Myths and Legends

How the camel got his

hump         

Long before our ape ancestors took their first steps, there was camel without a hump on his back. He lived with a group of animals, a bear, a crocodile, a cow and an ostrich. That camel loved stealing their food. The animals were so annoyed.

One day, though, while the other animals went gardening, the camel went too far. He ate all of their emergency food for winter that they gathered last week! When the animals came home, all they saw was the fat camel, wandering around from den to den, trying to find any more food.

Bear was so fed up, that he decided to deal with this once and for all. So he gathered all the animals in his den. The animals gathered as much grass as they could, and glued it on some stones with some tree sap. Lastly, they hid in the bushes, with cow munching all of the grass around the stones.

For what seemed like an hour, the annoyed animals eagerly waited for camel. This had given him enough time to wander to every den. Finally, the camel came trotting along.

“What do we have here cousin?” he said. (Cow was Camel’s cousin)

He quickly swallowed the stones covered in grass. POP!! On his back grew a huge hump, and the stones had built up inside him. At first, camel thought it was very ugly, and immediately lost his appetite.

He banished himself in the desert forever, only eating dry grass and water, but never again does he steal any other animals’ food (he even grew to like his hump!)  

Written by Aaliya

Myths and Legends

How the Kangaroo got

his pouch

Long ago when animals roamed the earth all of the creatures were happy, except one. This one was Kangaroo who was grumpy because he always tried to be better than the others but failed at all his attempts.

That very day he had tried climbing a tree like a leopard and fell down when he put his foot on a thorny branch. Day after day he thought he could be better than another animal at something and just ended up hurting himself.

Later that afternoon, kangaroo decided to prove his strength. So he collected some heavy rocks and was determined to throw them. He gathered the animals together and brought the rocks. He held one of the sharp ones carefully.

“I’ll now show you that I’m unbelievably strong by throwing these rocks,” kangaroo explained boldly, tossing one of the rocks by his ear. Then with the rock in his throwing position, he shot it into the air, which it travelled in for a few seconds, and then plunged down with a thump right in front of one of the rhinos front legs!

“You rotten show off!” shouted the rhino in its old croaky voice. Angrily, Rhino picked up the rock and threw it towards kangaroo who was now boasting about his strength. The rock sped across the kangaroos stomach slicing it open.

“Ow,Ow,Ow” Kangaroo shouted in pain.

For the next few days kangaroos stomach hurt. The slit healed but never closed. And that is why now, our days, the kangaroo has a pouch and never says he’s better than other animals.

Written by Holly

Myths and Legends

How the zebra got its stripes

When the earth was just created, there were lots and lots of animals;  Zebras, a Snake, a cloud giant, a Bear, a Monkey and a Phoenix. The Zebras were usually very curious. Every day, the Zebras looked out for things they could explore, that they hadn’t seen before.

One night the animals were all woken up by a loud stomping noise. It was the group of zebras stomping their hooves on some pebbles and stones. They kept going for the whole night and the animals couldn’t get any sleep at all. By the end of the night the animals were very fed up and terribly tired.

That morning they went up to the giant in the clouds and told him about their plan to teach the zebras a lesson.

The very next day the giant in the clouds came down to earth. The animals built a hide so they could watch the event that was about to happen. When the Zebras saw the  giant from the clouds, they were curious. In order to get the giants attention, they started tickling the him. Unknown to them, the giant had sprayed ink on his hands and he picked up all the zebras tickling him. His fingers wrapped around the zebras body and he held them tight, as if he was squeezing them and he literally was. His inky hands put stripes on the zebras coat, like a fingerprint. Then he dropped them and they landed with a loud THUMP!

When they reached the ground, they got up and ran away. And that is why to this day the Zebra has stripes.

By Annabelle :)

Orakei Basin Poem

Orakei Basin Walk

I see the long train in Orakei Basin.

I hear the seagulls aggressive fighting for water

I feel the soggy mud and smell like salt.

I smell the lovely leaf is smell like perfume.

I see the intransigent eel on the wharf.

I hear the husky dog find food from its owner

By Wilson

Myths and Legends

How the blue-tongued lizard was created

Along time ago when the world was still new, in the dense bush of the forest there was a lizard. He lived with 77 bees but lizard only lived with them because he liked the Honey.

The bees never dared to leave because if lizard saw them he would kill them because he wanted the honey. But one day the bees had enough of the lizard taking all their honey and never leaving any for them. The bees got together in their hive and made a plan.

When lizard was asleep, they all escaped and made a hive somewhere in the forest. Now every morning lizard took a stroll through the forest. When he saw the hive, Lizard wanted to eat the honey. So he went up to it, just to make sure it was a bee hive. Next he took a massive bite. “Munch!”

