Not based on true events

“He skimmed the surface of the sea, he skimmed so merrily, and when dimmed was light of day,he dove and ducked and skimmed away.” These verses describe a very unusual bird, a very quaint bird, and one whose characteristic protruding lower bill is shared by very few others of its kind. This is an African Skimmer, and his most prestigious name was Daisium Clamaticumis, but we will call him Dais. This, indeed, will shorten the tale to a sizable bite. He lived true to his name: in the wilds of Africa, and flew joyfully with his tern-like wings through clouds and mist, rain and shine. Here, he would slice any body of water with his sword-like lower jaw and snap at any fish that would so much as brush against it. But one day, that something which he had thought was a fish snapped back! It was the unusual apex of an unusual day. Dais had awoken as sleepily as he had fallen a-slumber, and teetered for some time upon the edge of the pond shore before he found his feet and wings. But even then, in the air his flight was unusual and erratic. Many a pair of eyes observed him wheeling like a drunken sailor in the sky, and a child nearby pointed to him with the words: “ There’s a funny tern!” But Dais was not a tern. He was a skimmer and said so to himself to console his mortified spirit. At length, he lowered himself over the water and lazily opened his jaws and dropped the under-mandible within it. Fishing now bore no zest for him that day, and even the motion of that exhausted African Skimmer was mechanical. That is, until he  felt in, a split second, something touch his bill and without a moment’s hesitation, shut it with a clack! But what was his surprise when he felt an agonizing pinch above his bill and between his eyes! Later, he thanked God with all his heart that it was not a sting, for what had he picked up but a Common Yellow Scorpion, who, by ill-luck, found itself floundering in that pond. With a breath-taking shriek of “ Ouch!” Dais dropped the creature like a burning stone, and the scorpion was so condescending as to let go of his forehead and go plummeting down to land harmlessly in a clump of grass below. For a time, Dais fluttered helplessly about, crying out in pain and bobbing his head like a mad thing until he finally realized something, and his mind and body grew steadier. He was no longer tired! The sun was no longer dim! The world no longer scowled upon him, but smiled gently, and in a relief of exultation, Dais made a clownish loop of satisfaction in the air and proceeded to fish with as much zest as a lemon seed.

African Skimmer
Rynochops flavrostris

This unusual long-winged bird is one of three species of skimmers whose lower bill is longer than their upper. These birds feed mostly at dawn and dusk, slicing through the water with their lower bill until it shuts upon a prey item. The African Skimmer has a very similar coloration to its relatives, having black upper-parts, white underparts and a red bill and legs. A near-threatened species.

Common Yellow Scorpion
Buthus occitanus

Despite their greatly divergent appearances, both spiders and scorpions are put in the same class. This specific species lives in scrub ground in parts of North Africa and western Asia. Though they are small, their venom is dangerous, but there is, thankfully, an antidote.