A leopard killed a dog, but before he could devour his victim, the dog's corpse became a beautiful woman.
"Dear lady," exclaimed the love-struck leopard, "I must marry you."
"Not with those long claws!" she said.
He tore out his claws.
"Not with those sharp teeth!" she said.
He tore out his teeth. "Will you marry me now?" he mumbled.
But the woman had turned into an antelope! "You've killed many animals," the antelope said, "but you will not kill any animal ever again."
She then bounded away into the woods.
Without claws or teeth, the leopard starved to death.
Inspired by: "Leopard and Antelope" in Talking Animals by Wilfrid Hambly, 1949. Hambly does not give the origin of this story, and I am not sure if it is one of the Nigerian or Angolan stories; I will see if I can find a parallel somewhere. Compare the Aesop's fable of The Lion in Love.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The illustration is by James Porter:
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