Spots

A leopard found a shepherd who was looking after lambs The shepherd had some sandwiches with different flavour jams The leopard feeling peckish thought he’d steal one tiny sheep So he snuck behind the shepherd and that’s when he made his leap But the shepherd he was wily and let out an evil laugh As he whacked the leaping leopard in the belly with his staff The shepherd said you’re never gonna snatch my flock from me You might live longer if you just had sandwiches for tea See, you stood out a mile with your dodgy spotty suit You should have come in camouflage or dressed as something cute So just this once I’ll let you go elsewhere to have your fun But next time you come here I’m gonna get you with my gun. So the leopard scratched his head and tried to figure what to do He hatched a plan to wait till dark and sneak into the zoo He sought out the chameleon who gets around unseen For on the sand he’s kind of brown but in the trees he’s green The leopard asked politely, Sir, how do you change your hue And might there be a way that I might change my colour too The colour changing lizard said a conjurer I ain’t If we’re to change the tones of you we’re gonna need some paint So, splashing paint around like it was going out of fashion The lizard daubed the leopard with a fair amount of passion He said I’ve made you ginger like the local mangy cat With stripes to break your outline, that’s rather clever that And so the stripy leopard that no longer sported spots Sauntered past the shepherd not expecting any shots The shepherd’s heart was pounding when he saw the stripy creature Watch out lads, it seems we’ve got a tiger wants to eat ya The shepherd raised his gun and felt his finger on the trigger Could it be he asked himself, I’m gonna bag a tigger And then it rained, it really poured, the paint was water based The leopard tiger quickly had his colour scheme erased The shepherd went all boggle eyed, you might say he was shocked But still he had the foresight to ensure his gun was cocked The shepherd aimed his gun which made him look a bit like Arnie The leopard whimpered, honest guv, I came to scrounge a sarnie The shepherd said you’re back to steal my lambs and that’s not nice I told you if you did that you would pay a hefty price He said of all the proverbs, and I reckon I've heard lots It seems that one is true... “A leopard cannot change its spots”. 5 Feb 21 - Edited for length (original 10 May 19) Contest: Fabled Musings Sponsor: Joseph May