The World of the Great Forest

An oshingi with its beautiful, spotted, leopard-like skin, and pretty, long-ringed tail, was cosily sleeping one day in the deep and dark hollow of a tree. When the day had passed away, and night had come, he grew restless in his sleep; for the oshingi belongs to the night prowlers. At last he opened his eyes, stretched himself, and yawned several times.

A great storm was raging; the rain was falling heavily, and claps of thunder followed in quick succession. It was a fearful night. As the oshingi listened, he said to himself, "What a nice home I have! not a drop of rain comes in, and the wind cannot penetrate. " Then, with a long sigh, he added, "But a comfortable home does not give me a meal; and a nice home, without food, is a poor one. I have been hungry these last few days, and have several times returned to my lair with an empty stomach, or had only a scanty meal. I have lived too long in this neighborhood, and destroyed so many lives that I have frightened away all the prey. I ought to have departed before this; but I am loath to give up this comfortable home, one of the best that I have ever had."