One evening in Africa, as the sun set on the savanna, a young giraffe stood munching the leaves of an acacia tree.

A young zebra left his herd and wandered over. He looked up at the giraffe and rudely blurted out, "You look so strange. You have such a long neck!"

Looking down at the little zebra, the giraffe replied in her gentle voice, "Please don't call me that, for this is just how I was made. I know I was made this way for a reason."

But the thoughtless little zebra didn't care. He continued to call her names.

Thinking it best to ignore the zebra, the giraffe left to find another tree to eat from.

There she found her friend the ostrich resting in its shade. She shared the story with her friend.

The ostrich encouraged her, "What the zebra said isn't true; I think long necks are wonderful! You did the right thing."

"Thank you," said the giraffe.

After the ostrich left for the night, the giraffe stood beneath the tree to rest for a few hours.

The next morning at the waterhole, the giraffe met the zebra again. The zebra muttered, "Oh, great! There's Miss Long Neck."

"I've asked you to stop calling me that," answered the giraffe. "Will you always treat me like this just because I don't look like you?"

"Maybe," declared the zebra.

Feeling frustrated, the giraffe left the waterhole.

Then the giraffe heard a strange rumbling sound. Looking across the savanna, she saw something approaching.

It was a jeep with three zookeepers looking for animals to catch for their exhibits.

As they were heading toward the sleeping zebra, the giraffe was able to warn the animals, and they hid.

Nobody got caught.

The zebra finally realized what the giraffe had done for him and apologized, "I'm sorry for calling you names. You were right! You were made with a long neck so you could help others; I appreciate you helping me."

The zebra decided it was good to have such a long-necked friend after all.