A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a zebra and a rabbit. At the time, the zebra was all black, and the rabbit was all white. The zebra was a very arrogant animal, who walked around the plains strutting his black coat in front of all the animals. The zebra thought that he was the best animal in the kingdom, and he let everyone know. The rabbit, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of the zebra. The rabbit was very quiet and shy. He also had a beautiful white coat, but he was much more modest than the zebra. He quietly hopped around and stayed out of everyone's way.
During the summer time, all of the animals in the animal kingdom gathered to have a contest. The contest was to see who had the most beautiful coat of fur in the whole kingdom. There were lions, tigers and bears, oh my! That year, the zebra decided to join the contest because he knew that he had a beautiful coat. The rabbit, even though he had a wonderful snow white coat, decided not to join. He decided to just watch the contest, because he felt that an award would just draw unwanted attention to himself.
When the contest finally came around, all of the animals gathered under the tallest tree in the land. They all lined up in groups, and the judge, the very wise owl, looked each animal up and down. The lions were very majestic, the tigers had beautiful stripes, but the standout of the group was the zebra, with his beautiful black coat. The owl then decided that the zebra was the winner.
As you would expect, the zebra was not a gracious winner. He took his title and gloated in front of all of the animals. He even made a special point to call out the white rabbit.
"Why did you not enter the contest? You think you have a beautiful coat, show it off!"
The rabbit then replied,
"I am just a quiet, humble rabbit, I have no need to be in a contest."
The zebra mocked the rabbit from then on, saying that his white coat was inferior to his coat, and even said it was ugly.
The very wise owl had been observing the events for quite some time, and was not pleased with the zebra. He spoke to the zebra.
"Zebra, you have made a fool of yourself by putting this beautiful rabbit's coat to shame. I am not pleased with your behavior. You will be punished for your actions."
There was a very bright flash of light, and when the lights cleared, the zebra was covered with white stripes.
"What has happened!" Said the zebra. "My beautiful black coat is ruined!"
The owl replied, "You will now be sentenced to live with these white stripes to remind you of the very rabbit you mocked and belittled for all for all of time!"
The zebra was devastated, and he went to quickly apologize to the rabbit, but his stripes remained even when the two animals were the best of friends.
That is how the zebra got its stripes.
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