Page 34 - English Reader - 8

But did the leopard, trusting one man, make the mistake of bestowing his trust on others? Did I, by

casting out all fear—my own fear, and the leopard’s protective fear—leave him defenseless?
Because next day, coming up the path from the stream, shouting and beating drums, were the
hunters. They had a long bamboo pole across
their shoulders; and slung from the pole, feet
up, head down, was the lifeless body of the
leopard, shot in the neck and in the head.

“We told you there was a leopard!” they
shouted, in great good humour. “Isn’t he a
fine specimen?”

“Yes,” I said. “He was a beautiful leopard.”

I walked home through the silent forest. It
was very silent, almost as though the birds
and animals knew that their trust had been
violated.

I remembered the lines of a poem by D.H. Lawrence; and, as I climbed the steep and lonely path to
my home, the words beat out their rhythm in my mind: “There was room in the world for a mountain
lion and me.”

— Ruskin Bond

Word Meanings
1. ravine : deep, narrow valley with steep sides

2. ridge : a long narrow crest of a mountain
3. sorrel : a plant with arrow-shaped leaves in the hilly area

4. grunting : making short low sounds in the throat
5. sinewy : muscular

6. spangled : covered something with small shiny pieces
7. leadeth : old English for ‘lead’

8. forktail : a small bird in the hills
9. grubs : worms; larvae

10. torrent : flood
11. carcass : remains or corpse

12. denizens : inhabitants
13. struck by : surprised

14. precipitious : very steep high and often dangerous
15. desolation : despair

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