How the Snake Lost Its Legs the leopard/elephant/camel got its spots/trunk/hump". Held's ability to captivate the reader's imagination compares to the mischievousness of Kipling's pourquoi stories," but the reader, "is also encouraged to extrapolate from general principles by the constant reminder that animals use a conserved set of developmental genes to construct their bodies." Martin finds evo-devo fascinating, "inherently colorful and well placed to fulfill the dual goal of etiological myths: explaining origins and causes while also stirring imagination and awe. Overall, the latest opus by Lewis Held Jr. fits that niche nicely, and shines by its ability to span essential concepts and empirical work with
How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon "How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon" is a Scottish fairy tale, collected by John Francis Campbell in "Popular Tales of the West Highlands". He recorded it from a quarryman in Knockderry, Roseneath, named Angus Campbell. Andrew Lang included it in "The Orange Fairy Book". A king and a queen had a son, Ian. When Ian was almost grown to a man, his mother died, and his father remarried. One day Ian went hunting and shot at a blue falcon, knocking off a feather. His stepmother cursed him until he found her the