Platypus- Aboriginal Australian CreatureCreature · Beast

The Duck's Strange Hatchling

In a tradition recorded by Parker, a young duck named Gaygar was taken by a water-rat far from her family. Their offspring was unlike any creature the world had seen: it hatched from an egg like a duck, but had the thick fur and four legs of a water-rat, a flat tail for swimming, and venomous spurs on its hind feet. When Gaygar's people saw the strange hatchlings, they turned on her. The other ducks would not accept creatures so unlike themselves, and Gaygar was driven from the group.

She traveled east with her young, seeking a place where they would not be rejected. She found safety in the Blue Mountain ranges, where the streams and rivers offered shelter. The platypus has lived in the waterways of eastern Australia ever since, secretive and solitary, emerging at dusk to feed in the streams where Gaygar first found refuge.

The Gathering of the Clans

In Reed's telling, when the animal clans gathered to divide themselves into groups, each faction tried to recruit the platypus. The land animals pointed to its fur and four legs. The water creatures noted its swimming. The platypus listened to them all and refused to choose.

The animals, rather than punishing the platypus for its refusal, agreed that it was wise. And the people decided they would never hunt it.