"Are you frightened of the Platypus?" asked Dot.
"Dear me, no!" replied the Kangaroo, "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 knows how 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 animal in it is mighty indignant. One never knows where 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 it must be done, because no one in the bush was so learned. Being such 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 a moment, she made a strange little noise that was something between a grunt and a hiss: and she repeated this many times. At last Dot saw what looked like a bit of black stick, just above the surface of the pool, coming towards their side, and, as it moved forward, leaving 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 climbed into view.
Dot had expected to see something big and hideous; but here was quite a small object after all! It seemed quite ridiculous that the great Kangaroo should be evidently discomposed by the sight.
Dot could not hear what the Kangaroo said, but she saw the Platypus hurriedly prepare to regain the water. It began to stumble clumsily down the bank. The Kangaroo then raised her voice in pleading accents.
"But," she said, "it"s such a little Human! I have treated it like my baby kangaroo, and have carried it in my pouch."
This information seemed to arrest the movements of the Platypus; it had reached the water"s edge, 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 same purpose, and I"m resolved it shall not happen again; I have been insulted enough by their ignorance."
"I a.s.sure you," urged the Kangaroo, "that she will not annoy you in that way. She wouldn"t think of doing such a thing to any animal."
As the Kangaroo called the Platypus an animal, Dot saw at once that it was offended, and in a great huff it turned towards the pool again. "I beg your pardon," said the Kangaroo nervously. "I didn"t mean an altogether animal, or even a bird, but any a--a--a--." She seemed puzzled how to speak of the Platypus, when the strange creature, seeing the well-meaning embarra.s.sment of the Kangaroo, said affably, "any mammal or Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus."
"Exactly," said the Kangaroo, brightening up, although she hadn"t the least idea what a mammal was.
"Well, bring the little Human here," said the Platypus in a more friendly tone, "and if I feel quite sure on that point I will permit an interview."
Two bounds brought the Kangaroo to where Dot was hidden. She seemed anxious that the child should make a good impression on the Platypus, and tried with the long claws on her little black hands to comb through Dot"s long gleaming curls; but they were so tangled that the child called out at this awkward method of hairdressing, and the Kangaroo stopped. She then licked a black smudge 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 could make you look so nice!
but I can"t do anything to your sham coat, which gets worse every day, and your fur is all wrong, for one can"t get one"s claws through it. You Humans are no good in the bush!"
"Never mind, dear Kangaroo," said the little girl; "when I get home mother will put me on a new frock, and will get the tangles out of my hair. Let us go to the Platypus now."
The Kangaroo felt sad as Dot spoke of returning home, for she had become really fond of the little Human. She began to feel that she would be lonely when they parted. However, she did not speak of what was 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 wet matted fur. She thought it looked like an empty fur bag that had been fished out of the water. Projecting from the head, that seemed much nearer to the ground 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 pompously.
"I am Dot," said the little girl.
"Now we know one another"s names," said the Platypus, with satisfaction.
"If the Kangaroo had introduced us, it would have stumbled over my name, and mumbled yours, and we should have been none the wiser. Now tell me, little Human, are you going to write a book about me? because if you are, I"m off. I can"t stand any more books being written about me; I"ve been annoyed enough that way."
"I couldn"t write a book," said Dot, with surprise; inwardly wondering what anyone could find to make a book of, out of such a small, ugly 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, clumsily waddling towards some gra.s.s, amongst 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 some dirty water out of the bag that surrounded its bill, and swallowed some water beetles, small snails and mud that it had stored there. "See, for instance, the way you have all quarrelled and lied about me! One great Human, the biggest fool of all, said I wasn"t a live creature at all, but a joke another Human had played upon him. Then they squabbled together--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 animal, or if we laid eggs, or not; and everyone wrote a book, full of lies, all out of his head.
"That"s the way Humans amuse themselves. They write books about things they don"t understand, and each new book says all the others are all wrong. It"s a silly game, and very insulting 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 impudent than those who stayed away. Their idea of learning all about a creature was to dig up its home, and frighten 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 millions of years before the ignorant Humans came on the earth at all."
The Platypus spluttered out more dirty water, in its indignation.
