About three years ago I heard the story of Claude the escargot who was famous for his desire to fly. He tried everything from mimicking the birds with fake-feathered wings to cocooning himself for a week like the butterflies, but everything he tried failed. All of the other snails just laughed at Claude and told him to give up but Claude never did, and he came up with more and more ideas. For his 18th attempt Claude strapped himself to small piece of cloth that he had fashioned into parachute, with the idea that the wind would be his wings. He waited for a very windy day and when one came crawled up to the top of a tall letterbox. All the other snails of the neighbourhood gathered to watch his latest attempt, which had become a regular spectacle. He waited patiently for just the right amount of wind and with all eyes watching threw the parachute into the air. The wind immediately grabbed the cloth and sent him careening sideways into the air, only to hit the road seconds later with a thud. Nobody was surprised and some even laughed so when Claude finally picked himself up from his heavy fall nobody came to help him. Claude hung his head, gathered his things and as slid back across the road that day he was stepped on and killed by a young child wearing yellow gumboots, who knew nothing of snails, nor of their ridiculous dreams to fly.
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