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