroic Husband".Page vi: For the section: "Why the leopard has spots" the page number in the Table of Contents was changed from 172 to 170.Page 45: "Heading off Criminal Elephant" changed to "Heading offaCriminal Elephant".
The following changes have been made to the text:
Page vi: "as Heroic Husband" changed to "asaHeroic Husband".
Page vi: For the section: "Why the leopard has spots" the page number in the Table of Contents was changed from 172 to 170.
Page 45: "Heading off Criminal Elephant" changed to "Heading offaCriminal Elephant".