How the leopard got his spots

 

That night, sitting around a blazing fire, for the days were warm but the nights were chilly, the princess told Jellybean and Isis about the ethers and how the devas came to be guardians of the different animals on earth.

A long time ago, when there were only spirits in the universe, the animal spirits were transparent. They lived in different stars strung across the dark sky. The stars looked like glittering jewels on a necklace that had been flung across dark velvet. Some were a billion light years away from each other (although in those days they would not have known anything about light years, or even light: for although an eye looking on them would have seen that they shone brightly, they were without awareness of their own luminosity).

But all spirits, including the animals, had the power to travel anywhere they wished in the universe by simply imagining, or thinking, about the place they wished to be.

In those days, there was no such thing a map of the constellations, for there was no human yet to make one. Indeed the earth had not been created for humans and animals to live upon.

The way all spirits including the animals chose a place to go was by looking deeply into a large mirror suspended independently in the heavens, which reflected their own star. In the reflection of their star, the reflections of all of the other stars, into infinity, could be seen. As the spirits would look into the mirror, their gaze and attention would focus on a particular point of light that seemed more desirable than any of the others. In an instant they would find themselves transported to the star whose brightness had captured their minds, no matter how far from their own home it was.

All of the animal spirits, except for the leopard, could see only their own kind. No one knows how this came about but the leopard was able to remain invisible yet see the other animal spirits. Some say it was the electromagnetic field surrounding each star that infused the leopard spirit with its power as the leopard travelled from star to star, and that this infusion gave the leopard a special way to see invisible objects the way light reveals everything that is hiding in the dark. However it had come about, the leopard had the advantage of the other animals, and they were becoming tired of this.

One day they gathered together secretly and said, "we must find a way to become invisible to the leopard or it will always hold us in its power. But the question is, who will help us? Who is strong enough to break this mysterious knowledge the leopard seems to have of us?" For a long time no one said anything, but just as the animals were thinking they should adjourn an okapi spoke up. In his quiet voice he told the other animal spirits that the only way to equalize the leopard was to go to the devas and ask for help. "But if we do that," the antelope said, "we will be under the control of the devas instead of under the paw of the leopard."

"No," the okapi replied, "the devas will never try to control us, but they will become our guardians when it is time for us to leave the ethers." Then the other animal spirits were shocked, for they had never imagined they would leave the ethers. They asked the okapi to explain further what he meant by this and why the devas would need to become their guardians. Where were they going that they would be in need of such strong protection?

To be continued...




- posted by Shelley Souza @ 10:49 PM