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Sahl hid under the rock, trying to
escape the heat of the desert's mid-day sun. The scorpion found relief in
the darkness and dampness, and shut his eyes to rest. He'd go back out at
night, when it was much cooler.
As he lay there resting, the ground
beneath him started to shake. The rock above him rattled and rolled, and
bounced around on the ground gently. Sahl squeezed his pliable body out
from under the rock to see what was going on. He thought it was odd to see
a cloud of dust headed towards him. Soon he was able to make out the shape
of several camels. They were racing towards him. Before he could crawl
back under the rock, there were dozens of hairy camel legs and hooves
thudding the ground all around him, nearly crunching him. He was choking
from the dust. He coughed and coughed and stayed close to the rock until
they had all passed. "What was that?" he questioned. He turned and looked
at the camels, but could just see a cloud of dust as they disappeared. His
pointed stinger had curved up in the air and his large pincers on his
front legs flung around wildly until he calmed himself down. "Hmm, a camel
race," he muttered to himself. Feeling safe once more, Sahl climbed under
the rock.
He sighed, shut his eyes and fell
asleep. No sooner had he dozed off when the ground began to shake again.
The rock above him rattled and rolled, and bounced around on the ground
gently. "Not again!" he mumbled, and crawled out from under the rock to
see what was going on. "More camels racing?" He flung his pincers up into
the air, held his stinger up and watched as the cloud of dust came towards
him. He began to choke as the thick dust surrounded him. The camel's
hooves barely missed him as they hit the sand. He opened his eyes to see
hairy legs all around him. He moved back against the rock and waited until
the racing animals had passed. He turned and watched them disappear behind
a sand dune, sighed and squeezed back under the rock. "I hope that's the
end of it," he muttered. "How many camels are in this race anyway?" he
added.
Again, the camels came running by.
Again the ground beneath him began to shake. Again the rock above him
rattled and rolled, and bounced around on the ground gently. "Oh, no!" he
whined. Hesitantly, he crawled out from under the rock to find more dust,
more hooves, more hairy legs, more nearly getting trampled. "That's it!"
he exclaimed. "Time to go and find another rock!"
He ran across the burning sand, his
pincers up and swinging, his tail with the pointed stinger up and curled
over his back. He saw a bigger rock in the distance. He ran towards it.
"Ah, I'll be safe here," he sighed with contentment. He crawled under the
larger rock, feeling how cool it was, and lay down. He closed his eyes and
fell asleep.
Soon the ground began to shake below
him. Soon the rock above him began to rattle and roll, and bounce around
on the ground gently. "How can this be?" he wondered as he climbed out
from the rock. He stood against it and watched as the camels ran past. A
huge boulder above him fell loose, shaken from the cliff by the vibration
of the camels racing. It nearly smashed Sahl. He jumped to the side just
in time. His heart was racing with fear. Sahl ran. He ran and he ran and
he ran, until he was far away from the camels and far away from falling
boulders.
He came to a pile of rocks. There
were no cliffs about so he knew nothing could fall on him. He crawled
under a rock that sat off by itself. He did not have to worry about dust
choking him. He did not have to worry about hooves crunching him and he
didn't need to watch out for hairy camel legs. He lay under the rock. He
stayed there all day long, feeling safe that it wouldn't shake, rattle and
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