***
Skipper the Kangaroo
has a Lucky Day
It was the hottest summer Skipper could ever remember. It was so hot that the grass and the leaves on the few trees around were shrivelling up. Skipper’s Mum and Dad were very worried; the water was drying up too
On this particular day, Skipper was really thirsty. 'I need a drink,’ he gasped.
All of his little kangaroo friends were saying the same. The grown up kangaroos had gone off on their own to search for food and Skipper and his friends were lying on the ground among some big rocks
Skipper decided to move further under the largest rock he was resting by. ‘There’s some shadow here,' cried Skipper. 'It should be cooler here.'
He used his strong hind legs to dig into the shadow but as he dug, the ground suddenly gave way and he found himself falling down into a hole.
‘Skipper!’ ‘Skipper!’ shouted his friends as they tumbled down on top of him.
‘Ouch! Be careful,’ cried Skipper as he squeezed out from underneath them.
They all looked around. It seemed to be a cave but not the sort of cave made by under-ground streams. There were some marks on the walls of the cave.
‘It’s been made by humans,’ shouted Skipper.
At one end of the cave they could see a small tunnel, so he decided to explore it. It did not take long. He soon came back to his friends.
‘Come on. It’s a lot better in here,’ he told them.
A cool draught of air was blowing through the cave. Gratefully, Skipper and his friends crawled along a gloomy passage.
‘This is great,’ they cried, not scared at all. After crawling along for some time, the tunnel suddenly opened into another big cave.
Small holes had been cut into the roof of the cave and bright sunlight shone through them, so that the young kangaroos could see quite well.
Skipper and his friends stretched out on the floor of the cave to have a good rest.
As Skipper lay down, he hit something hard with his head. ‘What’s that? ’ he said.
Turning his head, he saw something shiny on the floor. It did not look like an ordinary stone, because it was smooth and when Skipper let the sunlight shining through the hole in the roof fall onto it, it shone with all kinds of different colours.
‘It must be a special kind of stone,’ he said. ‘I’ll take it back with me, when we go home,’
He then settled down for a good rest. After a while, they all began to get restless and fidgety.
‘I think we’d better get back now otherwise everyone will be worrying about us,’ Skipper said to his friends.
He picked up his ‘special stone’ and they all made their way back through the tunnel. When they reached the hole through which they had fallen, Skipper and his friends, with a lot of scrambling, slipping and sliding, managed to climb out.
There were a lot of worried-looking mummy and daddy kangaroos wandering about.
‘Where have you been?’ asked Skipper’s Dad. ‘Your Mum and I have been very worried about you.’
‘Sorry, but look what I’ve found,’
Skipper’s Dad looked at the ‘special stone’ carefully for a while and then stopped feeling cross. ‘Where did you get this?’ he asked, quietly.
‘Inside that big hole I fell into,’ replied Skipper.
Looking more closely at the ‘stone’, Skipper’s Dad said, ‘I think you have found an opal.’
‘An opal! What’s that?’ asked Skipper excitedly.
His dad explained that it was what humans called a 'precious’ stone and they say that it is very valuable.
‘I think I’ve got an idea,’ continued Dad, as he called all the other kangaroos together and told them they were all going to visit the human farm in the next valley.
'We need food and water,' he explained to them.
Now on this farm lived an old man who was alone, except for a few chickens and a small herd of cows. He was kind to all animals - even vultures and the crocodiles, which often swam up the river, when it flooded in the spring.
The kangaroos did not know that many of the old man’s cows had died in the very hot weather and he was now thinking of leaving the farm and going to town to find other work.
Skipper's Dad did not want to take food and water without giving anything in return - and that’s where his idea came in.
The herd of kangaroos were not afraid at all as the old man came out to greet them.'
'Well, what’s all this?’ asked the old man cheerily.'
We've found this’, replied Skipper’s Dad, holding out the opal in his big paw.
The old man looked at the opal and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
'Goodness me.' he said, ‘That’s the largest opal I’ve ever seen.'
Is that so,’ replied Skipper’s Dad. 'We know that it is valuable to humans and perhaps it could be valuable to us too.'
Skipper's Dad then told the old man about their problem of not finding enough food and water in this very hot weather.
Maybe, in exchange for the opal, they could have what they wanted. That is, food and water, while they all waited until the rains came again, bringing bubbling streams and fresh, green grass.
The old man agreed at once. Now he would be able to keep his farm and buy a new, larger herd of cows.
Skipper and all the kangaroos followed the old man to his windmill, which brought up water from deep underground.
As the windmill began to turn, there was a gurgling sound and water began to fill a trough. Soon everyone had drunk as much water as they all wanted and they all felt much better.
The old man then took a pitchfork, went into the barn and brought out a large bundle of hay.
There's plenty more when you need it,’ he said kindly.
The kangaroos munched away happily and Skipper thought it was the best hay he had ever tasted.'
‘You can rest in the barn if you like.’ the old man said, adding, ‘You may stay as long as you like.'
So Skipper and the rest of the kangaroos went to lie under a huge veranda, next to the barn. The veranda had been built to give shade to the cows in very hot weather.
Skipper and his friends stayed happily by the barn until the rains came again.
He was glad that he had been able to help, though did not realise just how much he had been able to help the old man too.
Bouncey the Elf and Friends Bedtime Stories Page 4