Why the cheetah cries!

Have you ever heard the myth story of why the cheetahs have black tear marks running down their face?

A very long time ago, where the earth was first created, all the animals came down onto the savanna. The animals, birds, insects were all different shapes and different colors. When the cheetah first came to the earth, just like all other animals, it shook its body and stretched its legs, and took a deep breath of the new clean air. The cheetah thought if felt very good to be alive. Each animal had to get used to its own body, so the cheetah started running and found out it could run very very fast.
The cheetah ran and ran across the vast plains of the world. After a time of wondering the plains alone, the cheetah became lonely, and decided to look for friends of its own kind. She asked several animals like wild dogs and lions if they were the same as the cheetah, but the chased her off.

The cheetah raced away very fast because she was scared. After running a safe distance from the dogs and lions the cheetah laid down to rest under a big camel thorn tree. She felt sad. She thought about how the lion roared and did not want her, and how the wild dogs yelped and bit at her feet, and she felt sadder and sadder. The cheetah felt so sad that started to cry. She was very lonely.
The cheetah did not realize that any other animals were near her. A giraffe had walked up quietly while the cheetah was crying. The giraffe, looking down at the cheetah with its big brown eyes, asked, "Why are you crying?" The cheetah was very surprised when the giraffe spoke. The cheetah looked up tearfully at the giraffe and proceeded to tell her sad story about the lions roaring and telling her she was not a cat, and the wild dogs chasing her and saying she was not a dog.
Sniffling, the cheetah said, "I have been sitting here crying, and I have cried so long and so hard. Look at my beautiful face, the tears have burnt marks in my face."
A bird, which was flying by the camel thorn tree, saw the beautiful cheetah and chirped, "I have traveled throughout this land. And you, cheetah, are the most splendid and unique of all the cats I have seen."
The headman concluded his story and said, "The cheetah has had spots ever since that lonely day. And it chirps like a bird to show how proud it is of being the most unique of all cats."