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33 48
FABLED STORIES FROM THE ZOO.
only a beast of burden! I should have
thought you ought to be able to fly!’ And
the quagga neighed in scorn.
* "’And you, again, my young coxcomb of
the plain, are as variegated as a bird,’ said
the ostrich, ’and take as readily to flight as
a bird would. Why, ’tis funny ! One would
suppose you ought to have been the beast
of. burden, and / the parti-coloured, shy, and
agile bird. What if nature, to supply each
other’s apparent deficiencies, has ordained this
meeting, and means us to form a compact of
friendship ?’ And the ostrich gave the quagga
a proof of his power of imitating the lion’s roar,
with which to keep the wild beasts of prey off
at night. The quagga thought it prudent to
associate himself with such clever and peaceful
creatures as we, and the two families, though so
very different, have ever since herded together
and been firm friends.
v They call the camels ships of the desert,
and us the camels of the desert I think we
might more properly be called the skiffs of the
sandy ocean, for when we skim along the plain,
with extended wings to aid us as sails, we attain
a speed of thirty miles an hour. Ignorant
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