Part 3 (1/2)
”Are you frightened of the Platypus?” asked Dot
”Dear aroo, ”but I'd rather have a talk with any other bush creature First of all, the sight of it makes me so uncomfortable, that I want to hop away the instant I set eyes upon it
Then, too, it's so difficult to be polite to the Platypus, because one never kno to behave towards it If you treat it as an animal, you offend its bird nature, and if you treat it as a bird, the aninant One never knohere one is with a creature that is two creatures,” said the Kangaroo
Dot was so sorry for the perplexity of her friend, that she suggested that they should not consult the Platypus But the Kangaroo said itsuch a strange creature, and living in such seclusion, and being so difficult to approach, was a proof that it was the right adviser to seek So, with a half desperate air, the Kangaroo left the little girl, and went down to the water's edge
Pausing abetween a grunt and a hiss: and she repeated this many times At last Dot sahat looked like a bit of black stick, just above the surface of the pool, co two little silvery ripples that widened out behind it on the smooth waters Presently the black stick, which was the bill of the Platypus, reached the bank, and the strangest little creature cli and hideous; but here was quite a sreat Kangaroo should be evidently discoaroo said, but she saw the Platypus hurriedly prepare to regain the water It began to stuaroo then raised her voice in pleading accents
”But,” she said, ”it's such a little Huaroo, and have carried it in my pouch”
This information seemed to arrest the e, but it paused, and turned
”I tell you,” it said in a high-pitched and irritable voice, ”that all Humans are alike! They all come here to interview me for the saain; I have been insulted enough by their ignorance”
”I assure you,” urged the Kangaroo, ”that she will not annoy you in that way She wouldn't think of doing such a thing to any aniaroo called the Platypus an anireat huff it turned towards the pool again ”I beg your pardon,” said the Kangaroo nervously ”I didn't ether animal, or even a bird, but any a--a--a--” She seee creature, seeing the well-aroo, said affably, ”any mammal or Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus”
”Exactly,” said the Kangaroo, brightening up, although she hadn't the least idea what athe little Human here,” said the Platypus in a more friendly tone, ”and if I feel quite sure on that point I will peraroo to where Dot was hidden She seeood i claws on her little black hands to coled that the child called out at this aard aroo stopped She then licked a black se off Dot's forehead, which was all she could do to tidy her Then she started back a hop, and eyed the child with her head on one side She was not quite satisfied ”Ah!” she said, ”if only you were a baby kangaroo I couldto your sha, for one can't get one's claws through it You Huood in the bush!+”
”Never et holes out of aroo felt sad as Dot spoke of returning home, for she had becoan to feel that she would be lonely when they parted However, she did not speak of as in her mind, but bounded back to the Platypus to wait for Dot
When the little girl reached the pool, she was still more surprised, on a nearer view of the Platypus, that the Kangaroo should think so much of it At her feet she beheld a creature like a shapeless bit of wetthat had been fished out of the water Projecting froround than the back, was a broad duck's bill, of a dirty grey colour; and peeping out underneath were two fore feet that were like a duck's also Altogether it was such a funny object that she was inclined to laugh, only the Kangaroo looked so serious, that she tried to look serious too, as if there was nothing strange in the appearance of the Platypus
”I am the Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus!” said the Platypus poirl
”Noe know one another's naaroo had introduced us, it would have stumbled over my name, and mumbled yours, and we should have been none the wiser Now tellto write a book about me? because if you are, I' written about h that way”
”I couldn't write a book,” said Dot, with surprise; inwardly wondering what anyone could find to ly creature
”You're quite sure?” asked the Platypus, doubtfully, and evidently more than half inclined to dive into the pool
”Quite,” said Dot
”Then I'll try to believe you,” said the Platypus, clust which it settled itself comfortably ”But it's very difficult to believe you Humans, for you tell such dreadful fibs,” it continued, as it squirted so that surrounded its bill, and sed some water beetles, small snails and mud that it had stored there ”See, for instance, the way you have all quarrelled and lied about est fool of all, said I wasn't a live creature at all, but a joke another Huether--one saying I was a Beaver; another that I was a Duck; another, that I was a Mole, or a Rat
Then they argued whether I was a bird, or an anis, or not; and everyone wrote a book, full of lies, all out of his head
”That's the way Hus they don't understand, and each new book says all the others are all wrong It's a silly ga to the creatures they write about Humans at the other end of the world, who never took the trouble to come here to see me, wrote books about me Those who did come were more i all about a creature was to dig up its hohten it out of its wits, and kill it; and after a few moons of that sort of foolery they claimed to know all about us Us! whose ancestors knew the world norant Humans came on the earth at all”
The Platypus spluttered out aroo becaer of the Platypus, and it whispered to Dot to say so to cal ti better to say But this reered the Platypuswhat it said