Zoe the Zebra loved his stripes. He looked at his reflection every day in the watering hole and admired himself.
“I have pretty stripes,” he said. His friend, Willy the Warthog teased him. “Be careful. What if someone steals your stripes?” he said.
“You are just jealous,” said Zoe, looking at his stripes again.
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“I’m not,” snorted Willy, “but I am tired of hearing about your stripes.” With that, Willy left in a huff.
Zoe watched his friend leave. “Oh never mind, he thought to himself. I have plenty of friends.”
“Do you want to hear about my pretty stripes?” he asked the elephants.
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“No, thank you,” said the elephants and moved away. Zoe watched them go sulkily. He spotted some monkeys.
“Hi there! Do you want to admire my stripes?” asked Zoe.
“Whatever for? We would rather eat our bananas,” they chattered.
The hippos, the cranes, the wild buffaloes and the giraffes — all the animals ignored Zoe. Zoe was sad and puzzled. “Nobody wants to hear about my stripes,” he said.
Mother smiled. “Why don’t you try praising others instead of praising yourself?”
“Okay, I will try that,” said Zoe. But he was not so sure.
An attempt
He went to Willy the Warthog, and said a little hesitantly, “You have beautiful tusks.”
“Oh, thank you. Nobody gives me a compliment. I’m so happy,” replied Willy. He added shyly, “Not as pretty as your stripes, though.”
Zoe was surprised and pleased. “Thanks, Willy,” he said. “I hope we are still friends,” he added.
“Of course we are,” said Willy, and wiggled his tail.
Next, he met the elephants. “Hello there,” he said, “What long trunks you have!”
“Oh, yes, they are handy. Thank you. And you have such smart stripes,” said the elephants in chorus. Then they tooted for Zoe. He was happy. “This is turning out just like mother said,” he thought to himself, as he walked jauntily through the forest.
He spotted his noisy friends, the monkeys, again. “What lovely tails you have,” he said.
“Thank you,” chattered the monkeys, hanging from their tails. “They are helpful to hang from trees and pluck bananas,” added a cheeky baby monkey. They showed Zoe a few tricks. He was amazed. “And you have gorgeous black and white stripes,” they added.
“Thank you,” he said. Zoe was pleased. He trotted through the whole forest giving compliments to all the animals and birds. Everyone gave him a compliment in return.
A good day
“Mummy,” he called, when he got home in the evening. “I had a great day today. I got so many compliments. I’m glad I listened to you. You need to give a compliment to get a compliment.”
“That’s right, baby,” said his mother, smiling.
“Do you know something else, mummy? We are all special in our own way.”
“Yes, Zoe, always remember that.” Mummy nuzzled Zoe lovingly.
“Mummy! You have such pretty stripes too!” Mother laughed.