Once there was a giraffe, Oliver, who had a very short neck. Now, with
giraffes there is a rule that they look alike, but this one looked very
different from the others.
"Stretch! Stretch, Ollie," his worried Mom said, and he did, but it didn't do much to get him to grow.
"I'm
small," he wailed, being somewhat of a cry-baby, "the others laugh at
me." That was only too true, they did laugh at him, even his beloved
Belinda who had an excellent size neck and loved to flaunt it in front
of all her young admirers. She nibbled leaves from the top of the trees
whereas Oliver had to make do with that from the middle branches. Not
that that was so very bad because now he had them to himself. Something
he didn't think of. All he had on his mind was his looks which were
strange.
He even talked to other animals about his neck and asked them to evaluate his looks.
"Oh," the lion said, "I wouldn't worry about that. To me you look excellent. A real ... eh' ... treat ..."
One
drop of saliva left its mouth as it said this, but Oliver didn't see
it, all he had on his mind was his "excellent looks". Still, the lion
was only one animal so he also asked the crocodile. This sneaky
creature looked at him with unflinching eyes and then it said: "A bit
small, but still, bigger than a monkey. Very good looks, very good
indeed ..."
Oliver felt releaved by this comment on his looks, but
found that he also needed the opinion of the hippopotamus. Now, this
was a very big and sulking creature who loved to deride what he didn't
have himself. "Your neck is real pretty. It looks more like mine than
the necks of the other giraffes. As to the rest it's very giraffish,
all too long legs, a couple of ridiculous horns and so on. Besides your
eyes are much too big and those long eyelashes make you look drowsy.
However, your neck is real pretty for a giraffe."
Oliver was
dumbfounded. His neck looked more like in a hippo than in a
giraffe?!!!! Disaster! He got so shocked that he simply turned around
and left without thanking the blunt hippopotamus for his opinion.
For
some time Oliver hid in shame from his fellow giraffes, but it was a
dangerous way of living as he lacked the protection of the flock.
However, it did teach him some truths about the feline mind that he
brought to good use when he grew up and became a "young adult, looking
for love and appreciation in the female beauties of his flock". He
learnt to outsmart a hungry lion or leopard, to dodge all assaults and
to stay alive by using his own streetwise skills.
When his
memories of Belinda and the other young females dawned upon him he
wanted to reunite with the flock and that was done very fast by the
help of his doting Mom. She loved her son, short-necked or not, and
always wanted to help him out.
However, shortly after there arose a
situation in which she couldn't do anything to help him: He was
attacked by Brutus, another one of Belinda's many admirers. Brutus had
a loooong neck and fine horns and he knew how to use both: He struck
the necks of his opponents by ramming his own neck into them, over and
over again. Being very strong he always won these combats, but not this
time. When he struck out he had set his strike for someone with a long
neck. That meant that although targeting Oliver he didn't hit him.
"What!?"
Brutus exclaimed when Oliver hit him at a much lower part of his neck
than he was used to in these combats. It hurt very much and he started
to cough to get his breathing back on track. That's when Oliver struck
him the second time and then, after only two strikes, won the combat.
Every
giraffe in the flock was surprised. Some even shocked because of
Oliver's odd looks that used to set him apart as a born loser. However,
he had won, and for once he could prance in front of the females,
showing off his short, but efficient neck. It sure made them get their
eyes up for the charm of short guys and teach all of them a lesson.
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Originally Posted On Site: 2010-01-06 13:56:18
Last Login: 01.28.12
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