Koobor the Koala and Water-1

Then he sang a special song and the tree began to grow and grow, with Koobor sitting in the

middle of it, holding the buckets.

His relatives came back hot and tired after searching for food all day. They could not find

their water buckets or Koobor. Then they saw him in the tallest of all the trees, with water

buckets hanging from the branches.

"Koobor, bring those buckets down now, or we will beat you" they cried. "No! I'm not coming

down" shouted Koobor. "It's your turn to be thirsty!"

Several men started to climb the tall tree, but Koobor threw the water buckets at them,

knocking them to the ground.

Finally, two men managed to climb up, dodging the buckets. They grabbed Koobor, beat him

very badly and threw him down.

His broken body smashed into the earth, where it changed into Koobor the Koala.

The animal climbed into a nearby tree and began munching gum leaves. Then he looked down at

the people on the ground.

"From now on, you may kill me if you need food, but you must cook my body before you take

off my skin or break my bones.

This is my law. If you don't follow it, I will come back and dry up all the rivers and lakes

and you will always be thirsty."

This is why Koalas don't need water to


keep alive and why aborigines always follow Koobor's law when cooking a dead koala. They are

frightened that he will come back and take all their water, leaving them thirsty forever.