Stories for Thinking Children-2

than people. Take me, for example, I'm about two and a half me-
ters tall and I weigh 265 pounds (120 kg). We can't fly, but Allah
gave us a different talent so that we can escape from our enemies.
We run very fast with our long legs, so fast that nobody can catch
us on foot. In the world of living creatures, we're the fastest runners
on two legs. We can reach a speed of around 45 miles (70 km) an
hour if we really go all out."
Ali had a closer look at his new friend: "Unless I'm very much
mistaken, your feet have only two toes. Is that correct?"
The ostrich raised one foot for Ali to have a better look at: "Yes:
We have only two toes on our feet. And one of those toes is much
bigger than the other. We only run on our big toes. As you can
see, Allah created us as He did all living things, from nothing and
in a unique way. He gave us a number of characteristics to help us
survive. We have a lot of very different
characteristics from other birds you
may know about..."
"That's very true," mused Ali. "I
wonder how you bring your ba-
bies into the world."
"Well, Ali," replied the os-
trich: "Just as we are very big, our
eggs are very big too. We dig a big
hole in the sand and we bury our giant
eggs in it. We lay 10 or 12 eggs at a time
and we have to make a hole big enough for
them. In other words, we dig a very big hole in-
deed."
Ali considered for a second or two, "Why do
you make these holes in sand?" he asked his new
friend.
The ostrich smiled and preened its feathers: "If