The Giraffes

Long ago when the Earth had risen, there lived many trees. Scattered over large plains, the trees watched over the many animals inhabiting the savannah. They observed as anthills rose up and faded away, as prides of lions triumphed over successful hunts or died out due to failed ones, and as gazelles graciously pranced around the grassy plains. For many years, the trees were content with watching the many happenings, but as they grew older and saw more and more of life from one perspective, they yearned to be able to live on the savannah themselves. The trees tried to do what they could, trying to grow taller or even wilt away to be reborn as a sapling somewhere else. However, they could not grow, and the water in their roots kept them alive no matter what they did to try and collapse away. This carried on for years, with the trees wishing for a life different than what they had been given but forced to exist in a state they hated. That is, until one day, a hedgehog asked the trees for a favor. The hedgehog was being hunted by many predators, and with nowhere else to go, needed to escape from the many animals chasing it. The trees agreed to help the hedgehog, but only if the hedgehog would trade the trees its ability to move around the world. The desperate hedgehog agreed, and the trees began to change. Their roots melted into long, lanky legs, and their trunks into even longer necks. Their branches melted into a body and the top of the trees conformed into horned heads. The trees rose, born anew as the first giraffes. Meanwhile, the hedgehog grew stiff and turned into a sprout. Much later, the hedgehog would grow into the first acacia tree, their needles turning into the many pointy branches that hold the umbrella-like leaves of the tree aloft. Finally freed from their stationary lives, the giraffes ran free across the savannah, experiencing life in a new way. This is why the giraffes, even to this day, have such long necks. But in a surprising event, the former trunks, now turned necks, proved to be too long for the giraffes. Ironically, though they were able to drink all the water that they needed as trees, as giraffes, the former trees now must unnaturally bend and twist to drink what so easily came to them before.