The Day Tiddalik Laughed

Tiddalik was the largest frog to ever live. But he was thirsty, and like his later kin, he liked to drink water until he swelled to a huge size. Then one day, he decided to drink as much as he possibly could so he could go to sleep beneath the sand for a long, well-earned nap.

Tiddalik began to drink, and drink, and drink. He drank up all the lakes. Then he drank up all the rivers. Then he drank up all the streams, and finally all the little springs were gone as well. Tiddalik looked about himself and saw that the land was now dry and all the greenery was dying. Animals, as well, were all dying.

The animals all gathered together into a council to see if they could come up with a solution to the need for water. Since Tiddalik had absorbed all the water that existed, they soon decided they needed him to give it back if they were to survive and bring back the plants. So they began to come up with ideas. They thought of many possible answers, but eventually decided that if they wanted to get the water back, they must get Tiddalik to laugh. The wise old wombat who had come up with this idea knew that if Tiddalik were to laugh, he would not be able to keep the water inside and their problems would be at an end.

The kookaburra told many of his best jokes. But none of them worked. Then, one by one, the other animals tried their best to get Tiddalik to laugh. The kangaroo leaped, the lizard ran around looking drunk and even the emu tried to leap himself silly so they could get the giant frog to laugh. But nothing worked.

Eel Saves the Day

Days went by. Things were getting very desperate. Then, when the final creek was drying up as well, the eel came crawling out onto the land. He had been forgotten in the hurry to council and no one thought to ask him his opinions. When he heard about the scheme, he volunteered to try his best. He got up on his tail and did a dance. Nothing. He squiggled and squirmed, he bent himself into remarkably shapes, he even turned himself into a circle and rolled across the ground. Nothing. Then, in one last desperate attempt, he jumped up in the air and stood on the very tip of his tail, then fell over flat without even a slight bend. He lay very still.

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