'Let us up,' said the Zebra, 'and we will show you.

They let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up; and Zebra moved away to some
little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe
moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.

'Now watch,' said the Zebra and the Giraffe. 'This is the way it's done.
One--two--three! And where's your breakfast?'

Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy
shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra
and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the
shadowy forest.

'Hi! Hi!' said the Ethiopian. 'That's a trick worth learning. Take a
lesson by it, Leopard. You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap
in a coal-scuttle.'

'Ho! Ho!' said the Leopard. 'Would it surprise you very much to know
that you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of
coals?'

'Well, calling names won't catch dinner, said the Ethiopian. 'The long
and the little of it is that we don't match our backgrounds. I'm going
to take Baviaan's advice. He told me I ought to change; and as I've
nothing to change except my skin I'm going to change that.'

'What to?' said the Leopard, tremendously excited.

'To a nice working blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in
it, and touches of slaty-blue. It will be the very thing for hiding in
hollows and behind trees.'

So he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited
than ever; he had never seen a man change his skin before.

'But what about me?' he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last
little finger into his fine new black skin.

'You take Baviaan's advice too. He told you to go into spots.'

'So I did,' said the Leopard. I went into other spots as fast as I
could. I went into this spot with you, and a lot of good it has done
me.'

'Oh,' said the Ethiopian, 'Baviaan didn't mean spots in South Africa. He
meant spots on your skin.'

'What's the use of that?' said the Leopard.

'Think of Giraffe,' said the Ethiopian. 'Or if you prefer stripes,
think of Zebra. They find their spots and stripes give them per-feet
satisfaction.'

'Umm,' said the Leopard. 'I wouldn't look like Zebra--not for ever so.'

'Well, make up your mind,' said the Ethiopian, 'because I'd hate to
go hunting without you, but I must if you insist on looking like a
sun-flower against a tarred fence.'

'I'll take spots, then,' said