The Galah and Oolah the Lizard

- Ravi Ila Bhatt

- An Australian Folk Tale

- Oolah was horrified. Blood was dripping from the Galah's head, and he didn't know what to do...

O ne warm sunny day, Oolah the lizard was feeling bored of just lying in the sun, doing nothing.

"I need some fun!" he said to himself. So, he grabbed his special boomerangs-called bubberahs-and started practicing with them. These weren't ordinary boomerangs. They were smaller, curvier, and cleverer. When thrown just right, they came spinning all the way back to the thrower!

As Oolah played, a bright pink Galah bird flew down and stood nearby. She watched in wonder as the bubberahs zipped through the air and returned like magic. Oolah felt very proud to have an audience.

"Watch this!" he said, puffing up his chest. He gave his bubberah a big twist and threw it as hard as he could.

Whizz! Whoosh! Zip!

But oh no! Instead of flying smoothly back, the bubberah clipped the Galah right on the top of her head! It knocked off both her feathers and a bit of skin.

The Galah let out the most awful screeching sound! She flapped around wildly, hopping and flying in circles, stopping now and then to bang her head on the ground like a crazy bird.

Oolah was horrified. Blood was dripping from the Galah's head, and he didn't know what to do. So, scared and sorry, he scurried off to hide under a bindeah bush, which was full of sharp prickles.

But the Galah saw him.

Still shrieking and flapping, she flew straight at him. With her strong beak, she grabbed him, rolled him over the prickly bush until his skin was full of painful little holes. Then, to make things worse, she rubbed her bleeding head all over his body.

"There!" she shouted. "From now on, you'll carry these bindeah prickles on your skin and wear the stain of my blood!"

"And you," groaned Oolah, wincing from the stinging pain, "will be a bald-headed bird forever-at least under your pretty crest!"

And so, the story goes: if you look closely under the Galah's pink head feathers, you'll find a little bald patch. And in the places where Galahs live, you can spot reddish-brown lizards covered in sharp spikes-just like poor Oolah, who learned the hard way not to show off too much!