How the kangaroo got her bag
©Seija Maria Tarvainen, Tohmajaervi, Finland

---

A long time ago, when the continents were still together and the flood had not come, lived in the Australian continent a jumping huge animal, which seemed to look partly like a hare, partly like a rat, partly like a dog and partly like an otter. The jumping animal had a long tail, and with this tail it could jump far. One ancient aboriginal saw it from his cave and asked from his father: "Can, guru?" After that the natives started to call the animal "kangaroo."

 

The kangaroo lived happily in the plains of Australia ja ate some leaves of the Euchalyptus-tree and every kind of vegetables and roots. It was happy. The only problem was, that the aboriginals sometimes wanted to catch the kangaroo for their offering rituals and then they ate the meat of the kangaroo. The problem became greater, because the kangaroomother had to carry her babykangaroo on her back or in her paws. It was very difficult to gather food with the babykangaroo. Also running away the hunter was difficult with the little babykangaroo. That's why the kangaroomother decided to ask some advice from the laughing coocaburra-bird. "Hoo, haa", laughed the coocaburra, "You must visit the human being, before you get the answer."

 

In the evening the kangaroomother jumped secretly into the bush to watch the aboriginals camp fire, where they made supper. The Dingo-dog raised lazily its head, but did not care to check the strange smell coming from the bush. The human being fried on the fire food, which were plants and roots that man had gathered. Over the fire there was a flat stone, which was a primitive WOK-pan. The odour was delicious and the kangaroo saw, that the native man took vegetables from a bag, which was made propably from a skin of a male kangaroo.

 

A great greaf flowed over the mother kangaroo because of the leather bag. " Probably that was my husband. I have to get the bag back", thought the kangaroomother. The aboriginals and the Dingo-dog falled sweetly asleep after the supper. The kangaroomother turned her back in the bush and hooked the bag skilfully with her strong tail. She took the bag in her paws and jumped quickly away. An other kangaroo lifted the leather bag over the neck of the kangaroomother. Because the bag was the former husband of the kangaroomother, the bag miraculously sticked in the skin of the kangaroomother. "How wonderful, now I can put our kangaroochild in the safe bag and my paws are free to gather food", thanked the kangaroomother. The little kangaroobaby can grow there and listen its mothers heartbeats. That's why the female kangaroos have even today a bag.

 

Imagine, what love is like. It is resourceful. If you love an other person, you can risk even your life for that person. Many kinds of shelters are invented for the sake of love. God has given us a shelter, a "kangaroobag", by giving us a christian congregation, where we can flee the evil world in the warmth of Gods love. There we can feel Gods heartbeats, when the gospel is preached of His beloved Son.

in Finnish