If penguins are flightless birds, are snakes walkless reptiles?

The Penguin’s Parable:
“I cried because I could not fly, until I met a reptile who could not walk.”

Once upon a time, there was a penguin who was very sad that he could not fly. This sadness preyed on his mind so much that he decided to travel the world until he learned to fly.
During his journey, he encountered all kinds of amazing creatures. He sought out every sort of flying creature from the mightiest condor to the tiniest insect, but none could teach him to fly. When he realized that no one could teach him to fly, he collapsed in despair and wept bitter tears.
As he lay there, he saw a snake sunning itself on a nearby rock. Because he had spent all of his time talking to flying creatures, he had never seen a snake before. As he watched, the snake uncurled itself. To his amazement, he saw it had no legs.
“Excuse me.” said the penguin. “I have never seen a creature like you before. What are you?”
“I am a snake.” replied the snake. “I’ve never met a creature like you either. What are you?”
“I am a penguin. I’ve travelled a very long way to learn how to fly, but I’ve failed.”. Saying this, the penguin began to cry again.
“I am sorry that you are so sad,” said the snake soothingly to his new acquaintance, “but why do you want to learn to fly?”
“I’m a bird.” sobbed the penguin. “Almost all the other birds can fly, so I want to fly too.”
The snake was puzzled. “I still don’t understand. I am a reptile, and all the other reptiles have legs, but snakes don’t. I never thought of spending my life trying to get legs from other reptiles.”
The penguin’s crying slowed as he thought about what the snake had said. He thought about the friends and family he hadn’t seen in so many years. He thought of all the time he had wasted being unhappy with who he was, and realized the snake was right.
“Thank you my friend.” he said to the snake. “You’ve given me the answer to my problem!”
The snake was even more puzzled. “I’ve taught you to fly?” he asked.
“Even better!” exclaimed the penguin excitedly. “You’ve taught me how to not fly!”
Seeing the look on his new friend’s face, the penguin explained. “All these years, I’ve been thinking of myself as a bird first instead of a penguin. If I could fly like all the other birds, I couldn’t be a penguin anymore and then I would never see my family and friends or my home ever again.”
The penguin thanked the snake and hurried home to make up for all the time he had wasted.
As the snake curled up in the sun he thought, “If I could walk like that penguin, I might travel the world looking for legs.” but he didn’t. Instead, he slept in the sun and dreamt of flying.

The End

Why did the penguin walk across the road?
Flightless bird. Remember?

Why did the snake slither across the road?
To make his friend the penguin feel better about the flight thing.

Cheers, Winston