Abstract: When the wild wombat comes – is he going to eat us all? No animal in the zoo has ever heard anything about a wombat, but soon wild rumours are circulating. No wonder all animals are hiding when the wild wombat arrives at the zoo. This is a story about the dangers of gossip, hearsay and speculation
On a nice summerday in the zoo a parrot happened to hear the following conversation of two animal-attendants: «Today we are going to get a wild wombat. Straight from Australia. We must handle it with care..»
The parrot flew to the seal and passeed on the news. «You think the animal-attendant is really afraid of the wild wombat?» asked the seal. «Sounded like it» said the parrot. «He said, you must take care.» The seal was scared and passed it on to the chameleon. Oh, the chameleon thought, if the seal is afraid of the wild wombat, then the wild wombat can surely swim better than the seal! And it imagined the wild wombat as a real monster.
The chameleon passed it on to the owl, and the owl, too, started to be scared. Surely the wild wombat can go into hiding better then the chameleon, thought the owl. But then, out of the blue, the wombat would pop out and everydody would be scared. The owl imagined a scarey wild wombat.
The owl was very upset and passed it on to the turtle. The turtle went straight to the gazelle to warn it. «The wild wombat is a terrible animal which can even fly better than an owl.» That’s how the turtle finished its report. The animals stared at each other and were scared.
The gazelle ran straight to the elephant. «The wild wombat is armoured like a turtle» it told the elephant breathlessly. «It can fly and even make itself invisible like a chameleon, it swims better than a seal and it comes from Australia.» If the gazelle is so scared, the elephant speculated, then the wild wombat can also run faster than the gazelle.
The elephant hurrried to the kangaroo. «You’re from Australia, aren’t you? What do you know about the wild wombat? The kangaroo took a moment. It had never met a wild wombat. But – as all animals were afraid of it, it really had to be a very dangerous animal. «Where the wild wombat used to live, there’s only desert now» the kangaroo explained to the elephant decidedly. «There are no more animals and no wood – the wild wombat has devoured everything». «Oh god!» the elephant shouted. Now it was scared, too.
The flamingo had overheard everything. As fast as it could he ran to the lions. «Everybody is terrribly afraid of the wild wombat!» it shouted breathlessly. «It can run faster than a gazelle and it’ s bigger than an elephant, it can become invisible, it can fly and swim, too. It’s armoured and it’s all teeth and claws and mouth!»
So, even the brave lions started to be scared.
On this day no animal was to be seen in the zoo. Everybody was hiding, and it was very quiet. Then a car with a wooden cage arrived. Some animal-attendants put the cage into an enclosure in the middle of the zoo. The door opened and a brown animal peeped out: «Hello!» it shouted in a friendly tone. «Here I am. I’m a wombat and I’m going to live here». But no animal was to be seen..The wombat was quite surprised. Actually it had heard a lot about the other animals on its trip. After some time the parrot flew by. «Hello, so you are the wombat», it greeted friendly. «Right», said the wombat. «And you are a parrot. But where on earth are the other animals?» it asked. «Where have they gone?» The parrot looked around.. « I say», and it took a long moment, «well, actually, I don’t understand that either.»
The wombat is a good-natured peaceful Australian marsupial resembling a small bear. It lives underground and is active at night. It eats roots, mushrooms, grass and herbs.
