A KANGAROO TAIL by Ms. Rear

Part 1:

The dry grasslands of Australia are perfect for. . .  Hopping!

Kangaroos love to hop.  Their long, useful tails help them steer and balance as they bounce across the land.

Everyone hops!  The bucks, the does, and the joeys just big enough to leave the pouch.

All across the continent, they hop – from Western Australia all the way to New South Wales – even on the tiny island of Tasmania.  They hop past their marsupial friends – the koalas, the bandicoots, and the spotted-tailed quolls.  And in Tasmania, they hop past Tasmanian Pademelons.

One day, Jemma, a little girl joey, noticed her friend Poppy the pygmy possum’s pretty tail.

“Oh, it’s lovely,” she told Poppy as Poppy preened, curling her tail like a corkscrew around a tiny twig.

Part 2:

Jemma’s joey friend Josie agreed completely.  “I wonder if we could. . .” she thought to herself.

That afternoon, after a snack of wallaby grass, Jemma and Josie tried out their plan.  They twisted their tails tightly around and around some small brigalow branches.  They used acacia stalks to tie their tails in place.  It didn’t feel too good.

“Does your tail hurt?” asked Josie.

“It does,” Jemma answered with a grimace, “but how else can we get pretty corkscrew-curly tails like Poppy’s?”

Josie pursed her lips.  “I suppose you’re right.  We’ll have to grin and bear it.”

In the morning, Jemma and Josie untied their tails, which weren’t quite corkscrews yet, but did feel a bit black and blue.  It hurt to hop, so Jemma and Josie didn’t go far.  Every night for a week, Jemma and Josie tied their tails tightly and then checked them every morning.

One morning, they got what they wanted.  Their tails curled in tight spirals, and they sat still, admiring them.  They had to sit still, since when they tried hopping, it was hard to balance and steer.  More than once, Jemma and Josie keeled right over!  “This is embarrassing, Jemma,” whispered Josie.  “Let’s stay still.”

“But our tails looks lovely,” insisted Jemma, twisting her neck to see her behind.  “There was no other way!”

At first, the rest of the mob had ignored Jemma and Josie’s experiment.  But they couldn’t ignore it anymore.  They noticed the joeys had stopped hopping, and they wanted to know why.  What would make a kangaroo stop hopping?

When Jemma and Josie explained, the mob almost jumped backward in shock (but kangaroos can only move forward.)

“Why would you do that?!?”

“Yes, it’s lovely, but now, you can’t hop!”

“But. . .  you girls are not pygmy possums!”

The older kangaroos looked down at the two joeys, who blushed in shame.  But it was too late.  They would never hop quickly and joyfully again, only move in tiny, hobbling movements.


Part 3:

The sun rose and set over Australia, and a few years rolled over the grasslands.  Jemma grew into a grown-up kangaroo, and in turn, she had a joey of her own.  She was called Jaya.

One day, when Jaya was a little girl joey, she noticed her mother’s pretty, corkscrew-curly tail.  “Your tail is lovely, Mama,” she said.  “How can I get my tail to look like yours?”

Jemma thought hard before she answered her daughter.  “You could do it, but I wish I had not.  Whenever I see you hopping happily across the grass, I think of myself when I was just a joey.  I loved to hop.  Don’t you?”

“Of course, Mama!  What kangaroo doesn’t?”

“I can’t,” explained Jemma, “because I made a mistake.”  She nodded towards her lovely tail.

“Oh, Mama!”  Jaya’s eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t cry, little joey.  Go play.  I love to see you hop and play.”

Jaya did as her mother told her, and looked back at her mother, who never hopped, but only watched.

I would never give up hopping for anything, Jaya thought.  Not for the prettiest, curliest tail in the world.  Not for anything.