The Kangaroo became very timid, as it saw the rising anger of the Platypus, and it whispered to Dot to say something to calm the little creature.
"A million years is a very long time," said Dot; unable at the moment to think of anything better to say. But this remark angered the Platypus more, for it seemed to suspect Dot of doubting what it said.
It clambered up into a more erect position, and its little brown eyes became quite fiery.
"I didn"t say a million; I said millions! I can prove by a bone in my body that my ancestors were the Amphitherium, the Amphilestes, the Phascolotherium, and the Stereognathus!" almost shrieked the little creature.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PREHISTORIC CREATURES OF THE PLATYPUS"S SONG]
Dot didn"t understand what all these words meant, and looked at the Kangaroo for an explanation; but she saw that the Kangaroo didn"t understand either, only she was trying to hide her ignorance by a calm appearance, while she nibbled the end of a long gra.s.s she held in her fore paw. But Dot noticed, by the slight trembling of the little black paw, that the Kangaroo was very nervous. She thought she would try and say something to please Platypus; so she asked, very kindly, if the bone ever hurt it. But this strange creature did not seem to notice the remark. Settling itself more comfortably amongst the gra.s.s, it muttered in calmer tones, "I trace my ancestry back to the Oolite Age. Where does man come in?"
"I don"t know," said Dot.
"Of course you don"t!" replied the Platypus, contemptuously, "Humans are so ignorant! That is because they are so new. When they have existed a few more million years, they will be more like us of old families; they will respect quiet, exclusive living, like that of the Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus, and will not be so inquisitive, pushing, and dangerous as now. The age will come when they will understand, and will cease to write books, and there will be peace for everyone."
The Kangaroo now thought it a good opportunity to change the subject, and gently introduced the topic of Dot"s lost way, saying how she had found the little girl, and had taken care of her ever since.
The Platypus did not seem interested, and yawned more than once whilst the Kangaroo spoke.
"The question is," concluded the Kangaroo, "who shall I ask to find it?
Someone must know where it is."
"Of course," said the Platypus, yawning again, without so much as putting its web foot in front of its bill, which Dot thought very rude, or else very ancient manners. "Little Human," it said, "tell me what kind of bush creatures come about your burrow."
"We live in a cottage," she said, but seeing that the Platypus did not like to be corrected, and that the Kangaroo looked quite shocked at her doing so, she hurriedly described the creatures she had seen there. She said there were Crickets, Gra.s.shoppers, Mice, Lizards, Swallows, Opossums, Flying Foxes, Kookooburras, Magpies, and Shepherd"s Companions----
"Stop!" interrupted the Platypus, with a wave of its web foot; "that is the right one."
"Who?" asked the Kangaroo and Dot anxiously, together.
"The bird you call Shepherd"s Companion. Some of you call it Rickety d.i.c.k, or w.i.l.l.y Wagtail." Turning to the Kangaroo especially, it continued. "If you can bring yourself to speak to anything so obtrusive and gossiping, without any ancestry or manners whatever, you will be able to learn all you need from that bird. Humans and Wagtails fraternise together. They"re both post-glacial."
"I knew you could advise me," said the Kangaroo, gratefully.
"Oh! Platypus, how clever you are!" cried Dot, clapping her hands.
Directly Dot had spoken she saw that she had offended the queer little creature before her. It raised itself with an air of offended dignity that was unmistakable.
"The name Platypus is insulting," it remarked, looking at the child severely, "it means _broad-footed_, a vulgar pseudonym which could only have emanated from the brutally coa.r.s.e expressions of a Human. My name is Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus. Besides, even if my front feet can expand, they can also contract; see! as narrow and refined as a bird"s claw.
Observe, too, that my hind feet are narrow, and like a seal"s fin, though it has been described as a mole"s foot."
As the Platypus spoke, and thrust out its strangely different feet, the Kangaroo edged a little closer to Dot and whispered in her ear. "It"s getting angry, and is beginning to use long words; do be careful what you say or it will be terrible!"
"I beg your pardon," said Dot; "I did not wish to hurt your feelings, Para--, Pa--ra--dox--us."