There once was a happy green snake that lived in a wonderful little zoo that had lots of animals. There are otters, camels, donkeys, rabbits, tigers, and best of all a large exhibit of penguins. Emily lives in her small snake habitat right next to the penguins. Everyday Emily and the couple of other snakes, watch all the people come out to look at the penguins. Nobody ever comes to watch the boring green snakes. Emily, being the most ambitious of all the snakes, gets very upset when nobody comes to look at her. To make things worse she has no cool talents like the penguins. All Emily can do is slither around and shed her skin occasionally. Her counter parts on the other hand, can do so much more. They can slide on their bellies, swim very fast, carry fish in their mouths, and worst of all they are amazing tap dancers.
Every day Emily is slowly punished by being forced to watch the tap dancing show. All she wants to do is to be able to tap dance like the penguins. The head penguin, Stephanie, notices Emily looking on in awe and frustration and is very rude toward Emily and her snake family. After every performance she blatantly taunts the sad snakes and there is nothing the snakes can do. Emily’s life is just very monotonous and all she can do is become more depressed with every passing day.
One day, she remembers hearing about a supposed owl witch doctor that can work magic on animals in need. She quickly asks the oldest of the snakes if he knows anything about it and he tells her that he doesn’t, but if she really wanted to find out, that she would ask other animals in the zoo. The zoo is square shape with all of the animal habitats facing outward on the perimeter, so on occasion the animals get to move around on the inside of the zoo. The special occasion happened today so Emily started her search for the witch doctor.
She started with all of her reptilian friends and nobody said anything worthwhile except for the one alligator at the zoo.
“Hey, Mr. Al. Do you happen to know anything about the owl witch doctor I have heard about?” Emily said.
“In my many years here at the zoo I have heard rumors of him but I have not seen him or heard where you might find him. I would recommend that you check with the birds because they would most likely know since they are closely related to the owl and know what is going on in the air.” Replied Mr. Al.
“Sounds like a good idea! Thanks for your help,” said Emily.
She immediately slithered as fast as she could to the bird part of the zoo which is at the exact opposite of where the snakes reside. Even though the zoo is fairly small, the birds have the most variety of all the animals so Emily wondered where she should start. The most accessible of the birds are the vibrant parrots so she started there. Like always, she goes right to the head of the parrots to ask her very important question.
“Hey Perry, I have an important question to ask you.” Emily says.
“What is it young Emily?” Perry replied.
“Would you happen to anything of the owl witch doctor?” asked Emily.
“You’re in luck! I have heard of him and have had the privilege of meeting him on one rare occasion. Why do you bring him up?” replied Perry.
“I want the opportunity to meet him and see if he can help me with my problem.” Emily said.
“I do not know how you can get a hold of him, but I know that the owls do. Go talk to them and they will decide whether you can or not,” answered Perry.
“Thanks a lot Perry! I’m on my way!” yelled Emily.
She quickly headed to where she could talk to the owls and it seemed she was almost to her journeys end. When she arrived, she saw all of the owls huddled around a strange, bigger looking owl. She hesitantly made her presence known and asked if they knew how she could arrange a meeting with the witch doctor. Suddenly a loud ominous voice was heard.
“I am Nick the owl that you seek.”
The strange looking owl suddenly sprang up and landed right in front of Emily giving her quite the fright. Owls as big as Nick could easily devour Emily but she felt eerily confident that she would be alright.
She explained to Nick all of her struggles every day and her desire to become a penguin so she can have fun and tap dance. Despite harsh warnings from Nick and the on looking owls, she persisted. Eventually, Nick gave Emily a small cup of liquid to drink before she went to bed.
She went home, drank the liquid, and fell quickly to sleep. The next morning she woke up very confused. She was in a different habitat and felt very strange. She looked around and saw that she had become a penguin and was exactly where she thought she wanted to be. She got up and tried to make friends with everyone else, even the very rude leader Stephanie. Her countless attempts failed and it seemed to her that everyone else was preoccupied with something else. She remembered that she could now do the main thing that she wanted to do, which was to tap dance. Anxious to get started, Emily found a somewhat quiet area and started to practice. Her new feet took a little while to get used to, but once she got going it felt like she was born with the ability.
After a long time of pure enjoyment, Stephanie’s voice broke the silence.
“EVERYBODY BETTER DO THIS PERFORMANCE PERFECTLY!” she screamed.
“Even you rookie, just follow our lead and you will be fine. All penguins are born with the special gift of tap unlike the lowly snakes for example.”
So Emily and all the penguins went out and performed in front of everyone at the zoo.
She started having fun but soon felt a little out of place.
The routine continued for a week and did not get any better. All they did was give one performance each day and then sat around eating fish. She hated eating fish and the new boring life and wanted to go back to her old normal self. She was shocked at how her dream life was even worse than her old one and how the owls had predicted exactly that. Once her mind was completely made up, she returned to the owls two weeks after her initial meeting with Nick. That was the time the owls predicted it would take her to want to return to her old self.
She moped on over and immediately saw Nick waiting at the door with a wise grin on his face.
“Back again to return to your old self I see.” Nick stated.
“You and the owls were right.” Emily replied.
“And have you learned to appreciate the things you have and the specific talents everyone possesses that make every individual special?” Nick asked.
“I believe I have.” said Emily.
  “Good, now take this and do exactly what I said with the first potion.”
She took the liquid and went straight back to her new but almost former home and drank it immediately. She fell asleep and when she woke up she was back to her home as a young green snake. From that point on, Emily was the happiest snake of the snakes and very possibly the happiest animal in the zoo. She took nothing for granted and began to notice Stephanie possibly being jealous of her which was very rewarding.