I 've made him different from all other animals ; but what may I have for my tea ? ' Then said Nqong from his bath in the salt-pan , ` Come and ask me about it tomorrow , because I 'm going to wash . ' So they were left in the middle of Australia , Old Man Kangaroo and Yellow-Dog Dingo , and each said , ` That 's your fault . ' THIS is the mouth-filling song Of the race that was run by a Boomer , Run in a single burst -- only event of its kind -- Started by big God Nqong from Warrigaborrigarooma , Old Man Kangaroo first : Yellow-Dog Dingo behind . Kangaroo bounded away , His back-legs working like pistons -- Bounded from morning till dark , Twenty-five feet to a bound . Yellow-Dog Dingo lay Like a yellow cloud in the distance -- Much too busy to bark . My ! but they covered the ground ! Nobody knows where they went , Or followed the track that they flew in , For that Continent Had n't been given a name . They ran thirty degrees , From Torres Straits to the Leeuwin -LRB- Look at the Atlas , please -RRB- , And they ran back as they came . S'posing you could trot From Adelaide to the Pacific , For an afternoon 's run Half what these gentlemen did You would feel rather hot , But your legs would develop terrific -- Yes , my importunate son , You 'd be a Marvellous Kid ! THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS THIS , O Best Beloved , is another story of the High and Far-Off Times . In the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog , and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon , eating shelly snails and things . And he had a friend , a Slow-Solid Tortoise , who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon , eating green lettuces and things . And so that was all right , Best Beloved . Do you see ? But also , and at the same time , in those High and Far-Off Times , there was a Painted Jaguar , and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon too ; and he ate everything that he could catch . When he could not catch deer or monkeys he would eat frogs and beetles ; and when he could not catch frogs and beetles he went to his Mother Jaguar , and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises . She said to him ever so many times , graciously waving her tail , ` My son , when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil , and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his shell with your paw . ' And so that was all right , Best Beloved .
One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon , Painted Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly XXXXX and Slow-Solid Tortoise sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree .
Australia Boomer Dingo Hedgehog Nqong Straits Tortoise afternoon back-legs left