WINIFRED THE WOMBAT AND WEDGIE THE WEDGETAIL EAGLE

Winifred the Wombat loved collecting rocks. She was like her Grandpa.

Grandpa Wilf had been a wandering wombat in his day. He had been to many places. If the place was special, he would collect a rock. So his wombat burrow was full of memory stones ….. Quite a collection, and some were very beautiful; like the green jasper he collected on Mount Hay.

Grandpa Wilf was very old. He told Winifred’s brother Wally: "One night I will die, but I want you to have my collection of rocks."

One night, of course, old Grandpa Wilf did die. Wally had all the rocks, except for the beautiful green jasper. It was not there.

Wally said, "I wonder who stole the green rock!"

All the wombats in Wally’s family wondered. Somebody said: "It’ll be Winifred. She always loved that special rock."

Winifred said, "No! I did not take the rock, even if I always wanted it." But the Wombats were not so sure! They always thought Winifred took the green stone. "She’s hidden it somewhere!"

No matter what Winifred said, they did not believe her.

The nights, the months, and the years passed.

For a wombat, Winifred had a strange friend. He was Wedgie the Wedge-tail eagle. Winifred and Wedgie liked to talk in the early evening. Wedgie was ready to go to sleep in his nest, high up in the gum tree; and Winifred was just waking up for the night ahead. They talked about mostly anything.

One night, Wedgie said: "I know what happened to the green stone! I know where it is! I got up early today and I saw old William the wombat looking at the green stone, just as the sun was coming up. Then he took it down into his burrow. I s’pose he went to sleep for the day."
Winifred was sort of mixed up. Sort of happy and unhappy. She did not know what to say.
Wedgie said: "I suppose we could steal it back from old William." Then he said: " But I think that would be too hard. You know Winifred, bad things sometimes happen to good wombats like you, that’s life! You can’t do much about it."

Winifred just said: "Hmmm. I don’t know. Maybe."

Then Wedgie said, "Goodnight!" He flew up into his high up nest to go to sleep.

Then late one afternoon Wedgie flew to Winifred and said: "I’ve got another surprise for you. I have an Uncle who is a wandering Wedge-tail eagle with a name a bit like mine. He is called Uncle Widgie.

Winifred said: "What’s surprising about that?"

"Let me finish!" said Wedgie.

"When I told my Uncle Widgie your story, he said, "We can do something about it!"

Next day flew off, far, far away. He flew all the way to Mount Hay, and he found another beautiful green and orange jasper stone. Here it is. You can have it. Now you have your own special rock. Isn’t that wonderful?"

Winifred said: "I’m so happy! The mystery is solved. But I’m still sad that I got into trouble for something I didn’t do. Most of all, I want to say thank you Wedgie, for this lovely rock."

Now Winifred was happy, all because of her friend Wedgie.

© Ian Higgins, 2009