SOLVED. Middle Grade book set in India about a pariah boy who rescues one of the raja's cheetahs that had a sapphire collar. Read in the early 00s. [s]

[eclaire de lune]

I read this back in the early 2000s. It was about a pariah/untouchable boy who lived in India, off in the middle of nowhere in a hut with his family (mother and sister, I think). The raja has a number of hunting cheetahs, one of which escapes, and the boy finds her. She wears a leather collar with large blue star sapphires attached to it. The boy wants to sell the collar for money but befriends the cheetah and she helps him hunt. A lot of the novel is devoted to them finding food. It might be "The Royal Cheetah and the Untouchable" by Elsie Strother but I can't find any plot summaries of that book to verify.

[Michele]

Not an exact match but perhaps Freedom for a cheetah?

[eclaire de lune]

Michele wrote: "Not an exact match but perhaps Freedom for a cheetah?"

That sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't think that's it, the book was from the boy's POV. Thanks though!

[Rainbowheart]

I did find some info on The Royal Cheetah and the Untouchable.

Natu was an "untouchable" in nineteenth- century India. He was used to providing food for his parents by stealing in the crowded bazaars of the city slum. When his father died, Natu had rebelled against the tradition that a widow should throw herself upon her husband’s burning funeral pyre. He had led his dazed but obedient mother and his adopted sister, Sunara, into the open countryside.

You can read the whole book online....

https://archive.org/details/royalchee...

[Rainbowheart]

I think it's gotta be the right one. The sapphire collar is mentioned at least 25 times.

"Quickly he sawed through the vines with his sharpened rock, breaking them when they showed a weakened place, tearing at them with his hands, and sometimes biting in two a particularly tough strand. As he worked he saw that the cat wore a collar of blue stones. She must belong to someone and undoubtedly would go home when Natu freed her. But first, before the last vine was severed, Natu undid the collar and wound it up in his dhoti. At last he had a bracelet for his mother! It would wind twice around her wrist and wasn’t really as pretty as the blue glass bangle he had dreamed of for her, but it would do."

[eclaire de lune]

Rainbowheart wrote: "I think it's gotta be the right one. The sapphire collar is mentioned at least 25 times.

"Quickly he sawed through the vines with his sharpened rock, breaking them when they showed a weakened plac..."

Ooh yes, that's exactly it. Thank you!

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome, glad that was the right book!