Fur and Feathers

THE pride and joy of mama ostrich were her two baby chicks, hatched from
her very own eggs.
One day, when Mama Ostrich came back home from getting food for her
two dear chicks, she looked and looked. But she could not find her chicks
anywhere!
Then - oh my! ↑ What did she see but lion tracks on the ground! And right
next to those tracks were her two-footed chicks’ tracks! Sore with fear,
Mama Ostrich knew that she must find her babies. And so she followed the
lion tracks.
The tracks led into the woods and ended up at a cave. Mama Ostrich stepped
up to the opening of the cave and looked in. There were her own dear chicks
– in the arms of Mama Lion!
“What are you doing with my chicks?” cried Mama Ostrich. “Give them
back to me at once!”
“What do you mean your chicks?” Mama Lion rose her head and growled.
“These are my cubs – that is plain to see!”
“It’s not at all plain to see,” said Mama Ostrich. “Those are chicks — ostrich
chicks — and I’m an ostrich and you’re a lion!”
“Is that so?” Mama Lion said with a snarl. “Then you will have no problem
finding any other animal who agrees with you. I dare you! Find any animal
at all that will look me in the eye and tell me that these are not my cubs.
Do that, and I will give them back to you.” Mama Lion raised her big lion
head and roared a wild roar.
Mama Ostrich quickly ran off to the woods. She must tell each and every
animal that she was calling a meeting to talk about this terrible crime*.
When she came to the home of the Mongoose and told him her sad story,
Mongoose thought and thought. Then he had an idea. ↑
He said she should go to an ant-hill that was deep in the woods. She should
dig a hole in front of that ant-hill. And she should keep digging until the
hole came back up behind the ant-hill.
And so Mama Ostrich went to the ant-hill and dug the hole. She went about
to tell all the animals to meet her there at sunset that very night.
When all the animals were at the ant-hill, she told them how Mama Lion had
taken away her dear, sweet chicks. All the other animals looked at the chicks
held by Mama Lion, and they nodded.

But when Mama Ostrich said she needed just one animal to look Mama Lion
in the eye and tell her that she was not the mother of the chicks, each and
every animal in the meeting looked down at the ground. One by one when
each animal was asked, each animal said in a soft whisper that the little ones
belonged to Mama Lion, and there was no question about that.
When it came to Mongoose, he cried out, “Have you ever seen a mama with
fur with babies that had feathers? Think of what you are saying! Mama Lion
has fur! The chicks have feathers! They belong to the ostrich!”
Then Mongoose jumped down the hole in front of the ant-hill. Down and
down the hole he went, to where it came out the other end, and quickly he
ran off into the woods before anyone could see him run. Mama Lion tried to
leap after him but he was too fast. And when Mama Lion went after
Mongoose, the two ostrich chicks were freed! They ran right into their
mother’s open wings.
Not knowing about the hole behind the ant-hill, Mama Lion paced and paced
by the ant-hill hole. The other animals at the meeting very slowly and with
care stepped away, one by one.
Mama Lion was left waiting at the front of the ant-hill for a very, very long
time. The moral of the story is, helping others without expecting anything in
return is what true self-worth is all about. Thank you.