For the next hour Ping happily surfed with the fishes, until suddenly, not looking where he was going, he ran over a submerged rock. It acted like a ramp and before he knew what was happening his surfboard had taken off. Ping found himself flying through the air in the middle of a flock of chattering parrots.

      “It’s a flying panda!” they screeched. “Ooh, look at you with your great big arms and your funny flat feet.”

      “That’s not my feet, it’s a surfboard,” explained Ping. “And I’m not really flying.”

      But nobody was listening. Parrots love the sound of their own voices, which is why they never stop talking. Regardless of what Ping said they simply carried on squawking.

      “Panda bird! Panda bird! We’ve never seen a bird that’s furred!”

      Then suddenly a cold shadow fell across the flock, and with a shriek of terror they were gone. For a fleeting moment, Ping’s imagination took over. Why would parrots flee in fear from a shadow? What was it in the sky above him… plunging down towards the top of his head… probably with claws? Surely not a snow leopard? No. Even as he entertained this thought Ping realised it was ridiculous. Snow leopards couldn’t fly. Then again, neither could pandas. With a big splash that brought him back to his senses, Ping’s surfboard reconnected with the water and, steadying himself, he dared to look up. Above him, with a wingspan twice as wide as the stretch of his own arms, was an eagle – a majestic beast complete with hooked beak, razor-sharp talons and a gimlet eye.