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| The spotty leopard tradition |
“Can the leopard change his spots?” asks the Bible (Jeremiah 13:23). The obvious answer is “No way!” Several folk tales illustrate the same idea that a being never really changes its true nature. In one tale from the Arab world, the king of cats makes the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
This impresses the king of the mice, who is sure that the pilgrim cat is now saintly and peaceful. He pays the king cat a visit and finds him praying—but then the cat immediately springs on the mouse. The moral: All the religion in the world won’t change a predator into a nonpredator.