 “Ahhhh!” shouted lizard. “Oh no! My tongue has gone blue,” he screamed. The bees had stung his tongue.

And from this day forth, lizard is now called the blue tongue lizard.

By William

               

    

Myths and Legends

How Kiwi lost his wings

Centuries ago, when the world was only filled with animals, the Kiwi had beautiful wings. There were other animals such as the lion, snake, monkey and the elephant and they were the same as today.

These animals had individual gardens filled with lots of yummy and brightly coloured food. They each looked after their garden every day. The Kiwi on the other hand, had no garden because he was too lazy to look after it. So instead he stole food from the others.

One rainy day when everybody was still sleeping, Kiwi came to monkey’s garden. Monkey’s garden was filled with lots of yummy treats. Kiwi sneaked across monkey’s garden and snipped off all the crops and placed it in his bag.

When monkey discovered this, he was shocked and he called all the other animals together. They planned what they would do. They thought of a very clever plan; to make a wire trap each to put in each garden and wait to see which garden kiwi would show up in.

The next night kiwi began his robbery. Snake spotted kiwi trotting along the ground towards his house! As quick as a flash, he dropped the wire trap from the tree on top of kiwi. WOOSSSHHH! Down it went.

When all the animals gathered around kiwi, to see what had happened, Kiwi cried “ow, ow!” The animals looked carefully and saw that kiwi’s wings were caught. They didn’t mean for this to happen. So they helped kiwi. They pulled and pulled for an hour. Finally WIISSSHHH, all the animals including kiwi tumbled back and flew across the ground. They all looked at poor kiwi. Although he was free, sadly his wings weren’t there.

Kiwi was sad and waited for his wings to grow back but they never really did. So from that day onwards he never ever stole again and all kiwis have no wings.

By Isabeau

Myths and Legends

How the lion earned his mane!

An awfully long, time ago, at the edge of the world, where the desert is cracked, and few trees stand, there was a lion. A big, mean, ungratefully-bad-tempered lion! But that wasn’t the worst. This posh prancer was a boastful brute. Each day, he would parade about the jungle chanting his boastful chants.

“Look at me. Why, I’m the ruler of all I can see. Of the fleas and the bees and the humming- birds trees. I’m the ruler of the ducks that have quacked and even the ruler of you for a matter of fact!”

“No you’re not!” snorted the tiger. All of the other animals laughed in humility.

There was Flamingo, Tiger, Rhino, and Hyena, they were the other animals that lived in the far-away jungle. They were used to his boastful behaviour.

“Don’t you argue with me I’m stronger than you!” he would say.

Hyena sighed “C’mon lets go!”

That afternoon lion was roaring with frustration “ARGH! It, it, ITCHES!!”

“What itches?” Hyena questioned lion. All the other animals came to see what had happened.

“There are fleas in my fur!” he roared.

“What’s the big deal?” squawked flamingo with a jump.

“We get fleas every day,” exclaimed rhino.

“COME,ON, let him do his BUISNESS,” tiger grunted sarcastically as flamingo led them back to the shady tree behind the bush.

 “I’ve definitely had enough of this!” snarled rhino.

“Let’s give him payback!” hyena shouted excitedly.

“How?” asked rhino curiously.

Tiger sniffed the air “I smell a storm coming” grinned tiger.

“Wait, you mean-you wouldn’t, would you?!” gasped flamingo knowing what tiger was planning.This was their perfect opportunity.

Later that night they put their plan into action. Flamingo trotted up to lion.

“Lion?” asked flamingo. “Well, we all know of your powerful paws and your fiery, golden, fur, and we just thought you would like a little presentation out in the next thunderstorm,eh?” Lion showed was interested.

“You’d look great!” said flamingo.

“If you must” teased the lion. He could not resist.

Later that day he had been waiting outside the cave talking to himself about how wonderful he would look, but no sooner did he turn his head to observe the coming storm, the sky ripped open with thousands of bolts of lightning. And one of them struck lion!

“Have we gone too far?!” flamingo sounded like a worried squirrel from inside the cave.

“NO!” shouted tiger, hyena and rhino all at the same time.

When the storm had passed they all stepped out from the shelter of the cave looking happy and relieved. But not lion. No. He was as angry as a huge ferocious dog trapped in a small metal cage.

“Look what you’ve done to me!” roared lion as he raced down of the rocky edge never to be seen again.

Instead of smooth elegant fur, he had a huge, fuzzy, dust-coloured mane. And to this day, he is not the same big boastful lion he used to be. He is still very strong, but sometimes hides in dark caves because he is ashamed of himself. 

Written by Billie