The news that the chick would hatch that day quickly spread throughout the forest. A grand celebration was arranged for Saturday evening at Snoutie’s house. The guest of honor was indeed unlike any forest bird anyone had ever seen. He was very big—much bigger than the forest chicks the creatures were used to. He had a long neck, very long, strong legs, and, for some reason, very small feathers. This strange little bird was covered in a bright, thick down that was so rough it was almost prickly, and he had black spots. As soon as he hatched from the egg, he looked carefully at everything around, peeped happily, and gave an amazed Snoutie a friendly peck, as if to say “Thank you, dear Snoutie.”
Everyone brought presents for the newborn. The first to arrive was Important Ceremonial Goose, who was wearing a scarlet silk ribbon around his neck.
“A ga-ga-ga-gift!” he honked, handing Snoutie his favorite blancmange cake. “I’m not really sure that chicks should eat this, but in any case it’s a very appropriate gift for a celebration,” he continued importantly and, for some reason, he threw an instructive glance at the chick.
The chick peeped loudly and happily and even winked at Goose.
“I would be pleased to undertake his education, Snoutie, if, of course, you have no objections,” said Goose, looking tenderly at the chick. “I would ga-ga-ga-guess that it is within my goosey abilities to ga-ga-ga-give him a harmonious upbringing.”
Snoutie had no objections.
The next guest to arrive was Housey Mousey. She gave Snoutie the tastiest morsel of cheese that she had stored away for a very special occasion like this one. Next came Beaver the Builder and his little beaver cubs, who were dragging a large basket filled with boiled crawfish. (Beaver believed that raw food was not good for chicks.) Croaky the Feel Good Froggy brought a freshly-caught dragonfly and a water lily, and Burly Boary brought ripe acorns. Snoutie himself picked a basketful of fresh green salad for the chick. The guests watched with great interest as the little one dug into the salad with a happy peep, and they continued to put forth the most incredible ideas about who this chick actually was.
The one to finally put an end to all this guesswork was Wise Old Owl, who was the last to arrive. He gave the little chick a silver spoon, because he believed that little ones should be taught exactly what good taste is from birth. He looked the newborn over carefully and announced importantly:
“It’s just as I thought, my friends. This is the very same bird from the south that I was telling you about at the restaurant. Before you stands a Young Ostrich!”
Time passed and Young Ostrich grew under the watchful eye of Goose, or, rather, under the watchful eye of Instructive Goose, Educating Goose, and Enlightening Goose. In the evenings, Goose would sit his young student down across from him and tell him about far-away countries and the creatures who lived there, oceans and seas, islands and straits, mountains and forests, and prairies and deserts, all the while spinning a large globe with his wing.
“You must learn to think globuslly, that is, I mean, ga-ga-ga-globally,” Goose once honked importantly.
“Uncle Goose, what does glo-o-o-bally mean?” asked a confused Young Ostrich, stretching out the word.
“It means the way in which you should think; it means the breadth of your views and the span of your creative plans. You must look at the world from the great height of your thoughts in flight,” explained Goose. Then he thrust out his chest, pleased with himself and his explanations.
Goose’s young charge fell to thinking. Or, rather, to coming up with an idea. The only thing Young Ostrich remembered out of all the explanations his Globally Thinking Tutor had just given was something about the height of flight and wingspan. Of course, Goose had not actually said anything of the sort and had meant something else entirely, but Young Ostrich judged it in his own way. He decided that he absolutely must learn how to fly. And not just how to fly, but how to fly higher than anyone else.
“That is exactly how I will be able to look at the world from the great heights of my flight,” he dreamed.
And so Young Ostrich set about trying to reach the goal of his existence: he started to learn how to fly. Every day he ran around the meadow near Goose’s house with his neck stuck w-a-a-a-y out, trying to take flight. He even scampered up a tall hill nearby and then ran down it as fast as he could, neck out and tiny wings spread. But none of these efforts led to any results: Young Ostrich could not take off. On the other hand, though, his long legs did get stronger and stronger.
And here Young Ostrich, who was about to get very upset, had an idea that he believed to be an excellent one. He decided to blow up lots of balloons, tie them all together tightly, and fly off with them as soon as the wind picked up and it looked like good flying weather. This is how he came up with his Flight Plan, the details of which he did not share with Goose, since Goose was very busy during the day and loved to talk more than listen in the evening.
One morning Goose told Young Ostrich that that day was a Very Busy Mail Day, that he had to deliver lots of newspapers and letters, and that he would return home only very late that evening. Young Ostrich decided that this would be a very good day to put his plan into action. All he needed was a strong wind, and he got one!
It was a perfect day, just the right kind of weather for flying and making dreams come true! Young Ostrich blew up lots of balloons, tied them tightly together, climbed up with them onto the roof of Goose’s house, and, when the next gust of wind came, he pushed himself off with his feet as hard as he could and… flew!
The wind carried Young Ostrich over the Forest. He was so happy he almost forgot to breathe.
“Finally! Now I can fly like all the other birds!” he peeped in pleasure. “What a wonderful day it is today! This is what you call looking at the world from the height of flight,” thought Goose’s Student as the wind carried him over the treetops.
But Goose’s Charge did not get to look down on the world for long. The wind died down fairly quickly, and Young Ostrich slowly began to lose altitude. Soon he landed at the other end of the Big Forest.
But the bunch of multicolored balloons flying over the Forest had attracted the attention of its residents and of Snoutie, who at that moment was drinking mint tea in the garden, looking through a book, and gazing up at the clouds from time to time.
When he noticed the balloons appear in the sky from out of nowhere and float high above his head, Snoutie immediately wrote this somewhat philosophical song:
How nice it is to be able to fly,
Shooting high up into the sky!
Circling over forest and stream
With nothing in your head but a dream.
To be able to soar high in your mind,
And make your life one-of-a-kind.
It’s breadth of views that matter
And certainly not idle chatter.
The strange, multicolored balloons flew by and disappeared, and Snoutie turned back to his book.
Meanwhile, the satisfied traveler and balloonist was still trying to recover from the joy of his flight.
“So that’s what it means to fly!” he thought. “Now I think I can definitely take off on my own, without any help from balloons or the wind!”
He tried running faster around the edge of the Forest, flapping his wings with all his might, but the result was the same: Young Ostrich never took off.
“But, still, it has been an amazing day!” he decided, pronouncing these words out loud.
“H-o-o-o-t! It really has been quite a day!” rang out a voice from above the thick leaves of the old tree. “I think you will learn a lot from this day, Young Ostrich,” continued Wise Old Owl. “You will discover a lot of new and interesting things.”
“Hello, Wise Old Owl! I was trying to learn how to fly… I am a bird, after all….”