i was cycling up a hill in sunny greece, and there in the middle of the road was dung beetle pushing a huge smooth ball of moist dung. he seemed to be playing with it more than pushing it anywhere, doing cartwheels around it and riding over the top of it to fall down the other side. first i thought he must want to cross the road, but in fact his route was a zig zag hither and thither.
a car engine became audible and i saw that it would pass on his side of the road. i thought about picking up him and his ball of dung and moving them to safety, but he was nicely placed in the middle of the road, so i just left him there and moved over to the other side. i thought: "let fate decide what will be his outcome". as the car made its speedy approach i saw the he was moving towards the white stripy line where the trajectory of the car wheels would pass and then i looked on with a kind of horror as the car whizzed past and splash! - almost a splashing noise - as the beetle and the dung become one messy immobile squashed mass on the road.
at least he seemed to be enjoying life before it was taken away from him, i thought after a while.
a car engine became audible and i saw that it would pass on his side of the road. i thought about picking up him and his ball of dung and moving them to safety, but he was nicely placed in the middle of the road, so i just left him there and moved over to the other side. i thought: "let fate decide what will be his outcome". as the car made its speedy approach i saw the he was moving towards the white stripy line where the trajectory of the car wheels would pass and then i looked on with a kind of horror as the car whizzed past and splash! - almost a splashing noise - as the beetle and the dung become one messy immobile squashed mass on the road.
at least he seemed to be enjoying life before it was taken away from him, i thought after a while.
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