One day, a wandering leopard was caught by a trap. He tried freeing himself from the trap, the more the leopard fought the tighter the trap became. So he was unable to free himself. Early the next day, the man came to check on his trap. When the leopard saw him, he called out; “come nearer my friend,” what do you want asked the man? “I have been in this trap for the whole night” said the leopard. “Would you please let me out of this trap,” said the leopard with tears filling his eyes. “I will let you out of the trap, will you eat me if I do that?” asked the man. “I will not eat you, I will let you go and I will go to my usual hunting” answered the hungry leopard. “I will make sure that we are friends forever,” the leopard added.

The moment the man let the leopard free, the leopard changed his mind and said; “now I will eat you up, for I know it is you who set the trap for me.” Just as the leopard was about to jump at the man’s neck, a rabbit called from a far; “hey! Wait for a minute.” He came nearer to listen at the story. “What is the matter?” asked the rabbit. “Look here”, explained the man. “I found this friend of mine in the trap; he promised that he would not eat me if I let him out.” “Well! I cannot understand what happened, can you go back to the place you were in before,” said the rabbit. Foolishly, the leopard went back into the trap. He was unable to escape from the trap, “there you are”, said the rabbit. “Now you can kill the leopard without much difficulty.” The man took out his bow and arrow and shot the leopard.
The leopard died, so the man was safe and very happy. He took the rabbit home, since then the rabbit has been living with man.
END