Mandy the Ambitious Seagull

In Spain, there was a small village called La Corona, right next to the sea. It had a beautiful beach, and on this beach lived four seagulls. Now, seagulls are beautiful white birds, but they are quite heavy and their wings aren't very long. Because of their body structure, they usually can't fly very high or very far—only short flights.

These seagulls lived on the beach, looking for food there. Sometimes they would fly a little bit into the sea, splash into the water to catch a fish, and then fly back to eat it. This was their life.

The four friends were named Sandy, Mandy, Randy, and Fandy. They always did everything together. But Mandy was different. She was very ambitious and hardworking. She always wanted to get better at what she did.

The other seagulls told her, "You know, seagulls aren't supposed to fly high or far. We're too heavy! If we fly too far, we'll get tired and fall into the sea, and the sharks or whales will eat us."

But Mandy was determined. "I love flying," she said. "I'm going to practice."

So she started practicing right next to the shore. She wouldn't go deep into the water, just along the edge. That way, if she got tired, she could land safely on the sand. On the first day, she managed to fly for about one and a half kilometers! This was already amazing for a seagull, as most could only fly half a kilometer. She was exhausted, but she was proud.

"Every day I'm going to fly this much," she promised herself. "I'll practice and practice and go higher and higher."

"You're crazy!" the others laughed. "You're a seagull, not an eagle!"

"I'm not crazy," Mandy replied. "You've all become lazy. You just eat the fried fish and chips the tourists throw away. It's unhealthy junk food! You're getting fatter and losing your touch. Someday, if there's no food on the beach, you won't know how to fish in the sea."

Sandy, Randy, and Fandy just laughed. "Ha! The tourists will never go away. You're wasting your time."

Mandy ignored them. Every morning, she woke up early to fly. Slowly, she built up her strength until she could fly five kilometers without any problem. She became thinner, fitter, and stronger. She could even do somersaults in the air! She stopped eating junk food and only ate fresh fish and crab she caught herself.

Then one day, disaster struck. A large oil tanker passing by La Corona sprang a leak. It spilled oil all over the sea next to the beach, creating a black, dirty layer on the water for two kilometers. All the marine life near the shore died.

Because of the dirty beach and the smell, the tourists stopped coming. The food vendors left. Suddenly, there was no food on the beach. And the seagulls couldn't fish near the shore because of the oil.

The seagulls tried to fly further out, but they got tired quickly. One of them almost drowned in the oil until Mandy swooped down and saved her with her strong wings.

"Oh my God, we're going to starve!" cried the other seagulls. "We can't fly far enough to reach the clean water!"

"Don't worry," Mandy said. "I'll help you."

Mandy flew past the two kilometers of oil to where the water was clean. She caught fish, brought them back, rested, and went again. She caught enough fish to feed everyone. She saved their lives because she was the only one who could fly that far.

"Now," Mandy announced, "I'm going to teach you how to fly. We don't know when the oil will go away."

Every morning, she woke them up, fed them, and trained them. Day by day, they flew longer and longer. In two months, they all learned to fly far out to sea to catch their own fish.

"See?" Mandy said. "You called me silly, but my practice saved us."

"We are so sorry," they said. "You were right. Thank you for saving us."

**Moral of the Story:** Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. If you try and practice hard, you can achieve anything—just like Mandy, the seagull who learned to fly like an eagle.