THE CHANCE.
An Australian Fairy story for children and adults alike.
Featuring an extremely wise owl, a not-so-wise but quite gullible Wallaby, and a very upset platypus. Also, A Bilby that was trodden on by a Wild Brumby and a Bower Bird that lost a shiny object. All ends well for young Wallaby and a new friend when young Wallaby discovers the chance of a lifetime.
The Owl could have been either the King or the Queen of the forest, but none of the other animals
that lived in ‘Owls Wood’ knew if the Owl was a male or a female. Some creatures thought that perhaps another Owl would have known if Owl was a boy or girl. But there were no other owls in the forest, and if there were, nobody had ever seen it. Some of the wiser animals said they had never known Owl to lay an egg; some thought this was significant.
At one time, Red Kangaroo plucked up the courage to ask, “Have you ever laid an egg?”
There were many eager ears and eyes that day, Watching and listening, eager for answers to the question. King or Queen? Owl merely agreed that eggs could be “excellent for breakfast”.
This remark neither added nor subtracted to the male or female question. The truth was that unless you were another Owl, it was extremely tricky to know these things.
The only sure thing forest animals knew was that Owl was very old and wise. And demonstratively more knowledgeable than any of the other forest animals.
Owls’ peculiarities were that They usually ate little creatures, like insects, spiders, earthworms, snails and crabs, fish, reptiles, and small birds. Some Owls eat mainly mice, shrews, and voles.
The particular Owl that ruled this forest was strange because Owls did not like to eat friends. Owl preferred to eat Porridge. “Porridge is excellent on icy mornings.” That’s what Owl always said.
None of the animals cared much about what other Owls ate, so everyone was happy. Although… Porridge never grew in the forest, so it was quite a mystery to the other animals where Owl got it from.
Owl was ‘Extremely’ intelligent. This is precisely what Owl told everybody. To prove this point, Owl invented an entirely new colour one afternoon.
Wally discovered this when he asked Owl what he was doing perched on a tree branch, staring into space. “I am inventing a new colour, ” Owl replied.
“what colour is it?” asked Wally. It would seem that Wally had forgotten how silly it was to ask Owl questions. But Wally had asked, and it was proper that Wally should suffer the consequences.
Owl puffed out chest feathers and arrogantly said, “My dear Wally, I am vastly more intelligent than you. I can see and understand complex concepts that your small mind could never grasp. On even the merest physical level, you can barely jump. On a purely intellectual level, you can hardly hop. I can fly and soar above you, on both physical and intellectual levels, above and beyond anything you could possibly dream” Then Owl continued with, “Wally, I sometimes wonder about the imagination and awe you must feel every time we encounter one another. Tell me, young Wallaby, when you look at me … What do you see?”.
“I see one crazy bird”, answered Wally.
Wallaby was perfectly correct in his assessment of the Owl. The Owl was indeed as nutty as a fruit cake and every other animal in the forest, and like every other animal in the forest, Wally accepted the Owl’s superb intelligence as a powerful contribution to the forest and its inhabitants’ whole existence of the forest and its inhabitants. Wally wondered what the new colour might look like and secretly hoped that one day he might get a glimpse of it.
At this precise point, Owl announced, “BY MY ROYAL DECREE, I WILL CREATE A CHANCE FOR EVERY CREATURE IN THE FOREST.” And then the Owl actually did; Owl created a huge chance. At least, he said he did. The most peculiar consequence was that young Wally actually believed him, but he never [properly understood exactly where his chance was.
“Where is it?” Asked Wally
It was quite well known that Wally was a little bit gullible. This was most likely because he was quite young. He was a lively and enthusiastic animal, but sometimes, he was inclined to jump first without knowing where he was going to land.
For this very same reason, Wally believed in the chance that Owl had invented. Wally wanted to see the chance very badly.
Owl told Wally that he could find his chance down beside the river.
There had been many occasions when Wally’s Mother had shaken her head in despair when Wally accidentally hopped into another Gum Tree; while Wally’s mother was watching him, she regularly shouted at him, ” WALLY! You never had a chance.”
Now, things would be different. The wise Old Owl had given Wallaby a very lovely ‘Chance’. WALLY did not intend to lose it.
Wally had not travelled far before coming across a young Pattypus with his sister. The two platypi were playing in the river, frolicking, splashing, and causing quite a ruckus. Suddenly, Young Platypus called out to his sister, ” Look, Sister! I am getting very big, and I can even swim to the bottom of the river and fetch a big rock now: Big Platypus quickly stopped what she was doing and floated to the surface. She began to watch her young brother as he prepared to dive to the bottom of the river. The Big Sister suddenly surged forward and pushed the young Platypus out of the way.
“It is too deep,” she shouted. I will get the rock for you.” Without waiting for even a second, she disappeared under the water. Little Platypus threw himself down on the bank of the river. He looked at Wally and then down on the ground. ” I wanted to get my own rock. My big sister never gives me a chance. “
“A Chance?” Wally asked. He was starting to understand that the woods he lived in were full of different chances. Chances he had never dreamed existed. It seemed to Wally that chances were everywhere, but even if he looked very hard, sometimes they were very difficult to see.
