Quick Thinking Dog

A wealthy man decides to take a hunting safari in Africa, and takes his faithful dog with him, so he doesn't feel so lonely out in the middle of the bush. The first day out on the expedition, the dog starts chasing butterflies absentmindedly, and before long discovers that he has become separated from the safari group.

He starts wandering around in the wilderness, lost, when he suddenly notices a leopard a little way off, heading rapidly in his direction, with the obvious intention of making a meal out of him. "Now I'm in deep trouble!" thinks the dog, and starts wracking his brains to figure a way out of his dire situation. He notices some bones nearby, and an idea hits him.

He settles down comfortably to chew on the bones, with his back to the leopard. Just as the leopard is about to pounce, the dog exclaims loudly: "Man, that was one delicious leopard I just ate! I wonder if there's any more around here?

Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid stride, a look of terror on his face, and quietly slinks off into the bush again, thinking: "Whew! That was close! That demon dog almost got me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey that had been watching the whole scene from the top of a nearby tree, figures he can put his information to good use, and trade it with the leopard for protection. So off he scuttles, but the dog sees him heading after the leopard at great speed, and figures something is going on. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, cuts a deal, and tells him the whole story. The leopard, furious at being fooled so easily, exclaims:

"That dog! I'm gonna get him for that! So the stupid dog thinks he can make a fool of me, lord of the wilderness, does he? We'll show him who eats who around here! Come on, monkey: jump on my back, and we'll go get him!" The monkey jumps on, and the two of them head off in search of the dog.

The dog sees the leopard coming from a long way off, this time with the monkey on his back. "What a sneaky little monkey!", thinks the dog to himself. "Now what am I going to do?" But instead of running, the dog sits down on the ground, his back to the attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and waits for them to get close enough to hear him.

"Where's that rascal monkey!" exclaims the dog, loudly, "Never can trust him! I sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another leopard, and he's still not back!"

[ Author Unknown -- from 'Pastor Tim' ]