Once upon a time there lived a mother kangaroo, and she had a nimble little kangaroo son. As soon as the mother turned away to pinch the grass, the baby ran away, and she had to look for him for a long time.
One day, a kangaroo left her son in a conspicuous place, and she decided to feast on juicy greens. The grass was tasty, and the mother kangaroo nibbled it with pleasure.
Suddenly he sees an old, old wombat wandering across the clearing. He slowly wanders through the clearing and talks to himself - complaining about his weakness, about the fact that no one needs him now and that no one cares whether he lives or dies.
A compassionate kangaroo asked an old wombat if she could help him with anything.
The wombat asked to be taken to a thicket of lush and sweet grass.
The kangaroo approached him in several leaps; the blind old wombat grabbed its tail and followed. She led him to the lush grass and rushed to her cub. But the baby kangaroo was not there.
The mother kangaroo spent a lot of time searching for her son, and when she finally found him, she picked him up with her front paws and galloped to the clearing, where the old wombat was fast asleep after a hearty meal.
And then the mother kangaroo noticed that a hunter was stealthily emerging from the bush and holding a spear ready - now he would throw it at the sleeping wombat. She threw her son’s kangaroo into the bushes and galloped off even faster.
The hunter noticed the kangaroo and hastily disappeared into the bush - for the people of his tribe, the kangaroo was a sacred animal, he did not dare to kill it.
As soon as the danger had passed, the kangaroo headed towards the wombat, but he was no longer in the clearing.
The old wombat was not a wombat at all, but a spirit who took on such a form in order to find out which of the living creatures was the kindest and most sympathetic.
The spirit was kind and thought that it would not be a bad idea to thank the mother kangaroo for trying to save him from death when the hunter intended to throw a spear at him. After all, she risked her life!
And then the good spirit saw a bag that was lying nearby. The grass spirits skillfully wove it. He remembered the restless little kangaroo and how much trouble the baby caused his caring mother, and immediately instructed one of his sons to find the mother kangaroo, give her the bag and tell her to tie it to her stomach, and tie it tightly.
The son of the good spirit did just that. And the mother kangaroo obediently fulfilled the spirit’s order. She tied the bag with a vine and at the same moment felt how the bag grew attached to her stomach, became a part of her body and was covered inside and out with fur.
The mother kangaroo realized what a valuable gift she had received from the kind spirit, and immediately began teaching her baby how to use the new cozy cradle - to sleep and play in the fur-covered shelter.
When the little kangaroo grew up and became stronger, he learned to jump out of the pouch and jump into it head first. And the mother made the bag, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller. Now the cub was always with its mother.
And when the enemies began to pursue the kangaroo, she rushed towards the bush in giant leaps, snatched the kangaroo from her bag with her front paws and threw it into the thicket, away from herself. And she rushed on and led her pursuers with her in order to save the baby.
The relatives of the kangaroos soon learned about the wonderful gift of the good spirit, and then other animals: wallabies, rat kangaroos, wombats, possums, koalas and even echidnas.
The kangaroo begged the good spirit to give the animals bags in which they could raise and raise their children. And he asked the grass spirits to weave bags for all the large and small relatives of the mother kangaroo, and then for other animals.
Since then, it has been like this: when the babies are born, their mothers give female animals bags, without which none of them can do without them on Australian soil.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru