The Boastful Koalas

Once upon a time all the animals in Australia had special powers. The kangaroos could jump really high, the ant-eaters had a hoover as a nose and lastly, the koalas were very active.

The koalas could run very fast, swing from the trees and were so cute and cuddly that they stunned all their predators. They had the best powers of all the animals in Australia. However, the other animals were not jealous. The koalas wanted them to be jealous, so they started to boast. On their daily visit to the waterhole, the elder koalas told creative stories to the baby animals. But the other koalas were naughty. They boasted and boasted. They boasted about their strength, their speed and worst of all their cleverness. They boasted so much, that sometimes they forgot to drink the water that they went to the waterhole to get! Soon the other animals got very annoyed and decided to hold a meeting to debate about what to do with the koalas.

“We need to do something about those boastful koalas!” the giraffes announced.
“Yes!” All the animals agreed.
“But… what are we going to do to teach them a lesson?” the birds chirped.
All the animals thought and thought. They thought until their heads hurt.
“Let’s come back tomorrow.” The camels sighed. The other animals nodded in agreement.
The next day, after hearing the koalas boasting yet again, all the animals were more determined than ever. They sat down and thought harder.
“I have an idea!” the ant-eater snuffled. “Let’s issue them a challenge to clean up all of the animal poo in Australia! They are so boastful that they’ll have to accept!”
“Yes! That’ll take them a long time!” the elephants agreed. The elephants got so excited, that they sprayed everyone with water.

The next day, the koalas were boasting as usual.
“If you are so clever, you must be up for a challenge?” the gazelles stated. The koalas looked very unsure as the zebras explained the challenge.
“So you’re not up for the challenge? You can’t do it can you?” The monkeys teased.
“Oh yes we can!” The koalas answered. “We’ll do it, and then tell you all about it afterwards!”

Off went the koalas. The animals thought they wouldn’t see them for a long time, but they were wrong. There had been a flaw in the ant-eaters plan. Since the koalas were so active they easily ran all the way around Australia with bin bags, picking up the poo. They told animals not to poo for the next couple of hours as they went past. So for a few minutes, there was no poo in Australia. The next day, the koalas were there by the waterhole, boasting about their new adventure. The boasting was worse than it had been before.

“We need to think of another plan.” The elephants said, once the koalas were gone.
“All we did was make the boasting worse than it had been!” the monkeys complained.
“Let’s stop complaining and start thinking,” the bouncy kangaroos decided.
So all the animals thought and thought, until one of the animals came up with another idea.
“Let’s challenge them to a game of tug of war against the monkeys!” the snakes hissed. “The monkeys can tie the tails to the trees, so that they never can lose!”
“What a good idea!” the monkeys agreed.

So the next day, the monkeys challenged the koalas again. The koalas looked very worried. After all, they didn’t like to lose.
“So you’re not up for the challenge? You can’t do it can you?” the monkeys teased.
“Oh yes we can!” the koalas answered. “We’ll do it and tell everyone about it afterwards.”
The tug of war game started. The monkeys tied their tails to the trees, so that they couldn’t lose. But once again there was a flaw in the plan. The koalas were so energetic that they pulled extremely hard. They pulled and pulled. They pulled so hard that the trees snapped
and the monkeys fell at the koala’s feet.

The third day at the waterhole the koalas boasted about winning the tug of war challenge. They boasted and boasted. They boasted so much, that all the animals had headaches, especially the elephants because they have such big ears.

“We need to do something about those koalas,” the elephants announced.
“We’ve failed two times! The plan has to be really good!” the birds chirped.
The elder koalas never boasted, but told stories to the baby animals. They had decided to join the meeting. They came up with a great plan. There couldn’t be a flaw in their plan, since they were koalas themselves. The plan was to send the koalas off to steal the golden egg from the goddess of animals, Kazuki. No one dared to do that. But the koalas were full of so much pride, that they agreed to this new dangerous challenge.

The koalas went off. The next day they didn’t come to the waterhole. Or the next day. Or the day after that. In fact, the boastful koalas never came to the waterhole again. The other animals wondered what had happened. They sent the birds to go and find out. The next day the birds returned with a message.

“The koalas got caught stealing the golden eggs. Kazuki has placed a spell on all koalas. A spell cast with such strong magic that it can not be broken. The koalas have lost all their power. They are very lazy now. They spend most of their lives sleeping. And when they are awake, all they do is hug the trees, and chew on leaves. The only part of their power they were permitted to keep was their cuteness.”

So the animals never heard or saw the koalas again and lived happily ever after.