Before he had gone much farther a flock of herons came flying across the heavens towards him, and as they came near to him they circled lower, so low in fact that he could see their long legs dangling in the air behind them as they flew. The sight of such a baby camel running so fast and quite alone across the sands made them circle closer and closer above him in wonder, and at last the leader of the herons called down:—
“Where are you going so fast, four-footed child?”
The youngest camel was a bit annoyed at being called a child by birds he had never laid eyes on before, and he tossed his head rather insolently as he answered:—
“I’m going to the oasis which my mother is passing through with her caravan. If they’ve started on by the time I get there, I’ll run straight on to Aqsu.”
“You’ve lost your way, four-footed child!” the herons called down in chorus. “We’re going to the oasis for the night. Watch us and follow where we go.”
“But I can see the oasis as clear as day ahead!” the little camel cried out impatiently. “You must be blind as bats, old birds! Can’t you see the palms and the—”
“You’ve lost your way!” the leader of the herons called down to him again as she swept above him and beckoned with one wing. But the youngest camel went running on in his own direction as fast as he could go.
“They’re just as stupid as I always thought,” said the little camel to himself. “They can’t see two inches in front of their big beaks, the silly-looking creatures!”
The flock of them swerved over him once more, calling to him to come, and then they flew off, their legs floating on the air behind them. He glanced around to watch them go, and in a few moments they were nothing but tiny specks against the sky, and presently they were lost completely in the sun’s dying light. When the little camel looked back at the oasis again, he saw to his surprise that for some reason it was not a bit nearer than it had been before. He could see the palms clearly enough, and the birdlike shapes hovering above, but he certainly was no closer to it, though all the time he had been running fast.
