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The family Lacimici and the kitten Cici
One year ago Mr. and Mrs. Lacimici decided to travel across the wide world. They bought plane tickets took their tiger like kitten Cici and set on their trip. They started at the very middle of the fifth continent, Australia. When they landed at the airport their guide, Mrs. Ervejsn, approached them. She offered them accommodation in a hotel and gave them the plan of the route across the Australian valleys and mountains. The next day they set off by car. They were traveling and traveling and at last they arrived at the big river. Once there was a big bridge across the river but a great flood had carried it away a few days before. They got out of the car, looked around, but there was no one to see. They did not know what to do. When they tried to return by car it did not want to start and when they looked at the engine they saw that the wires were bit by an opossum. Therefore the car was useless. They were sitting on the coast of the river and almost started to cry. The kitten Cici was petting around them the whole time and she wanted to drag them away from the coast but they pushed her away. Suddenly the water became muddy, a huge crocodile of white colour appeared and opened his big jaws to swallow them. The Lacimicis were so astonished, so they could not even shout, but then a black hand dragged them away, far from the coast and the crocodile. They turned around and then shouted because they were frightened by a large black face variegated with various colours, but most of all they were afraid of the large red tongue with a black chicken bone pulled through it. “Don’t be afraid, you crazy Whites, it’s only me, the native called Aborigine. Don’t you know that it is not allowed to sit near the Crocodile river?”
“Oh, thank you for saving us and, please, tell us what is your name, why does your tongue look like that and why is the crocodile of white colour?”- asked the Lacimicis.
“At first, my name is Gutamra and I swallow yellow ants for dessert. I’ll give you to taste them. My tongue is pierced and there is a chicken bone pulled through it, because I was punished by the tribe diviner, whose hen I had stolen and eaten it. Otherwise, crocodiles are of black or gray colour, but this one, when he had been a child, had bit the leg of the river god Rakakonja, who had painted him into white colour so that everybody could recognize him. Once at a time he catches and swallows such inexperienced people as you are. Now, I am going to pluck you grass and make you a bed under that hollow tree. Then I am going to catch a few earth-worms for your breakfast and bring ants for dessert,”- spoke that strange man.
The Lacimicis looked at each other and didn’t dare to oppose him. They were sleeping for a short time and when they woke up they noticed Gutamra sitting on a trunk and watching them. He put a dish made of birch rind in front of them. A heap of black earth- worms was crawling in it and in another dish, which was deeper, there stirred large yellow ants.
“Oh, oh! What are we going to do now?”-thought the Lacimicis but as they didn’t want to offend Gutamra, they put a worm into the mouth. They couldn’t believe that warms could be so tasteful and as they were very hungry they hurried and ate all the worms. Then, they turned to the ants and when they tasted them, they concluded that there was no cake as delicious as the ants.
When they had eaten enough, they wanted to take water out of the river and drink it, but Gutamra hindered them. “Now, I’ll milk this tree and give you water.” “Milk a tree!”- the Lacimicis were astonished. “Yes, just watch!”- said Gutamra, climbed the tree, squeezed a large fruit hanging on a branch and out of it poured clear, cold juice.
They drank the juice and then the Aborigine said: ”Remember this tree, it is called the rain tree and there is always juice in it’s fruit.”
The jealous cat Cici was watching the whole scene from a tree branch. The cat was hungry and thirsty and suddenly jumped from the tree right on Gutamra’s head. From his head the cat jumped on the earth and then under Gutamra’s grass skirt that he was wearing around his waste and bit his buttocks. Poor Gutamra had to fight with her as with a tiger and at last he caught the cat by the neck and wanted to strangle her. The Lacimicis asked him to spare her life. They had to put a necklace round her neck and fastened it on a chain. So they led her as a real tiger. During the night they had to release her, so that she could catch a mouse for herself.
After all this experiences and a good rest Gutamra said: ”Now, do you really want to experience real adventures around Australia?”
“Of course, we do,” answered the Lacimicis, “that’s why we went on this journey, but how should we go on when we have troubles with our car”?
“That’s not a problem, let’s go together to my herd and we will manage it.”
He took them to a valley where a whole herd of kangaroos was pasturing. He chose three kangaroos, saddled them with saddles made of bamboo and by whistling called a large brown kangaroo with boxing gloves on his front feet.
“The name of this kangaroo is Terrible Joe and he will protect us during our journey. As he never parts from Honey Jim, we will have double protection.”
