I was editing an article yesterday on the Acts of Philip, a 4th–5th century apocryphal work about the Apostle Philip. As I read it, I came across a line where the author says that Philip “converses with a penitent leopard.” It made me giggle, because obviously the author meant to say that Philip was talking with a penitent leper. Of course, the spell checker wouldn’t catch this, because both “leopard” and “leper” are valid words.
Just because I am a stickler for detail, however, I wanted to make absolutely sure that it was supposed to be a leper and not a leopard before I made the correction. So, I found the Acts of Philip online. And, lo and behold, it contains the story of Philip conversing with a leopard who is sorry for having attacked a goat (Acts Phil. 96–101).
So there you have it: a penitent leopard. I guess they can change their spots after all, at least metaphorically (Jer 13:23).