Long long ago a Zulu hunter was sitting under a tree. His name was Edie. He saw a large herd of
deer grazing in the lush green meadow. He said to himself. "These deer are really wonderful but I have to run a lot to catch one of them.
Can't there be an easy way to get one?"
Suddenly, he saw a female cheetah crawling silently closer to the grazing animals. Then, she leapt and caught a deer. After sometime her two young cubs came out of the bush. They all enjoyed their meal.
Edie's eyes brightened. They sparkled with an idea. He envied the cubs. "Can I be lucky as these beautiful cubs? They got their food without any effort. Can I have a hunter like their mother?" He thought.
He decided to catch a young cub and train it to hunt for him. Then I shall only say, "O my dear, go and kill a deer for me. Ah! My life will be very comfortable then." He was quite pleased with his own idea.
He decided to follow cubs and steal one. From his experience Edie knew that a cheetah never attacks a man. Therefore, it was safe to steal a cub. He followed the cheetah family till evening. At the sunset, the mother cheetah hid her cubs in a thick bush and left for a stream. Quickly, the hunter picked up his net and spear and ran into the bush. He saw two tiny cubs. They looked at him with their bright eyes. They were too young to run away. Edie threw the net over them and the cubs were caught. He needed only one cub but he thought, "Ah! It is always better to have two slaves instead of one!" He dragged them with him and hid them under a big basket.
The mother cheetah returned after a while. She did not find her cubs. She looked all around. First of all she became angry and jumped wildly. She sniffed all around. But alas! She could not find her dear babies. At last, she became sad and started crying. She cried and cried for the whole night till the next evening.
She cried and cried until her tears made dark stains down her cheeks. She was still weeping. At night the mother cheetah cried so loudly that she was heard by a wise man living in the village. The old man understood what had happened. He immediately took his strong club and came out of his hut. This old man, Shanno was very wise. He loved animals and knew all about them.
When Shanno found out the hidden cubs, he knew that it was Edie's wicked idea. He got angry with Edie. He rushed to the hut and shouted. "I hate you, Edie! Everybody of our tribe will hate you because you are lazy and wicked too. We know that a hunter must hunt with his own strength and skill. But you are a lazy hunter. You are a thief. You have broken the rules of our tribe. You have brought dishonour to the whole tribe."
All the members of the hunter tribe got together. They decided to drive away Edie from their village forever. Shanno took the cubs on his shoulders and returned them to their mother. He saw that long weeping of the mother cheetah had stained her face forever.
