Shy the platypus

Shy lived with her mother and brother Spur in their burrow. Shy and Spur had no fur, they were pink and they had fun rolling about. One day their mother said, “We will go to see your father who will teach you diving lessons so you can catch your own food.” Their father lived upstream, he taught them how to dive.

One day their father was sitting on a rock digesting a big meal and ‘Snap!” up, up he went by a big flying eagle, up they soared.

Shy and Spur’s mother said, “It time you were making a home of your own.” It was summer and they water was drying up. There was not enough food and Shy was very greedy. “Shy you will travel downstream, past the rock that looks like a platypus, Spur, you will travel past the rock that looks like a shrimp.”

They both set off, Shy found a rotten log, oh and eel, she went on. She found a hole in the river bank, she went inside and found a lovely girl platypus, she stayed the night and the next morning she set off again. Then she found a hole, ‘yes!’ there was nobody in she made that their home.




One day she decided it was time to go back and visit her mother. Her mother was pleased to see her. Shy asked her mother if she had seen Spur, her mother had not seen him since he had left. Her mother warned her that was going to be a flood. When she left the burrow it was raining, she started to swim. It was fine at first but then the water got rougher and it was harder for her to swim.. She was trapped past her hole and then she tried to get out, a log fell in, she climbed onto a tree’s branch and struggled out. A fine male platypus helped her out of the water. He said, “Fun isn’t it.”

Spur was caught be a human, and taken in a bag to his house. Lots of people were staring at her. A woman tried to pick her up, Snap’. The man picked her up and placed her in a box with worms. Shy was very unhappy, one day she decided to eat the worms to build up her strength to escape back to Boonda.

One night she escaped, she was running for the river. She stopped at a marsh and dived in searching for food. She slept and then next morning she took of again like a bolt of lightening. She sniffed the air a while later, it was familiar, she kept going, she saw the river, “yes” home at last. She found Boonda he had been so worried he thought she was lost forever.

One day a male platypus tried to get her to go to his house. She didn’t want to. Boonda attacked the stranger and they had a big fight, Boonda nd the stranger fought each other. Boonda won, the victory was to have Shy as his mate.