Once upon a time, all the animals of the forest gathered up in the big forest clearing to hold a meeting. The meeting was summoned in that important place of the forest where all the major meetings were held by the Squirrel, for the settlement of a very important issue that troubled him for a very long time. The Owl, who built her nest just above his little house in the old oak tree, some nights, did not let him sleep with her singing, and all the animals in the forest were summoned to resolve this crucial issue. The meeting had a quorum. Even the old Mole woke up from his morning sleep to attend the meeting and hear all the different opinions and proposals. The meeting lasted for a very long time though without reaching a conclusion and so the Ape got up and danced. All the animals were pleasantly surprised, and admired the Ape’s dance and praised him a lot.
“Well-done, Ape!” first cried the Cock as a shiver of absolute pleasure ran through him.
“Bravo!’’ shouted the Donkey.
“Excellent dance, Ape!” said the Bear.
The Elephant shed a tear with deep emotion and shook his head with respect and enthusiasm while the Badger got up and started applauding him respectfully. One by one all the animals followed the Badger, got up and gave a standing ovation to the Ape. Only the Peacock did not get up, not because he didn’t want to, but because he had no legs and was carried wherever he wanted to go by his friends the Ants. The Giraffe almost burst with jealousy and got up to dance. But then, all the animals started to become very upset by the horrible sight and started booing her. The Giraffe’s dancing spectacle thus came to a bitter end amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience.
“Stop dancing!” first cried the Cock as a shiver of absolute disgust ran through him.
“Sit down you spindly creature!” shouted the Donkey.
“Shame on you, Giraffe!” said the Bear.
The Elephant shed a tear and shook his head with disapproval while the Badger got up and shouted at the Giraffe, waving angrily his fists at him. “You lanky freak!” And all the animals got up and gave a standing ovation to the Badger. Again, except for the Peacock.
“Boo! You moron!” cried the Crab then.
“You dance so hideously, you scurvy Giraffe!” cried the good-hearted Mister Hippopotamus.
“Disgraceful!” cried the Hare wearing his bowler hat.
“You call that a dance, you ludicrous creature?” cried the Locust infuriated.
“You dance ghastly, Giraffe!” said the Frog.
“How more grotesque could you possibly be? You tendril!” wondered aloud the Caterpillar and laughed.
“You gangly creature! You dare to dance! Damn you! Hey, gangly!” cried the Cow then.
“The only thing that is uglier than your dance is your face!” said the wise Owl sarcastically and all the animals had a good laugh over that.
“Booooooooooooo!” hissed then all the Ants unanimously.
The Squirrel was so angry at the Giraffe, and tried to think of a punchy insult to yell at her, but because he did not have a glib tongue and he would always think afterwards of what brilliant thing he could have said, stepped forward and threw an acorn on her head. All the animals cheered enthusiastically for the Squirrel and shouted “Bravo Squirrel! Well done Squirrel!” and picked him up on their shoulders to celebrate.
The poor Giraffe, who had already stopped dancing, sat down feeling very sorrowful in front of the animals that were booing at her. “Woe is me! I am rightly served for dancing after the Ape!” she thought and started weeping disconsolately.
All the animals just stood there and stared at the poor Giraffe crying without feeling any compassion, just anger and shame on her behalf. Only the Snail stepped forward, approached her, stood beside her, turned to the other animals and cried.
“Somebody kill her! Why do you stand there staring at her? Didn’t you all see how badly she danced?”
The first animal to pounce angrily upon the Giraffe was the Pig but the Lion being faster and stronger got to her first and devoured her at one gulp in front of all the animals there.
