Big Turtle

Many years ago the world had two parts.
Animals lived in the lower part, which was was completely covered in water and had no land or soil. Above was the Sky World, where the sky people lived.
The Sky World had lots of soil, with beautiful mountains and valleys. One day a girl from the Sky World went for a long walk and became very tired.
"I'm so tired, I need to rest" she said. She sat down under the spreading branches of an apple tree and quickly fell asleep.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound like thunder and the ground began to crack. A big hole opened up next to the apple tree.
"What's happening?" screamed the frightened girl. She tried to move but it was too late. She and the tree slid through the hole and tumbled over and over towards the watery world below.
"Help me! Help me!" screamed the girl. Luckily two swans were swimming below and saw the girl tumbling down from the sky.
"Come on!" yelled one swan. "Let's catch her before she hits the water"
"Okay!" yelled the other.
The swans spread their wings together and caught the girl on their soft feather backs.
"Whew! That was lucky" said the girl. "But what do I do now? I can't get back up to the Sky World and I can't stay on your backs forever."
"We'll take you to Big turtle" said the swans. "He knows everything."
After hearing what happened, the Big Turtle called all the animals in the water world to a meeting. He told them an old story about soil being found deep under the water.
"If we can get some of that soil, we can build an island on my back for you to live on" said the Big Turtle. "Sounds good to me" said the young girl.
The Otter, Beaver and Muskrat started arguing over who would dive for the soil.
"I'll go" said the sleek Otter, brushing his glossy fur.
"No! I'll go" said Beaver, slapping the water with his big flat tail.
"I'm the best swimmer" said Muskrat "I'll go."
"Aaaachooo!" sneezed the young girl. "Guys, guys, would just one of you go. These swan feathers are getting up my nose and making me sneeze."

"Sorry" said the swans.
"That's alright" said the young Sky girl.
Then Toskwaye the little Toad, popped up out of the water. "I'll go. I can dive very deep" she said.
The other animals started laughing and pointing at Toskwaye. "You! You're too small and ugly to help." cried the others, laughing.
"Be quiet!" said Big Turtle in a loud, stern voice. "Everyone is equal and everyone will have a chance to try."

The sleek Otter smoothed his glossy fur, took a deep breath and slid into the water. He was gone for a long time before he came up gasping for air.
"It was too deep" he said. "I couldn't dive that far.
"Now it's my turn" said Beaver. He slapped the water with his tail as he disappeared. After a long time he came to the surface again.
"It's too far" he gasped. "No one can dive that deep."
Muskrat tried next and failed. "Aaaachoo!" sneezed the young girl. "This is not looking good"
"Now it's my turn" said little Toskwaye the Toad. She took a deep breath and jumped into the water. She was gone a very long time and everyone thought they wouldn't see her again.
Suddenly Otter pointed at the water, shouting "Look, look! Bubbles!"
Toskwaye's small, ugly face appeared through the water. She spat a few grains of soil onto the Big Turtle's back, then fell back into the water - dead.The Turtle ordered the others to rub the soil grains and spread them around on his shell. The grains grew and grew, until a large island was formed - big enough for the girl to live on.
It grew into our world as we know it today. And the descendants of the Sky girl became the Earth's people.
Today, some people say the whole world still rests on Big Turtles back. When he gets tired and changes his position, we have earthquakes.
Toad has not been forgotten either. American native Indians call her "Mashutaha", which means 'Our Grandmother'. No one is allowed to harm her.

The End

Koobor the Koala and Water

A long time ago, animals weren't animals - they were people. Koobor the koala was a boy. His parents were dead and he lived with relatives in a very dry part of the country, where there was never enough water.
Everyone in the family was given water each evening, but Koobor was always given his drink last and he never thought it was enough.
"I'm still thirsty!" he cried, "I want more water."
"Be quiet, Koobor" shouted his relatives. "You're an orphan and we've given you a home. You should be grateful and take what you are given."

If he complained again, they beat him and called him ungrateful.
When they were going out to look for food, they hid their water buckets so that Koobor couldn't drink any more water.
Koobor learned how to take moisture from gum leaves, but it was never enough to stop him feeling thirsty.
One day when the relatives left Koobor alone and went to find food, they forgot to hide their water buckets. As soon as they were out of sight, he drank all the water his stomach could hold. For the first time he wasn't thirsty, but his body swelled up like a balloon.