“NO!” cried young Platypus. “She never gives me a chance.”
Wally pondered momentarily at this discovery and decided to get back to finding his chance. It seemed to Wally that looking at everybody else’s chances was a bit silly while he had his own chance to discover.
Wally set off hopping again, leaving Young Plattypus to sulk quietly.
It was only after a short distance that Wally encountered a horrible accident. Mr Bilby had been hurt. It had been very sudden. A brumby that had been trotting along a narrow pathway that winds its way to the river had accidentally trodden on Mr Bilby. Mr Bilby’s leg was very sore.
“It all happened so quickly,” said Mrs Bilby, who was in tears. One minute, he was happily sunbaking in the short grass; the next minute, it was all over. It is all very upsetting. “He never had a chance,” wailed Mrs Bilby.
Quite Naturally, Wally was in total shock and had to sit in the shade for a few minutes. It was only now that Wally started to realise how important it was to have a chance. Wally had seen the result first-hand of what could happen, simply because Mr Bilby never had one. Mr Bilby ‘never had a Chance’.
It was quite a long while before Mrs Bilby’s friends found her. Wally felt it was about time to leave.
A short time later, Wally found himself sitting in the afternoon sun in a very comfortable place on a hill near the river. A sprinkling of shade from a big Gum Tree made it an excellent place to view along the river in search of his chance. Wally began looking left and right into the grass along the river bank, the trees, and even the clouds.
Wally thought it was essential to check out the clouds; it seemed pretty sensible. If you do not know the appearance of what you are looking for, then it might easily be missed. If you thought you were looking for something big and round and it was small and furry – maybe even floating- then missing it would be easy. Wally did not see anything that looked even remotely like a chance.
It was not long before Miss Wallaby came hopping into the small clearing. “Hello”, said Miss Wallaby. When she Wally.
“Hello,” said Wally, adding,” I am looking for my chance. Owl told me that there is one somewhere down here by the river for me. I intend to find it.”
Miss Wallaby was a little bit suspicious of Wally but thought she ought to find out precisely what Wally was talking about.
“What does it look like?” asked Miss Wallaby. I expect it is very beautiful,” said Wally. ” I expect it is,” said Miss Wallaby.
“Did you know that Big Platypus never gives chances to Little Platypus?”. Wally asked suddenly.
“No, really?” said Miss Wallaby
“Yes, and now she seems sad” Wally paused momentarily.
“And did you know that Mr Bilby never had one either? Mrs Bilby told me he never had a chance”.
“NO!” said Miss Wallaby.
“Well he didn’t, Now his leg hurts.” Wally shed a small tear.
They sat quietly under the shade of a Gum tree, thinking about Mrs Bilby.
It was about this time that Bower Bird was searching for something pretty to decorate his new nest. This was something he did at this time of year. BowerBird’s wife loved bright colours and shiny things, so Bower bird collected as many glittering objects as he could find to make their new home look pretty.
It was extremely lucky that Bower Bird came across a small silver spoon glinting in the sunlight, which somebody had probably lost while having a picnic beside the river. It was almost exactly what he was looking for. The teaspoon was a little bigger than he could comfortably fly, but he tried it anyway. Taking off into the sky was quite a struggle, but he did make a successful take-off. As it happened, the teaspoon was a little more complicated to fly with than the Bower Bird had hoped for. It slipped a little bit in the Bowerbirds claws. It was impossible to keep hold of. The small silver spoon dropped from the sky, spinning and twirling. Flashing and glinting in the sunlight.
The glinting of the falling spoon reflected in the sky like a falling star or even a sparkling diamond, Spinning and twisting downwards into the small clearing where Wally and his new friend were looking upwards. Wally shouted out loud, or maybe it was a scream of delight. Miss Wallaby saw it too; she shouted to Wally so loudly that Wally could easily have heard her, even if he had been back where the Owl was sitting in the tree.
“IT IS THE CHANCE!” Miss Wallaby and Wally looked at the chance with amazement. Neither had ever seen anything as beautiful.
DO YOU WANT TO SHARE IT WITH ME? asked Wally.
“Do you want to share it with me?” Asked Wally.
Niss Wallaby smiled and said, “We can build a beautiful place to keep it on the hill amongst t the rocks”.
Wallaby Gasped with delight. “I am a rock Wallaby.”
“So am I,” said little Miss Wallaby with a slight smile
It was quite a long time later that Owl called around to visit the Wallabies. The couple had built a beautiful home on the hill to keep their chance. When Owl called in to visit, they were not alone. Several little Wallabies were Hopping around.
The chance had been mounted on the main wall of their home. When Owl inspected it, he said
“This is the BEST CHANCE I have ever seen in the whole forest“.
THE END
Story by Pat Davis Illustrations By Siarhei H.