Week 13 Story: When Ostrich and Lioness Became Equal

When Ostrich and Lioness Became Equal 

After hundreds of years of the Pangaea Zoo, it was time for it to close. The visitors stopped coming, the zookeepers were old, and the air seemed colder around the zoo. The animals all talked amongst themselves... what was going to happen to them? They still got fed every day, but had never been on their own outside the zoo... where were they supposed to find food? 

And one day, on a cold December morning, they got their answer. Before dawn, all of the zookeepers had unlocked every animal exhibit, cage, and pen. When the animals woke up, everything was completely unlocked and wide open. As expected, this led to complete chaos.

The penguins were fighting the zebras, the giraffes were fighting the monkeys, and the ostriches were fighting the lions. The lioness roared, but the ostrich roared at the same time, and met up. The ostrich and lioness were now head to head, because their roars were equal.

The lioness told the ostrich that he was her match, and that since they were free, they should hunt for food together. At the same time, an antelope from the nearby exhibit ran by. The lioness caught it, but the ostrich saw the rest of the pack and killed them, which was much more than the lioness had. When they met up afterwards, the lioness noticed she had been beat.

The lioness had cubs that needed to eat as well, so ostrich offered his antelopes to share with them. Later that night, they all decided to stay in the zoo to sleep. It was the place that felt like home.

While the ostrich was sleeping, the cubs stayed up to play with each other. They noticed that the ostrich had no teeth in his mouth and told their mother that it was insulting to her that they were claiming themselves to be equal to one another. The cubs thought that their mom and the ostriches  should fight it out, so they woke up the ostrich to do so.

The ostrich then told the lioness to go to the other side of the Rainforest Cafe in the zoo to start the fight. Suddenly, the ostrich hit the fake rainforest decor in her direction and then clawed her in the liver. She died, and the ostrich won. 

Suddenly, the ostrich looked around and finally noticed that all the other animals in the zoo were gone. They had all ran away, and so he did too. 

Ostriches. Link here

Author's Note: I wrote this story from the Lioness and the Ostrich in South African Folktales. I liked it because it was about animals and would fit well with my animal-themed Portfolio. In the original story, the lioness and ostrich decided they were a match and hunted together, until they fought and the lioness was tricked and died. I kept the plot and the story exactly the same, but changed the setting to in the zoo instead of the wild. 

Bibliography:The Lioness and the Ostrich in South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).