Early in the morning the next day they put the cat Cici into the quiver of a kangaroo and started their journey riding on the kangaroos. As kangaroos didn’t run but jump, the Lacimicis were rocking on their backs as if they were on a ship rolling in a storm. After a short time Mrs. Lacimici and her cat Cici got so sick that they had to stop, take them of the kangaroo and put them into the shadow of a tree to recover. Mr. Lacimici and Gutamra were cooling them, but suddenly Terrible Joe got unrest, lifted his long ears and sent Honey Jim to reconnoiter. A short time after he had gone, there could be heard a loud noise and branch breaking. Terrible Joe ran to see what was going on. When everything calmed down, they both appeared dragging with them a strange animal looking like a great lizard, with a large goiter and thorns on it’s back. Gutamra said: ”Your cat is a lucky one because this large Australian cat-eater has smelled your cat, but don’t be afraid, that’s why we have our patrons with us. As there was enough excitement, we will spend the night here.”
The Aborigine caught the cat-eater, peeled off his skin, put it on the spit and everybody had a good meal, even the cat. She ate his tongue, that was her revenge.
The next day they continued their journey riding on the kangaroos. After a whole day of hard jumping they came across a desert where there was only sand and they couldn’t see a tree or grass, but only the desert. They went on until night and then stopped and built their camp in the middle of the desert.
During the evening, while they were sitting around the fire which the Aborigine lit by rubbing two pieces of wood, Gutamra admitted that he himself had never been so far in the desert. He remembered his grandfather’s story about the desert and told it to them. According to this story, the desert was very dangerous and it was very hard to survive and find the way out. At that moment a strong storm arose, it became completely dark and the kangaroos put their little heads together.
“What are we going to do now?”- asked the Lacimicis.
“I don’t know”- answered Gutamra, “ I think the only way to stay alive is to dig ourselves deep into the sand”: They dug and dug and Terrible Joe with his assistant Honey Jim dug the most quickly. Suddenly they all fell into a deep hole that opened under their feet. They were falling and falling and at last they found themselves deep under the ground, in a cave. It was very dark, but Gutamra took a stick from under his skirt. On the stick there were many glow-worms which lit the whole hole. The saw two corridors leading out of the cave. Over one of them stood large letters: ”Go this way and you will get out,” and over the other: “Go this way and you will not get out. ”Naturally, they went the first way and they didn’t know that this was a trap. They were going and going, but suddenly they met a huge man with a long beard and moustache. He had long arms with knotty fingers.
“Welcome,” he said in a dreadful voice, ”I haven’t eaten a man and I haven’t had a cat for dessert for ages”; and he reached his arm to catch Mrs. Lacimici.
But that undergr
ound fright had no idea that there were the protectors, the kangaroos, present. Terrible Joe jumped forward and started boxing with the underground man. It was a hard fight and who knows how it would have come to the end, hadn’t Honey Jim stood behind the underground man and hit his bottom with his leg. At the same moment the underground man diminished to the size of an ant and Terrible Joe squashed him with his big shoe. They returned into the cave and went the other way. After a long walk through various corridors and holes they reached the coast of an underground lake. They rested for a short time and thought how to come to the other side of the lake, when suddenly they heard a squeaky voice: “Hey, do you want to reach the opposite coast?”
“Yes, we do,” they answered, “but who are you?” Out of the water came a wonderful large dolphin and said: ”I am the good dolphin and my shortened name is DODEL and if you lend me your cat to scratch my back, I’ll bring you to the other side of the lake.”Oh, yes,” mewed Cici, “I haven’t scratched a dolphin for along time.” and at the same time she jumped on the dolphin’s back and started scratching him with her sharp nails.
“Oh, oh, oh,” cried the dolphin, “this is so good, I’ll do this the same to you.” In that way Cici was peeling off a pile of sea leeches which were drinking his blood and caused a terrible itch.
When they had finished, DODEL said to Gutamra: ”Now, you make a raft from the coconuts over there, bind a long rope on it and I will pull it across the lake to the other side.” Dodel pulled them across the lake but when they were in the middle of it the sky darkened, green clouds appeared and then started a heavy rain of large grass-hoppers. They attacked neither people nor the kangaroos on the raft, but started quickly to eat the coconuts the raft were made of. At once, they found themselves in water. This was the worst for Terrible Joe and Honey Jim, because their quivers were soon filled up with water and they were dragged to the bottom of the lake. Fortunately, DODEL reacted immediately, whistled and in a moment they were surrounded with his cousins dolphins. They were swimming one close to the other, in this way forming a raft and the people climbed on it. Dodel dived under the water and got out the kangaroos and poor Cici, which didn’t know swimming. The dolphins brought them to the other side of the lake and then DODEL said: ”Look, out of the lake comes a small river and I can’t swim in it. Go along the coast of the river and you will come to the river Jar, which flows into the sea near the town of Melbourne.” When they reached the town Melbourne, the Lacimicis bought a house for their faithful guide Gutamra. The house had a large garden in which were? Terrible Joe and Honey Jim cheerfully jumping. The Lacimicis kissed all of them and as they had adventures enough, they returned with their pussycat Cici into their native town Osijek. They arranged a large party and invited all their friends. I was there, too, and I ate so many yellow ants, that my stomach is still aching.