Eyes Of Panther

***

When the world was young and new, first Panther watched first Rabbit through the trees. Her dark, dull coat made her feel lonely, for she wasn't easy to notice. Something to know is that back then, Panther had no spots, no stripes; she was only the color of the dirt between ferns and puddles.

Today, she decided that would change.

She pounced upon Rabbit and held him down with her paws.

"Hello Panther," said he, trembling behind his greeting.

"Rabbit," said she, "every day I see beautiful colors all around me, I want them for myself. Tell me how I can get a belly as white as yours?"

Rabbit's belly was the color of the tip of a wave, the color of clouds and the moon.

She wondered if eating him would do the trick, and licked her lips...

"Find a patch of white flowers and crouch upon it. Rub your belly in the petals and you will be like me," said he.

So Panther was off to seek the white flowers, and when she finally found a patch, first Honeyfly was there sipping nectar. She crouched as Rabbit had told her to, and Honeyfly, curious, asked Panther what she was doing.

"I am whiting my belly," said she.

"What for?" asked Honeyfly.

"I want the colors of the world for myself. Rabbit told me how to make my belly as white as he."

First Honeyfly saw how first Panther was looking at them, and had the feeling they might end up in that now-white belly of hers. Quickly, they had an idea.

"I will show you how to gain stripes such as mine."

Honeyfly was the color of day and night, the color of charcoal and amber.

First Panther wanted those colors for herself, so she eagerly followed first Honeyfly to a patch of sun by a tar tree.

"Paint lines in your fur with the tar tree's sap, then rest in the sun. When you wake, you will be like me."

And so first Panther did as she was told and rubbed the black into her fur. It had a strange smell that wrinkled her nose, but soon enough she was lying in the sun. It was very comfortable, and she drifted off into sleep under the sun's warm touch.

When she woke, first Panther had not only a belly white as snow, but fur the color of sunlight and shadows. First Honeyfly was gone.

She ran about in excitement, watching her new colors shine beneath the daylight, and ran right into first Lizard. He was surprised to see her.

"Panther! Is that you?"

"Hello Lizard! Don't I look beautiful?" She curled her tail above her, showing off her stripes.

"Yes, but why did you change your fur?"

"I want the colors of the world for myself! Tell me, how did you get so blue?"

Lizard's scales were the color of the day, the color of the ocean and glittering stones.

He heard first Panther's stomach growl. His tail went stiff.

"...I have swum in the pool that reflects the sky!"

"Then I will swim too!" said first Panther, and made first Lizard show her the way to the pool. It was not often she got in the water, and so first Lizard had to teach her to swim.

When she emerged and shook the water out of her fur, it was not blue. She looked all over herself, not a single hair or whisker had changed.

"It didn't work!" said first Panther, with great disappointment.

"Just look," said first Lizard, and showed her the reflection in the pool. Her eyes and nose had become as blue as his scales.

Seeing this, she was pleased with her new colors. After shaking dry, she set out to collect more of them.

In this way, first Panther became quite colorful, and soon her stripes and spots and eyes could never quite decide which color to be. Her pelt changed on its own, full of the world's colors.

First Panther found that her pelt brought her a lot of attention. She discovered she didn't like the attention on herself, as it made it much harder to hunt, so she took some of her colors and rubbed them against a broad leaf to get rid of them, but this didn't work.

She tried many times, but all she did was make a pile of colorful leaves. First Songbird, who happened to be near, took the leaves for her nest. That is why songbirds have many colors.

Frustrated, first Panther hid away in the shadows, with only her colorful eyes visible in the dark.

A long time passed. When it was time for all the animals to multiply, first Panther was surprised to see her children came in many colors and designs. Only some of them had stripes, only some of them were the color of honey, and only some of them were dappled with spots... and while she could not get rid of her own colors, she realized at once the beauty of her children.

Eventually she began to decorate her children with new designs, designs that helped them hunt, that helped them find one another and hide their young. This became her joy.

Now, first Panther watches from the dark, her fur always changing color, her gleaming eyes searching for a design she likes. This is why we must hang up our crafts, to please her, and this is why we know to look for watchful eyes in the dark.