Some children are just like the frillneck lizard in this story. They have a natural ability to make us laugh and bring light relief to dark times. They are astounding children who can challenge us to see things differently and bring joy and colour into the world.
Frilly was a young frillneck lizard. Frilly was always mucking about and trying to entertain everyone. He loved to play jokes on his friends then run off into the trees laughing. Whenever anyone ran after him, they could never find him. He was very good at hiding and could stay hidden for a long time. The animals were all getting a bit fed up with Frilly.
‘Silly Frilly. You never take anything seriously, do you?’ the animals chastised him.
‘Sometimes you need to have a good laugh,’ said Frilly, ‘it can help you see things differently and bring back the colour in life.’
‘Maybe, but you need to be more responsible,’ the animals said grumpily.
One day Frilly was playing with a fire-stick, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and Frilly was covered in smoke. When the smoke cleared, he realised he had burnt his lovely frill. He was so embarrassed he ran away under a big old gum tree to hide. Tree looked down at the little lizard whimpering under his branches.
‘I was being silly and burnt myself,’ said Frilly.
‘Let me see,’ said Tree. Tree reached down and gently scooped Frilly up onto a big branch. He made a soothing balm with his eucalyptus oil and red-gum to help heal Frilly’s wounds. Frilly was very grateful. From that time on, Tree and Frilly were great friends.
Frilly always went to Tree for help. Tree laughed at Frilly’s silly pranks and loved watching him run for cover. Tree always gave him a place to hide and soothe his wounds. They would talk and tell stories for hours together.
Frilly was sitting in Tree one day making up a new song when he noticed the sky was turning grey.
‘Must be a storm coming,’ he said to Tree.
There was no reply.
‘Tree?’ said Frilly. Tree look frightened and his leaves were shaking. All of the trees around him were trembling and the rustling sound of the leaves grew louder and louder.
‘It’s more than a storm,’ said Tree.
The greyness quickly spread across the landscape. This marked the beginning of a very dark time for the earth. The landscape was being destroyed and everyone was frozen with fear. Frilly started showing the animals how to hide away from the grey. Tree was one of his greatest allies, as he was able to use his branches and leaves to cover the animals and stood tall to watch out for danger. He would rustle his leaves loudly to warn Frilly and the others when to hide and when it was safe. Frilly often snuck out at night to find food and check on everyone. He told funny stories to help the children settle and sang songs to the animals to keep up their hopes.
One morning, Tree rustled his leaves to let Frilly know it was alright to come out.
‘The greyness is disappearing,’ said Tree.
‘So it is,’ replied Frilly. Slowly all of the animals emerged from their hiding places to have a look around. The landscape was not the same anymore. There were large holes in the ground, many of the rocks were broken and a lot of the trees had been burnt. Even though the greyness had gone, there was still a sadness over the land. Frilly knew he had to do something. He worked and worked, and then when he was ready he invited all of the animals to watch his new play.
Tree created a lovely green curtain with his leaves and as he drew the curtain back, Frilly appeared. The play showed the animals how things used to be, as well as everything they had been through. At times everybody laughed and laughed, at other times they shed many tears. Everybody watched every moment. At the end, there was loud applause and cheering. Never before had the animals understood just how important Frilly was. Frilly had never given up, but invented new ways to survive. He had looked after them in their darkest hour, kept them safe and comforted the little ones. But, most importantly, Frilly had lifted the sadness and brought back joy to the world.
Frilly had helped everyone to see things differently. He had helped the animals to come together with an open heart to share their grief and joy, and hope was restored.
The animals never chastised Frilly again but they did still get fed up sometimes with his jokes. Tree always stood watch just in case Frilly still needed a place to hide.