In the Dreamtime, there lived a giant,
ugly frog in the Australian desert, named Tiddalik. He was as tall
as a tree. He was so-o-o-o thirsty! Tiddalik said,” I could drink a whole creek,” and
he did.
“I’m still thirsty,” he croaked. So Tiddalik
drank a whole billabong. Slurp, slurp, slurp! But he was still thirsty
so he gulped a long river down greedily.
“I’m still thirsty. I could drink a whole lake,” said
Tiddalik. So he gurgled an entire lake. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. Drinking
all the water, the land looked very dry and parched. Tiddalik peered
around, searching for some more water to drink. On the other side of
the desert he spied the last puddle in the land. Tiddalik rolled slowly
over to the puddle because he was so swollen with water he couldn’t
jump, hop or walk. After he drank the puddle dry, there was no water
in the entire land. Tiddalik closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, the animals gathered around
nearby. They were concerned. They were extremely thirsty but there
was NO water to drink. It was all in Tiddalik’s big, fat, bloated belly. All the animals were
chattering loudly about the problem but they didn’t wake Tiddalik up.
Squawking loudly, the crow said,” What are we going to do?!” Tiddalik
woke up very grumpily and all the other animals stopped talking and
stared at crow.
“Crikey! We need to make Tiddalik laugh to let all the
water rush and gush out of his mouth!” suggested the crocodile.
Echidna eagerly said,” I’ll make Tiddalik laugh!” and
he raced towards Tiddalik. Not seeing a rough rock, Echidna tripped
and tumbled over, his spines sticking into the dry ground.
Tiddalik went,” HUMPH!”
Kangaroo tried next. “Look at me!” he yelled. Bouncing
along, looking at Tiddalik, he didn’t see where he was going and when
he jumped he landed in low branches, getting quite stuck in a tree.
Tiddalik said,” HUMPH!”
Eagle, Magpie, Wombat, Crocodile and Snake all tried
very hard to make Tiddalik laugh without succeeding.
Possum zoomed over and exclaimed,” I can do it!” but
the other animals all said,” You can’t do it. All you’ve got is a ring
tail!”
Ignoring all the other animals, possum climbed up a tall,
wide tree and grabbed onto a bough. His ring tail curled around the
branch and possum started to swing backwards and forwards until he
built up speed. He then flew around and around the branch very quickly.
Suddenly, he lost his grip and flew through
the air flipping before landing on Tiddalik’s big, fat, bloated belly!
He bounced back up into the tree but missed the branch and fell flat
on his face and belly on the ground. Feeling dizzy and shocked, Possum
stared, his eyes wide open in surprise.
Tiddalik went,” Phee, phee, phee,” trying to keep his
mouth closed but he thought it was so hilarious, that he couldn’t keep
it in. He laughed and laughed and laughed. As he laughed, the water
came rushing and gushing out, just as crocodile had predicted!
Lakes, rivers, billabongs, creeks and puddles all filled
up with water. The animals thanked Possum and celebrated happily. The
end!