By Leah
Once upon a time long, long ago, there lived a very colorful and caring lizard. His name was Basil because he was mostly green,but he was known to be the most beautiful creature in the desert. He had a best friend, a very fast bird named Sneakers. They lived in the hot sandy desert because they could find lots of food and they had lots of friends. No one was jealous that Basil was so good looking, because he was friendly and kind.
Their desert home was naturally magical. Basil enjoyed living in his stack of sparkly rocks while Sneakers chose to live in a hidden nest inside a tall spiky cactus nearby. Everyone in the desert had a magical place to live. Everyone was happy except for one animal.
Dingo was a beautiful creature. He had silky brown and white fur. It was as soft as a cloud. His ears pointed to the sky as sharply as broken glass. Dark brown eyes, even darker than the desert dirt, gleamed when he gazed out at his servant Sandy. Every day, Dingo asked Sandy to bring him different hair dyes and chalks so that he could make his fur even more colorful and beautiful. One day he was walking around the canyon and he noticed Basil come out from under his rock home and realized he was not the most colorful and beautiful creature in the desert.
“Where did you get those colors?” he asked vainly.
Basil replied,”I was just born this way, beautiful isn’t it?”
Dingo stomped back to his cave in the canyon and firmly told Sandy that he had to get Basil’s colors. “No one should be more beautiful than me!” he shouted at Sandy.
“Sir, I don’t think that is possible.” said Sandy.
‘’You will do whatever I tell you or I won’t get you any more crickets to eat. I will lock you in a cage and you will starve forever my striped servant!”
Sandy replied, “Yes, sir!” Secretly, Sandy thought that he could never fulfil Dingo’s wish. He didn’t like stealing things and didn’t even know how he would capture Basil. He wondered if perhaps becoming Basil’s friend could help solve his problem.
Sandy left the coyote’s Canyon Lair to seek Basil and try and trick him to come to the cave so he could steal his magic colors. He finally found him and Sneakers running a race with some other friends. Sandy asked Basil if he could play too, and of course Basil said yes. Sandy had a wonderful time playing and realized that his plan might not be good. He returned back to the cave without Basil.
Dingo was furious. “I told you to get those colors! Go back and bring me that lizard!”
Sandy returned to the desert. “Can we play some more?” he asked Basil.
All the animals were playing hide and seek. Basil was especially good at this game because he could use his magic to change his colors and blend in to where he was hiding.Sandy lost track of time and realized that he was late returning to Dingo. Quickly, he scurried back to the cave.
“You’re late!” cursed Dingo. “How come you didn’t bring Basil?”
“There was a bit of a problem,” Sandy said, “there was a sandstrom and before I could grab him he had run off to escape the storm.”
“Try again, and this time you better bring that lizard to me, or I’ll eat you!” he warned.
Sandy found Basil again. This time everyone was playing tag. Sandy joined right in, tag was his favorite game. After playing for a while Basil noticed that Sandy looked sad.
“Why are you sad, aren’t you having fun with us?” asked Basil.
‘’I am supposed to be here to kidnap you so that I can steal your colors for my master, Dingo the coyote. He is very beautiful, but he is worried that you are more beautiful than he is.” Sandy sighed.
Basil looked at Sandy. “Don’t worry friend, let’s go talk to your master. I think I can convince him that he is already beautiful enough.”
So, Basil, Sneaker, Sandy and all of the desert friends trooped off together to see the coyote. When they got to the coyote’s cave he was surprised and confused. “Why are all these creatures here to see me. Sandy has let me down again!!!!” he thought.
Basil stepped forward and said, “We are here because Sandy told us that you wanted my colors because you don’t think you are beautiful enough.”
“Sandy, why did you tell them that. It was supposed to be a secret. I will never be the most beautiful now!” cried Dingo.
All of the animals sighed. Basil said,” We are all here to help you. I don’t know why you feel bad about how you look. How you look doesn’t matter, how you act matters. All you have to do is be kind, and you too will be as beautiful as me.”
Dingo thought and pondered about this for quite a while. All the creatures waited. Eventually he agreed that he shouldn’t be so worried about his appearance. He invited everyone into his cave. Inside there were plenty of cricket snacks and toys for everyone to play with. Everyone had the best time ever. Dingo realized he was beautiful and Basil didn’t have to use his magic colors to disappear. They all remained friends and lived happily ever after.
The End
