Ostrich was walking along, minding her own business. She heard someone calling out, "Help me, somebody! Help me, please!"

Ostrich looked around; she didn't see anyone. She thought she must have been mistaken about hearing the voice. She kept walking along, minding her own business.

Again she heard, "Help me, someone! Please, oh please, help me!"

"Okey-dokey," thought Ostrich, "I'm not just imagining I'm hearing someone calling for help. That really is someone calling for help."

Ostrich called out, "Hello! Where are you? I want to help you!" "I'm down here," the voice called out. "Where, down here?" called out Ostrich. "Down here in the hole!"

Ostrich walked a little farther along, looking around. She saw a vast hole in the ground. Ostrich leaned over carefully, and peered into the hole.

She saw there was a huge lion in the hole!

Ostrich jumped back and yelped, "Yikes! A lion! I am out of here!"

Lion had been looking up. He saw Ostrich peering in. He heard the Ostrich yelp, "Yikes! A lion! I am out of here!"

"No, no, no, please!" cried out Lion, begging. "Please help me!"

"I mustn't help you," said Ostrich to Lion. "You're a lion. Lions eat Ostriches. If I help you you will pounce on me and eat me. Sorry. I have to get out of here. Fast."

"I know that voice!" Lion called out. "You're that Ostrich I saved from that evil man. You were caught in a trap that evil man set. That evil man was going to kill you. When I came along he ran off. I saved your life, Ostrich. You owe me a favour. Please. Now you can save my life and we will be even."

"You did not mean to save my life," retorted Ostrich. "You just happened to be walking by. The evil man was frightened that you might eat him. That's why he ran off!"

"True! True! True, too, that I did not try to eat you. Right? As you rightly pointed out lions eat ostriches. I-did-not-eat-you, Ostrich. I kept walking along."

"That's right, Lion. You just kept on walking. You did not help me get out of that trap. My friends came along and helped me."

"Aha! Because it was I who told them where you were trapped, Ostrich!"

Ostrich, in doubt, paused a few seconds before speaking. "Perhaps. I’ll give you that, Lion. Perhaps you’re speaking truthfully. Nonetheless, the fact still is you did not help me yourself."

Lion took a sniff of the air. Victory; he was winning; he could smell it! He was in command!

"Oh, come on, Ostrich. I'm a lion. Lions eat ostriches. You said so yourself. If I had come to help you you would have been so frightened you would have died of a heart attack. Nature is merciful that way. Each time I grab an animal by the throat it dies of a heart attack, instantly. The animal feels neither pain nor terror when I'm eating it. Knowing that, I thought it would be better for you if I found your friends. None of you saw me as they rescued you out of that trap. I hung around secretly in case the evil man came back with other evil humans to help him. He did, you know. A little while after you and your friends left, he came back with another evil man to get you. My friends and I ate them. See? I helped you, Ostrich. You owe me a favour. Help me get out of this hole and we will be even. I promise."

Ostrich felt herself losing. That increased her nervousness, a lot. She tried hard to stifle a cough of fear as she spoke, "How long have you been down there?"

"Hours and hours, I think. It feels like. I am so thirsty and hungry."

“Aha! There! You see? You are so hungry you won't be able to control yourself. Once you are out of the hole you could gobble me up and afterwards say you're sorry. That sorry won't help me. I will be dead. Lots of us say sorry after it's too late for sorry to be of any help. Sorry, Lioney. I dare not help you."

“Uh, okay, Ostrich. I understand," said Lion, somewhat insecurely. "Please, will you go and find my friends and tell them to come help me?"

"Your friends will be lions. Even if they decide to come and help you they will eat me first."

"Uh, yes. Okay," said Lion. "I'll be honest with you, Ostrich. That could happen. But let's not forget ostriches can easily outrun lions."

"Really? While we are not forgetting things, mister lioney-whioney, let's not forget how cunning you lions are. Lions move about in bunches. Prides, I think is the proper word for lions in bunches. You always hide so well that no matter which way your prey flees one of you is there for the kill. I know. I've seen you guys cunningly go about it on the Nature Channel on television."

Lion was depressed; really depressed. "You're right," he said. "However, it just occurred to me. There is a totally safe way you can help me. I saw a long thick heavy log near this hole. Can you please push it so that it falls into the hole, to lean perpendicularly against the side of the wall? I will be able to climb out myself. Please, Ostrich?" in his most sincerely pleading lion-king-of-the-animals voice.

Indeed, Lion’s sincerity was so genuine that Ostrich felt it, too.

Ostrich thought about Lion’s suggestion about the log, a few seconds. "Okey-dokey. I'll push the long thick heavy log into the hole to lean perpendicularly against the side of the wall, if you promise to count to one hundred before you climb out. By the time you count up to one hundred I will have a chance to run far away so that you won't be able to catch me."

"Fair enough, Ostrich. I will count to hundred. Slowly. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lion. By the way, I'm sorry I called you a whiner."

"That's okay, Ostrich. We’re friends."
Ostrich used her long strong legs to push the long thick heavy log towards the hole.

What Ostrich did not see was another evil man who had helped set that trap by which Ostrich had been caught a few days earlier on.

That evil man did not know why the ostrich was tugging and pushing that long thick heavy log along. When that evil man saw how the ostrich was struggling to move that long thick heavy log along, he knew he had time. He ran back to the town and asked a second evil man to come help him grab the ostrich.

The second evil man said, "I am not going to help you. I do not like the taste of ostrich meat." The first evil man said, "Don't do it for the meat. Do it for the feathers. You know how beautiful ostrich feathers are. People pay a lot of money for ostrich feathers. You can have all the feathers when we catch the ostrich. I love the taste of ostrich meat, fried or curried or in soup."

The second evil man said, "Okay." They ran back to the forest to catch and kill and deplume the ostrich.

When they got to the spot, the ostrich was nowhere to be seen or heard. The two evil men were disappointed. They were about to leave when the first evil man said to the second evil man, "You hear that?"

They stopped and listened. The second evil man said, "You mean someone counting?" The first evil man said, "Yes. Why would anyone be counting here in the forest?"

The second evil man said, "They could be counting ostrich feathers.” The first evil man said, angrily, “They must have killed the ostrich and plucked its feathers. Now they are counting those beautiful ostrich feathers. That's not fair. That ostrich was ours. I saw it first!" The second evil man said, "You're right! Let's creep up on whoever it is and kill them and take back our ostrich feathers."

They crept up slowly towards the voice that was slowly counting, "Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One hundred!"

The ravenously hungry thirsty ferocious huge lion bounded up along the long thick log that was leaning perpendicularly against the inside of the wall of the hole. The lion sprang out of the hole. There was its lunch waiting for it. The ravenously hungry thirsty ferocious huge lion pounced on the two evil men and gobbled them up.