By Josie Whitehead www.whiteheadm.co.uk
Although Eril was an ostrich. he was a bird of little brain,
Who lived inside a bird park in the northern part of Spain.
He thought he was superior to the other parkland birds –
But how the parrots laughed at him and called him naughty words.
Eril was conceited and he strutted round with pride –
When his keepers came to look for him, he’d very quickly hide.
He’d then dash forward quickly on his massive muscled legs
Then he cheekily grabbed and threw at them a rotten ostrich egg.
“I’m the fastest bird on earth” he cried “No one can beat me there”
And he chased around the parkland, with so very little care.
“We’ll see if this is true or not” the other birds then said.
“Tomorrow we will have a race, and we’ll be far ahead.”
The morning sun shone in the sky, the birds were on the line –
The starting flag was ready and it was very nearly nine.
At nine o’clock precisely the starting flag went down -
Birds of many different sizes flew and circled round the town.
Eril was frustrated for he could run but couldn’t fly.
The others were much quicker as they flew around the sky.
At ten past nine the first returned and passed the winning post
Eril hadn’t even left the park, so he couldn’t really boast.
“It really isn’t fair” said he “for you never mentioned ‘FLY’ –
“My legs are big, my speed is great, but I can’t get in the sky”.
The other birds just laughed aloud: “So, you thought that you were king
For all the size and strength of you, you’ve got bloomin’ useless wings.”
Copyright 2006