One day in the savannah, a beautiful white horse strode in and all the animals had stopped and admired his beauty. His name was Zebra and said that he was the fastest animal on the Earth. He went around bragging about how amazing he was to all the animals and got whatever he wished. Cheetah was walking by one day and stopped to look at Zebra, who was talking to a group of gnus, intrigued, Cheetah crept closer and listened as Zebra claimed he was the fastest animal. Cheetah just laughed at him as he turned back away and speed off back into the grasses.

   As the days passed, more and more people believed that Zebra was the fastest and many gave him gifts and allowed him to take the best things first, but Zebra was still unhappy with something that he couldn't place. While he thought about this, he took a drink of water from a pond and when he looked back up, he saw a beautiful black horse across the pond and immediately he loved her.They quickly grew close and were married. Many of the animals had attended the ceremony and more were very happy for Zebra, but Cheetah thought nothing of him as he sped around the land.

  It had been a week or so after the marriage of Zebra when Cheetah heard other animals saying that Zebra was the fastest of them all. Enraged, he ran off in search of Zebra who he found in a grassy plain with his wife.
  “So, you say you are the fastest?” Cheetah questioned
  “Why who would be faster than me? No one can beat me!” Zebra exclaimed with pride
   “Alright then,” Cheetah sneered as a smile spread across his face, “Let’s have a race and we will see who is faster.”
All of the animals gathered to see the race, excited to see who was really faster. Birds circled above to watch as Zebra's wife started the race. Both Zebra and Cheetah were off, leaving a trail of dust behind them. At first Zebra and Cheetah were running side by side, each trying to her ahead of the other. As they reached the half way point, Zebra started falling behind and in the end Cheetah won.
    "This is your punishment for acting as if your something that you are not," growled Cheetah and made hideous scratch marks on Zebra's beautiful white hide and I'd the same to his wife's, "From now on," Cheetah told to all the animals, "All of their offspring shall be called Zebra so that they will remember their father's downfall."
  And with that, Cheetah walked off leaving the Zebras to be mocked and scolded. They wandered for days, trying to find a place where they could be alone and not reminded of their defeat. While the days past, the scratches Cheetah had made turned black on Zebra's hide and on his wife's scratches turned white on her black hide.
     When they had children, they too had the scratch marks and their children would also have them for the scratch marks would show on every Zebra to remind them that they are not the fastest animal in the world.