1
When he hatched from his egg, the first thing the baby saw was a huge face looking down at him. Above a long, toothless, beaked jaw, two large eyes stared into his as he struggled free of the egg. Once the baby was out, he could see that the creature had big leathery wings, stretching from its fingers to its knees, and that it had long, slender legs.
âHello!â it said.
âWho are you?â asked the baby.
âYour mother,â the creature replied. âNice to see you. Letâs go flying.â And she spread her big leathery wings and took off.
Could I do that ? wondered the baby. Only one way to find out. So he spread his very small wings and flew up after his mother.
âWell done!â she cried when he reached her. âItâs nice to be nidifugous, isnât it?â
âWhat does ânidifugousâ mean, Mom?â the baby asked.
âIt means to be able to fly as soon as youâre hatched. All pterodactyls can.â
âWhat does âpterodactylâ mean, Mom?â
âCreatures like us,â the babyâs mother replied.
â Pteron means âwing,â and daktylos means âfinger.â Each of my wings is attached to each of my fourth fingers, see? And so are yours.â
âSo Iâm a whatever-you-said, am I?â
âA pterodactyl. Yes, you are, my son. And a very pulchritudinous one too.â
âWhat does âpulchritudinousâ mean, Mom?â
âBeautiful.â
âOh,â said the baby pterodactyl, and he kicked his little legs happily as he flew high above the rocky land.
âNow,â said his mother, âthereâs the matter of nomenclature.â
âWhat,â said the baby, âdoes ânomenclatureâ mean, Mom?â
âNames. You have to have one.â
âGosh, you do know a lot of long words, Mom.â
âOne has to,â said his mother, âin these Jurassic days, if one wants to survive. Who knows, one day pterodactyls might become extinct. And before you ask me what âextinctâ means, Iâll tell you. It means gone, finished, kaput, dead and done for.â
âBut, Mom,â the baby said, âI donât want to be extinct.â
âDonât worry your head about it,â his mother said. âIf it should happen, it wonât be for millions and millions of years, my son. Now then, what shall we call you? You ask enough questions. How about Nosy? How dâyou like that?â
The baby waggled his small but rather long snout.
âI donât mind,â he said, âbut, Mom, whatâs your name?â
âAviatrix,â said his mother.
âWhat does âAviatrixâ mean, Mom?â asked Nosy.
âA female flier. In the skills of flying, among all pterodactyls, I am paramount.â
This time Nosy didnât ask anything. He simply said, âI suppose that means âthe best.ââ
âIt does, Nosy, my boy,â replied Aviatrix. âIt most certainly does.â
Mother and son flew on, side by side. Nosy flapped along as fast as he could while his mother flew slowly so that he could keep up with her.
âMom,â said Nosy after a while, âwhere are we going?â
âTo see your father,â said Aviatrix.
âOh. Whatâs he called?â
âHis name is Clawed. Youâll see why when you meet him. Never have there been claws like his.â
Before long they left behind the dry stony place where Nosy had hatched among the hot rocks, and came to a wood. Here there were quite a number of pterodactyls, hanging upside down as pterodactyls do, each gripping a branch with its taloned feet. The biggest one, Nosy could see as they dropped lower, had the most enormous claws.
âThere he is!â cried Aviatrix. âThereâs my Clawed! Come on, Nosy, come and meet your daddy!â
2
When they landed, Aviatrix could see that Clawed was fast
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