Zadeer the Zebra

Little Zadeer was born in the early hours of the morning as his aunts whinnied softly to his mom, comforting her in her painful efforts to birth him. When he was born, his mother lovingly licked him clean and named him Zadeer--the new one. As he tried to get on his feet, falling several times before he stood trembling before them, they all smiled. He was such a cute kid!

Soon, Zadeer's unique brown and white stripes turned black. His stripes marked his identity. Just like no-one else in the world has fingerprints just like yours, no two zebras have the same stripes. Zadeer learned how to use his stripes to hide himself in the tall Savannah grass. He played with the other foals in his harem and could run really fast at the slightest warning bark from his aunts or cousins. He knew which grasses, shrubs, herbs, leaves and twigs to eat. Life was good.

One night, Zadeer was standing as he slept (that's what Zebra's do, you know). Suddenly, he heard a soft rustle. His nose twitched. What was this he was smelling? He hadn't smelled this smell before. It was odd--like too much sun-hot smoking the grass--and quite unpleasant to him. He gave a soft bark. His nose twitched and his tail swished. He didn't like it, but he wasn't sure if this smell meant any harm to his harem.

Before he woke everybody up with a loud bark that meant "Danger! Let's run," Zadeer decided to explore the smell a bit. That was brave and young Zadeer meant well, but do you think this was very wise? Of course not! 

Hidden in the shadows of the grass, Zadeer saw four really strange moving trees. Each tree had two trunks and two branches. The walking trees were smaller than the grass. Each tree had a black stick hanging from its right branch. The rounded fruit on the top of their trunks made whispering noises though there was no breeze moving the Savannah grass.

Zadeer backed away. He didn't know why, but his heart was beating fast. Something in him knew he had to run. He returned to his harem. He barked. Loudly.