Long ago, there was a penguin named Polly. She was a young bird, but a fast swimmer. Polly could zoom through the waters and it would seem like nothing was there. Polly, however, thought she was flying. One day, Polly thought she was the best flyer in the world. 

“I think I am the best flyer, even better than those eagles, and falcons.”

Just then, Wendal the whale came and asked, “What do you mean, Polly. We are in the water not the sky.How can you possibly be flying.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying, Wendal, I am clearly flying.”

“Oh well, Polly. I shall contact my good friend Bob, who is a bird god, and he’ll show you how to really fly,” And with a smirk, Wendal swam off.

The next day, Polly was getting on top of an iceberg, when suddenly, she met the bird god. 

“Who are you and what are you doing?” Polly questioned.

“So this is what Wendal was talking about. See here Polly, I am flying,” said Bob.

Polly tried to jump and flap her wings and she got in the air and started flying. 

“Well, this is not flying. I challenge you, Bob, to a race. If I win, being in the water is called flying, and if you win, being in the air is called flying.”

Bob nodded his head and with Wendal the whale giving the countdown, the two birds got set.

“3, 2, 1 GO!”

Polly jumped in the water and swam her hardest. In what felt like a second, Polly made it to the finish, just to see Bob sleeping. 

“Wait what! How’d he get here so fast? That’s impossible.”

“Well Polly, You agreed to the deal,” and with that, Bob gave Polly a curse that all penguins would not be able to fly and their movement is called swimming.

• S. Sankerdass, Gr. 7