Long ago in a dense forest there lived a hungry dinosaur looking for food. The dinosaur knew the forest very well. He knew where the food was and also where to hide, so he grew tall and strong. One day the he was searching for food, but he wasn’t able to find enough. He’d grown so big he needed to look beyond the forest. So the dinosaur made his way to its edge, where the tall dense trees gave way to clear blue sky.
The dinosaur had never seen the sky before. It was usually hidden by a leafy canopy, and he marvelled at the great expanse of blue. That’s when he noticed a great ball of fire! So great and so fiery, the dinosaur couldn’t believe his eyes. He was determined to get the ball of fire and take it back to his home in the forest. But he needed a way to get it, and his first idea was to climb a tall tree. At the top of the tree the dinosaur reached out his hands as far as he could, but he didn’t seem to be any closer, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
A little bruised, but undeterred, the dinosaur tried again. This time he watched the ball of fire for several days. He noticed that it was closest to the ground early in the morning and furthest in the middle of the day. So he decided to wait through the night, and upon first sight he’d rush to retrieve the ball from the horizon. That night the dinosaur waited. When the first rays of fire appeared he ran as fast as he could towards the ball. But the ball of fire rushed away the closer he got, until he was exhausted, and once again it was too high.
Nevertheless the dinosaur persisted. This time he devised a plan that required many days of dedication, which he was sure would work. He got the idea from a dragonfly that landed on his nose. The dragonfly had wings for flying and they were shaped like leaves. So the dinosaur found two branches full of leaves and held one in each hand, then he practiced flapping them with all his might.
Every day the dinosaur practiced. Progress was slow. The muscles in his arms were not used to the effort, and he became tired quickly. But he did not give up. Instead he practiced and practiced for a very long time. Some for millions of years, until one day he was ready. Then he climbed to the top of a tall tree, flapped his branches with all his might and leapt as high as he could! Sure enough, the dinosaur managed to fly, and became a bird.
As it turns out, even once he was able to fly, the ball of fire continued to elude retrieval by the dinosaur bird. To this day we don’t know if birds are still working on the same problem.