The Listening Grove · Just So Stories
Chapter 4: How the Leopard Got His Spots
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Just So Stories Chapter 4, How the Leopard Got His Spots, about?Parent review
Just So Stories Chapter 4, How the Leopard Got His Spots, is Rudyard Kipling’s tale of a Leopard who lived on the bare, sandy High Veldt and matched it to one hair, so he could surprise the Giraffe, the Zebra, and the other animals there. The animals ran away to a great forest full of stripy, speckly shadows, and in time the Giraffe grew blotchy and the Zebra grew stripy, so they could be heard and smelled but hardly ever seen. The hungry Leopard and his hunting partner, the Ethiopian, took the advice of Baviaan, the wise Baboon: the Ethiopian changed his skin, and pressed his fingertips all over the Leopard to give him spots. Now both of them could hide in the shadowy forest too.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last story.
What happened in Just So Stories Chapter 3, How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin?Have a look
In Chapter 3, How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin, the Rhinoceros stole and ate the Parsee’s great cake. Later, when the Rhinoceros took off his skin to bathe, the Parsee filled it with stale cake-crumbs, and the Rhinoceros rubbed his skin into folds trying to stop the tickling.
Read the previous lesson: How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin →Show what you know!
Say what you think each word means, then click to check your answers and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Just So Stories Chapter 4, How the Leopard Got His Spots?habitat, Fauna, migrated, fulvousHave a look
- habitat: the place where an animal or plant naturally lives
- Fauna: the animals of a certain place
- migrated: moved from one place to another
- fulvous: a dull brownish yellow; tawny
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 4 of Just So Stories, the Kindred Thicket Classic Edition.
Read by Phil Chenevert for LibriVox (public domain), adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
This is not a Revised Edition; however, a racial slur has been omitted from this recording.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the names below to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 4 of Just So Stories?The Leopard, The Ethiopian, Baviaan, The Giraffe, The Zebra, The High VeldtHave a look
- The Leopard: The sandy-colored hunter of the High Veldt.
- The Ethiopian: The Leopard's hunting companion, a man with bows and arrows.
- Baviaan: The dog-headed barking Baboon, Wisest Animal in All South Africa.
- The Giraffe: One of the game of the High Veldt, blotchy in the forest shadows.
- The Zebra: One of the game of the High Veldt, stripy in the forest shadows.
- The High Veldt: The bare hot shiny country of sand and sandy-colored rock.
Chapter 4 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Classic Edition, with Kipling’s words kept as he wrote them. Here are answers to questions families often ask about this story.
How did the Leopard get his spots?
The Ethiopian pressed his five fingertips all over the Leopard’s coat. Wherever they touched, they left five little black marks close together, so the Leopard could hide in the shadowy forest.
Why did the Giraffe and the Zebra become hard to see?
They moved from the bare High Veldt into a great forest. From standing half in the shade and half out of it, the Giraffe grew blotchy and the Zebra grew stripy, so they matched the shadows.
Who is Baviaan?
Baviaan is the dog-headed, barking Baboon, whom Kipling calls Quite the Wisest Animal in All South Africa. He tells the Leopard and the Ethiopian where the animals have gone and that they ought to change.
What is the High Veldt?
In the story, the High Veldt is the bare, hot, sandy place where the Leopard first lived. Veldt (or veld) is the South African word for open grassland.
What did Baviaan mean by “go into other spots”?
The Leopard thought Baviaan meant other places to hunt. Baviaan really meant spots on his skin.