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Updated: May 28, 2025
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."
"Fossils!" it repeated, as it plunged into the pool and swam away. "Fossils!" it cried once more, in far, faint accents; and a second later it dived out of sight. For several moments after the Platypus had disappeared from view, the Kangaroo and Dot remained just as it had left them. Then Dot broke the silence. "Dear Kangaroo," said she, "what was that song about?"
"The only thing is, I can't bear the Platypus; the sight of it gives me the creeps: it's such a queer creature!" "I've never seen a Platypus," said Dot, "do tell me what it is like!" "I couldn't describe it," said the Kangaroo, with a shudder, "it seems made up of parts of two or three different sorts of creatures. None of us can account for it.
While the latter delivered his packet the native who had warped the punt over, came up with the dead platypus, "Well, Boomeroo! is it a female?" "No, massa! full grown with large spur!"
"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 coarse expressions of a Human. My name is Ornithorhyncus Paradoxus. Besides, even if my front feet can expand, they can also contract; see! as narrow and refined as a bird's claw.
When it is said that the list included such widely diverging creatures as "A camel-leopard, a duck-billed platypus, Thomasina Bolderston, and Spring-heeled Jack," it can be imagined with what zest the pupils began their replies.
At the Kangaroo's bidding, she hid a little way from the edge of the pool, but she was able to see all that happened. The Kangaroo evidently did not enjoy the prospect of conversing with the Platypus. She kept on fidgetting about, putting off calling to the Platypus by one excuse and another: she was decidedly ill at ease. "Are you frightened of the Platypus?" asked Dot.
Then Dot would laugh, and rush forward, and throw her arms around her friend; and the Kangaroo, with a quiet smile, would rub her little head against Dot's curls, and they were both very happy. So, although it was a long and rough way to the little creek where the Platypus lived, it did not seem at all far.
The sword-leaved orchid dangled yard-long sprays of brilliant yellow flowers, which saturated the air with delicate perfume. Fearless birds fluttered among and hovered over the pendant blooms, whistling and calling. Water-rats sported in the lily-bespangled stream, and a platypus basked, on the bank. From the strained and expectant attitude of the boy, it was apparent that he was hunting.
"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.
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