The Leopard and the Talking Fireflies

Long ago, in the dense rainforests near the Congo River, there lived a clever leopard named Zuberi. Zuberi was known far and wide for his strength and speed, but what he desired most was something no other animal had—a voice that could charm all creatures.

One evening, Zuberi overheard a tale from an old tortoise about the Talking Fireflies of the Moon Grove—tiny glowing insects that appeared once every seven years and could grant one wish to the creature who solved their riddle.

Curious and ambitious, Zuberi waited for the seventh year. When the fireflies finally returned, they danced above the Moon Grove, lighting the trees like stars. Zuberi stepped forward and roared, “I am Zuberi the Great! I seek the gift of a golden voice that can bend hearts and minds.”

The fireflies hovered in a circle and replied in unison, “Then answer this: What cannot be seen, yet makes all things grow; is carried in silence, yet roars when angry?”

Zuberi thought hard. He guessed the sun, then time, then strength—but the fireflies shook their tiny lights each time. Finally, as he sat in silence, a cool breeze rustled the leaves.

A small chameleon, unnoticed until now, whispered, “The answer is the wind.”

Zuberi turned sharply, annoyed, but realized the chameleon was right. He repeated the answer aloud, and the fireflies gleamed brightly.

“You have answered truly,” they said. “But the wish shall go not to the proudest, but to the humblest.”

With that, the fireflies bestowed the gift not on Zuberi, but on the quiet chameleon, who used his golden voice not to command, but to teach songs of peace and wisdom.

Zuberi returned to the forest—not with a magic voice, but with a new respect for the quiet and the wise.