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Long ago when the Earth was new and filled with dreams and promise , Kookaburra lived in a land far from Australia. He was the wisest of all the creatures , more wise even than Owl .
It was a serious life for Kookaburra , everyday he would sit high up in a tall tree speaking to the other creatures about matters of great importance , and every night he would be busy thinking clever thoughts .
One night while looking at the stars and thinking deeply , Kookaburra had a thought , which was he thought , the most clever thought he had ever thought, "There must be many other creatures in the world who are in need of my great wisdom . It is not fair of me to sit in my comfortable tree day after day when there are so many who need me ? I must go to them and the sooner the better !"
With his mind made up , he closed his eyes to sleep , then as the golden rays of morning touched the highest branches of his favourite tree , he took flight .
Kookaburra flew for many weeks flying over vast sandy deserts , snow capped mountains and thick green jungles , he passed over rivers both big and small and flew across great oceans , until finally he came to a land like no other he had ever seen .
Kookaburras eyes filled with the beauty of this new land . It was coloured a deep red with sparkling blue rivers criss crossing it like giant blue snakes and trees covered in thick golden blossom .
Kookaburra came to rest in a giant Wattle tree in the middle of the bush . " Mmmmm" thought Kookaburra , "Perfect !"
He rested a while then went to visit each of the animals , telling them that he , 'The wise Kookaburra' had come to their land and would speak to them about himself and other important matters . He told them they must all gather around the great Wattle tree in the middle of the bush just after sunrise the following morning .
Well satisfied , he flew back to his tree and spent the rest of the day thinking long and hard about what he would say to them.
The next morning Kookaburra preened his feathers while waiting for the animals to reach his tree . He looked down on them in silence for a long while , then finally he shook himself , took a deep breath and opened his beak to speak , but instead of his usual dignified voice the sound which came out was a loud raucous laugh . Kookaburra coughed and tried again . Once more instead of the words of wisdom he had meant to say all that could be heard was the sound of loud cackling laughter .
Pollen from the great Wattle tree was tickling his throat and it was this which had stolen his beautiful voice . Kookaburra was angry for a moment . The other animals began to chuckle quietly and as Kookaburra tried to speak for the third time , all of the animals started to laugh out loud , they laughed and laughed until every corner of the Australian bush was filled with the sound of laughter .
Kookaburra looked down at the laughing animals then laughed again , this time he laughed because he was happy . At that moment he decided to make Australia his home ,where every morning and every evening his laughter can be heard throughout the land .
Being the wisest of all creatures , Kookaburra came to realise the most important thing in the world was making others happy .
Aboriginal Dreamtime story
Retold by 'Yowie' (Jennifer T) February 1999
