The Shame of the Ostrich, a short story

One beautiful summer’s morning, a hedgehog set off for a walk across the sandy desert. He was going to see how far the barley had grown in a nearby barley field. The hedgehog had watched the barley grow form the first tiny, green shoots. Now the stalks were too so tall that they towered above his head and the barley would soon be ready for harvesting. “There’s no finer sight than a field of golden barley in the desert,” the hedgehog said contentedly. As he stood on the edge of the field admiring the view, a great ostrich came striding along.

Now, ostriches cannot fly, so they have to walk or run everywhere on their strong legs. But they can certainly run very fast. The hedgehog looked up at the ostrich and called out, “good morning,” in a cheery voice. But the ostrich merely looked down his nose at the hedgehog and said in a superior voice “I am not in habit of talking to stumpy-legged creatures like you.” “My legs may be stumpy,” replied the hedgehog, bristling indignantly, “but, I can run faster on them than any other animal for miles around.” “Humph!” scoffed the ostrich. “No one can run faster than I can, with my strong, long legs.”

The hedgehog’s eyes twinkled. “that’s what you think,” he said. “Why don’t we have a race? Then we’ll see who is the faster runner you or I.” “Oh, it’s sure to be me!” boasted the ostrich. “Let’s race now, shall we? On the count of three. One, two…” “wait a minute,” said the hedgehog. “I haven’t had my breakfast yet. I cant run on an empty stomach! We’ll meet back here midday. Then we’ll race each other up and down between the rows of barley. Is that agreed?” The ostrich nodded, thinking that nothing could be easier than racing against such a dumpy little creature. He went off to take a nap.

As soon as the ostrich had gone, the hedgehog raced back home as fast as he could, calling to his family, “please come quickly, all of you! There’s something I want you to do for me in the barley field.” So all the hedgehog’s family: mothers and father, brothers, sisters, cousins, even aunts and uncles ran up to the barley field and gathered around him. There he explained to them what he wanted. “You must help me win a race against the ostrich,” he said. “But how?” asked the hedgehogs. “You can’t hope to beat the ostrich, with his great, long legs.” “I can and I will, if you all listen carefully and do as I ask,” replied the hedgehog. “You must all go and position yourselves so there is one of you at the end of each row of barley. The ostrich of I will start the race at the beginning of the first row, but when he is a few yards ahead of me, I shall turn back. Now, when the ostrich comes racing up to the end of the row, one of you will be sitting there, pretending to be a bit out of breath from running so fast. He will think it is me. Then, when he reached the end of the next row and sees another hedgehog a bit out of breath, he will think I’ve beaten him again. And so on.” The hedgehogs thought this was a brilliant idea and they quickly ran up to take their positions.

At midday, the ostrich returned to the barley field. He was refreshed from his sleep and looked very smug at the thought of winning the race. He lined up with the hedgehog at the start of the first row of barley. “Are you ready?” he asked. The hedgehog nodded. “The one, two, three –GO!” shouted the ostrich, and he ran off with great strides, smirking to himself and leaving the hedgehog far behind. But when the ostrich reached the end of the first barley row, what did he see? The hedgehog was already there, puffing and panting and calling to him, “Ah, there you are at last.”

The ostrich was so surprised he did not reply. Off he ran, even faster, along the next row, but when he came to the end, what did he see? The hedgehog, standing waiting, a little out of breath, but calling, “You’ve arrived at last.” Again and again the ostrich raced away, running as he had never run before. But each time he reached the end of a row, what did he see? A hedgehog! The ostrich could not tell the difference between one hedgehog and the other, so he did not realized that he had seen several hedgehogs – not just one. When he reached the end of the last row, panting and completely exhausted, what did he see? A hedgehog, looking as fresh as a daisy and calling, “So you’ve made it at last!” The ostrich could not understand how he had been beaten by a stumpy little hedgehog. He limped off on his tired, sore feet and buried his head deep in the sand. He was so embarrassed at losing the race that he didn’t show his face again for a very, very long time.