When the sun started to rest for the night, Koobor knew that his relatives would come back soon. They would beat him and take all the water and he would be thirsty again.
He collected all the water buckets and climbed into the branches of a small tree.
Then he sang a special song and the tree began to grow and grow, with Koobor sitting in the middle of it, holding the buckets.
His relatives came back hot and tired after searching for food all day. They could not find their water buckets or Koobor. Then they saw him in the tallest of all the trees, with water buckets hanging from the branches.

"Koobor, bring those buckets down now, or we will beat you" they cried. "No! I'm not coming down" shouted Koobor. "It's your turn to be thirsty!"
Several men started to climb the tall tree, but Koobor threw the water buckets at them, knocking them to the ground.
Finally, two men managed to climb up, dodging the buckets. They grabbed Koobor, beat him very badly and threw him down.
His broken body smashed into the earth, where it changed into Koobor the Koala.
The animal climbed into a nearby tree and began munching gum leaves. Then he looked down at the people on the ground.
"From now on, you may kill me if you need food, but you must cook my body before you take off my skin or break my bones.
This is my law. If you don't follow it, I will come back and dry up all the rivers and lakes and you will always be thirsty."
This is why Koalas don't need water to keep alive and why aborigines always follow Koobor's law when cooking a dead koala. They are frightened that he will come back and take all their water, leaving them thirsty forever. 

The End

 

The Red Dragon

A long long time ago most of the animals on earth looked very different from how they look now.
Some were thinner, some were taller and some had more legs than they have today.
The Rhinoceros and the Hippopotamus were very vain and always boring the other animals, asking them to admire their good looks.
"Haven't I got the most handsome face you've ever seen?" the Rhinoceros would ask, as he turned his head from side to side. "Don't you think my left side is as handsome as my right?".
"Look at my slim body" the Hippopotamus would answer. "Isn't this the most beautiful body you've ever seen?"
"Huuh!" the Elephant would trumpet. "Look at my beautiful ivory teeth. They're the most perfect teeth in the world". And he would smile, showing two rows of gleaming ivory teeth.
Every thing was peaceful and boring until one day a red dragon flew down from the sky shouting "The world is going to end! The world is going to end!"
"We've heard that one before" said the lion, with a bored sigh. "The chicken said the sky was falling, but nothing happened".
"It's for real this time. The world is coming to an end!" yelled the red dragon.
"How do you know" the others asked.
"A wizard told me" he replied.
"Then it must be true" they all said. "What shall we do?"

"You can all climb onto my back and I'll fly you to another world" said the red dragon.
They all rushed to get on the dragon's back except the lion.
"I'm king around here and I'm not frightened of anything" he roared. "I'm going to stay here on earth".
"I'm going to stay too" said the tiger, getting down.
"Tigers are just as brave as lions".
When the other animals were ready, the dragon flapped his wings, jumped into the air and came down again.
With such a heavy load on his back he had to try it several times before he took off.
As the red dragon flew higher it was uncomfortable for the animals squeezed onto his back and some of them became scared. They began to fight and push each other.
"Get your tail out of my eye" yelled one.
"Watch where you're putting that paw" yelled another.
"Oh, we're going very high" squeaked a mouse.
"Give me a break and sit still" cried the red dragon. "All you're fighting and shoving is making it very hard for me to fly".
The animals ignored him and finally the red dragon became so tired he couldn't flap his wings any more and started to fall out of the sky.
The animals slid off his back and fell towards the ground screaming in panic. No one was killed but they all landed with a mighty thud.
The snakes legs fell off and he slithered away in the grass.
The Rhinoceros landed on his face, making a large bump on his nose that turned into a horn.
The Hippopotamus kept rolling and bumping over the hillside, getting bigger and fatter until he finally splashed into a waterhole. He was so embarrassed at how round and fat he was, he wouldn't come out.
The elephant broke all his teeth except for two that stuck into the ground. When he tried to pull them out of the ground they stretched into the two long tusks he has today.
The giraffe caught his head in a high tree and his neck stretched and stretched until his body reached the ground.
In fact all the animals changed into how they look today.
The lion and tiger roared with laughter at how funny the other animals looked now.
"I don't see what's so funny" snapped the crocodile, whose face had been flattened by a gorilla landing on it.
The Rhinoceros was very angry about losing his good looks. That's why you have to be very careful near them, even today.

The End