When a terrible drought dries up all the land, Koala asks his friend, Kangaroo for help, and Kangaroo suggests they dig deep into the earth until they find some water. But lazy, Koala, tricks Kangaroo into doing all the work, while he naps in the sun. See how this lazy trickster gets his just desserts in this fun pourquoi tale. (Duration 8 minutes) An episode from Journey with Story, a storytelling podcast for kids.
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Full Transcript
Do you know anyone who is a bit of a lazy bones – someone who is always trying to find a way NOT to do his or her chores, or maybe who tries to get other people to do his or her chores? How do you think you should deal with such a lazy person?
Hello everyone. I’m Kathleen Pelley. Welcome to Journey with Story. Today’s episode is dedicated again to all of our wonderful loyal listeners in Australia – so many of you have sent us lovely messages and drawings and written great reviews for our podcast – so we want you to know how much we love our Australian fans – thank you. So of course this story is from Australia and it is all about a very, very lazy koala who pays a heavy price for being so lazy.
Let’s take a journey with Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail.
Long ago tree Kangaroo and Koala were good friends. In those days Koala had a beautiful bushy tail that swished and swooshed this way and that. This is the story of how Koala ended up with a short stump of a tail.
This was the year when a great drought descended on the land. For days and weeks and months, no rains fell. The earth grew parched and cracked. All the streams dried up. There was no water to be found. Even the leaves on the trees withered up and died.
Kola headed off to visit Tree Kangaroo to see if he could help.
“I have an idea,” said Tree Kangaroo. “Once, when I was very little, I remember a dry season just like this, and my mother took me to the dried up river bed. She began to dig and dig and dig, until finally, a tiny trickle of water gurgled up from the ground and made a little pool. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for us to quench our thirst.”
“Let’s try that!” cried Koala. The two of them scurried off to find the nearest dried up riverbed. But by the time they reached there, Koala was hot and sweaty and very tired.
“Why don’t you go ahead and start digging,” he suggested, “while I take a rest up here in this tree, and gather my strength. Then after I am rested up, I will dig and you can rest.”
“Very well,” agreed Tree Kangaroo and he set to work dig, dig digging with all his might and strength. It was hard work in the sweltering heat of the sun. But the thought of drinking his fill of some fresh, cool water made him keep going.
A little later, he looked up and saw that Koala was now sound asleep nestled in the tree. “Ah, well, “thought Tree Kangaroo, “he should be all rested up in a short while and then it will be my turn to take a rest.” Then he went back to his dig, dig, digging.
Finally Koala woke up. Tree Kangaroo stopped his digging. “Now it is your turn to dig, while I rest,” he said.
“Very well, “ agreed Koala as he began to climb down the tree. But suddenly he stopped and cried, “Ouch! Ouch! Oh no – I have a thorn in my foot. You better just keep digging while I get it out.”
So Tree kangaroo went back to his dig, dig, digging, but even though the hole was very deep by now, there was still no sign of any water.
Tree Kangaroo stomped his foot. “Enough!” he shouted. “I am exhausted with all this dig, dig, digging. It is time for you to take your turn at digging, Koala! You get down from your tree right now and get to work – I need a rest!”
Once again, Koala started to climb down, but then he began to shiver and shake. “Oh no, “ he cried. “I am having a dizzy spell – it must be because I have not had any water. I will need to rest a little longer until I feel better.”
Tree Kangaroo stamped his foot in anger, but what could he do? He knew there was only one way to find water and that was for him to keep dig, dig, digging. And so he set to work again grumbling under his breath about lazy Koala.
Suddenly, a tiny trickle of water gushed out. “At last! At last!” shouted tree Kangaroo – “WATER!”
At once, Koala scurried down the tree as fast as he could and rushed to the hole, shoving Kangaroo out of the way. He bent over the hole and gulped the water up fast and furious.
“Hey, save some for me,” shouted Tree Kangaroo. But Koala paid him no heed. He was too busy drink, drink, drinking all of the water.
Tree Kangaroo could stand it no more. He grabbed Koala’s tail, pull, pull, pulling it with all of his might and will, until, suddenly in one big PLOP, the tail broke right off, leaving Koala with only… a measly little stump.
And so it is that Koalas now only have a short stumpy tail – all because Koala was once so lazy and selfish and he lost a good friend as well.
Cheerio then, join me next time for Journey with Story.
