The Cheetahs Stained Cheecks ~ Legends From Africa

This legend is taken from the Zulu Tribe of Africa.

There once lived an lazy and wicked Zulu hunter, who would much rather sit around lazily under the shade of great Acacia trees to avoid the African heat, whilst plotting a scheme of attaining his next meal, than honorably hunt.

The one day, as the lazy hunter noticed a herd of Springbok close-by, but he was simply to lazy to go hunt one of them. After a while the lazy hunter noted a cheetah stalking one of the Springbok that had managed to foolishly stray away from the herd, he watched the cheetah go about her arduous task of hunting.

Once the cheetah got close to the singled out buck, she leapt into action, bursting into a sprint. After some time of weaving through the grassy plains the cheetah managed to make her kill. then she dragged the Springbok to a close by tree where her three cubs were waiting patiently for her. She laid the buck down before them and they all shared gratefully in the feast.

The hunter thought to himself how lucky the cubs were to have such a skillful hunter ensuring their next meal and what a great hunter the cheetah was. Then he got a brilliant plan;

He would wait for the mother to go off to the watering hole then steal one of her cubs, and raise it to hunt on his behalf.

So when the mother cheetah went off to the watering hole, the hunter sneaked off to where the cubs were resting. the cubs were still to small and inexperienced to know that they should run from the man. The hunter contemplated for a while about which cub will become a better hunter but simply could not decide. Eventually the hunter ended up taking all three cubs, after all three cubs are surely better than one!

When the mother Cheetah returned to find her cubs missing, she started looking for them, and when she could not find them, cried and cried. She cried so long and hard that her tears made dark stains running down her cheeks. The loud cries of the mother cheetah was eventually heard by a wise old tribesman, who decided to investigate what was going on.

It did not take this wise man long to figure out what the huntsman had done, and he immediately reported the situation to the village chief.

The chief then found the hunter and drove him away from the village for good and the wise old man returned the cheetah cubs to their mother. However the smeared cheeks of the cheetah remained that way from that day on to remind the Zulu tribe that their hunters should rely on their own skill and strength to hunt because if you do not, it is considered a dishonor to the tribe!

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