Fable

Once upon a time there lived a lanky little rat named Rudy. Rudy’s fur was very dull and felt like needles. She lived in a tiny village where all the animals knew each other. Every afternoon she would meet with her friends at the riverbank to tell stories of their morning. One day Rudy scurried to the riverbank excited to share with her friends a cheesecake she had baked just for them, but when she arrived at the meeting spot, no one was there. Worried and confused, Rudy hurried in to town to look for her friends there. Just as she reached the main road, her body froze as she watched the most beautiful creature strolling through town. Rudy looked around and noticed she was not the only animal in the village mesmerized by this beautiful giraffe. For the res of the day, Rudy and the other town animals followed the giraffe, mimicking her every graceful move. Rudy spend the whole night dreaming of becoming just as beautiful as the giraffe. As the weeks went on, Rudy became friends with the gorgeous giraffe named Geraldine. She started wearing expensive clothes and makeup and modeling her actions after Geraldine’s. With the passing days, Rudy became more focused on becoming beautiful and forgetting about the important and selfless deeds she used to do for the other animals. No longer did Rudy help her poor old neighbor with household chores or read to the town children at night. Consequently, the more attractive Rudy became, the less her friends wanted to be around her for she was not the old Rudy they used to call a friend. One day Rudy met Geraldine at the riverbank for their daily mud mask facial. When they arrived the river was flowing dangerously high and rushing over the banks. They heard a struggling voice yelling out, “Help! Help!” Rudy and Geraldine stood beneath the trees as they watched a lion cub struggling to stay above the rapid white water. “Hurry, reach your long neck across the river and I will run across to grab the poor cub.” Said Rudy. “Do not be