A wealthy man decided to go on a safari in Africa. He took his faithful pet
dachshund along for company. One day, the dachshund started chasing butterflies
and before long the dachshund discovered that he was lost.
So, wandering about, he noticed a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with
the obvious intention of having lunch. The dachshund thinks,
"OK, I'm in deep trouble now!"
Then he noticed some bones on the ground close by, and immediately settled down
to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard
was about to leap, the dachshund exclaimed loudly,
"Boy, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around
here?"
Hearing this, the leopard halted his attack in mid-stride, as a look of terror
came over him, and slinked away into the trees.
"Whew," said the leopard. "That was close. That dachshund nearly had me."
Meanwhile, a monkey, who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree,
figured he could put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection
from the leopard. So, off he went.
But the dachshund saw him heading after the leopard with great speed, and
figured that something must be up. The monkey soon caught up with the leopard,
spilled the beans and struck a deal for himself with the leopard.
The leopard was furious at being made a fool of and said,
"Here monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving
canine."
Now the dachshund saw the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, and
thought, "What am I going to do now?"
But instead of running, the dog sat down with his back to his attackers,
pretending he hadn't seen them yet… and just when they got close enough to
hear, the dachshund said,
"Where's that darn monkey? I sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another
leopard."
David A. Levinthal
