View our terms and conditions for use of our web site and our privacy policy. Visit Electric Scotland's Aois Community, our social networking site. Find our contact information and learn more about us. The Home Page of Electric Scotland ES Common Header Bar
This is where you'll find a comprehensive resource on Scottish accommodations. Electric Scotland's Article Service where you can both read articles and post your own. Beth's Newfangled Family Tree is a monthly publication giving genealogy advice as well as what's hapening on the Scottish Scene around the world. This is where you'll find around 300 books on Scottish history that we've published on the site. Our pages where you'll find books and articles about Robert Burns and his work. Gives you some information on the business scene in Scotland. This is where you can view Scottish events around the world and add your own. Learn about the history of Clans and Families of Scotland and the Scots-Irish. The personal site of Alastair McIntyre where he's posted his own mini biography as well as his travel journals. 5 volumes worth of biographies relating to Significant Scots. A weekly newsletter about the political scene in Scotland from the Scots Independent Newspaper. Lots of Scottish recipes along with contributions from our visitors. Play our collection of online games. 6 volume Gazetter on the place names of Scotland. This is our page for trying to give you advice on Genealogy. A FAQ where you go to get answers to frequently asked questions. Information and pictures about Historic places in Scotland such as castles and other properties. Main index page for our very large history section. Children resources including over 800 children's stories and lots of online and offline games. A bit of a catch-all page where you find loads of pages about music, haggis, scots language, culture, religion, humor and lots more. Our nature page where you can explore information on Scottish Wildlife, Plants, Flowers and lots more. Our weekly newsletters archive. Thousands of pictures of Scotland for you to enjoy. Loads of poetry and stories for you to enjoy with many contributions from visitors to our site. Our very own Webcard program which you can use to send online postcard to friends and relatives. Huge resources about the Scots Diaspora around the world and here is where you can find this information. A continually building information resource on the Scots-Irish who emigrated to Ulster and then onto many parts of the world, especially the USA. Create your own family tree with our special software. You can also import and export gedcom files. Our web-based scottish search engine which is a free resource for Scottish companies as well as Scottish organisations around the world. Current Scottish News headlines and links to Scottish news resources. A range of services, both big and small, that we currently offer. Our Tartan pages, giving you access to information on Tartans as well as tartan search engines. Sponsored by House of Tartan. Our travel section where we have loads of suggested tours of Scotland as well as old historic travel books. A wee collection of videos some of which we've produced ourselves. Learn about the last 100 pages we've added to our site which is updated daily.

Click here to get a Printer Friendly Page
 

Send Flowers

Children's Stories
by Margo Fallis
Why Do Kangaroos Hop

“Mama, why do kangaroo's hop? Why don't we run, or walk, or slide on our bellies?” Kip bounced his tail up and down on the red dirt.

“We're kangaroos. That's what we do. We leap through the air. I've never heard of a kangaroo running, or walking, or sliding on their bellies. Snakes do that,” Mama said

Kip hopped off. “I'm going to the billabong, Mama. I want to play with my friends.” When he got to the pond, he saw his friend Kimmy Koala. “Kimmy, do you hop?”

The Koala pulled a eucalyptus leaf out of her mouth. “I don't hop. I don't even run. I climb trees and sit here eating.”

Kip saw his friend Cedric Crocodile swimming in the water. “Cedric, do you hop?”

The croc swam up to the side of the billabong. “Of course not. I swim. I can walk, but I don't run and I do not hop.”

“Why not?”

“Because that's the way crocodiles are. We swim and eat fish.” Cedric slid back under the water.

Danny Dingo ran over to the edge of the billabong to have a drink.

“Danny, do you hop?” Kip looked at his friend.

The dingo barked. “No. I run and I walk. I can swim if I have to. I can't fly and I don't hop.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“Because that's the way dingo's are.” Danny ran off.

Kip looked at his reflection in the water. He saw Kara Kookaburra and turned. “Hi Kara. Do you hop?”

The bird laughed her head off. “Of course I don't. I could, I suppose, but mostly I fly. I'm a kookaburra and that's what I do.” She flew off, heading for the sandstone rock in the distance.

Kip thought about all his friends. “None of them hop. Only kangaroos can hop. That's cool.” He jumped as high as he could. “None of them can do that. I'm special.” He pushed with his legs and hopped all the way home. “Mama, I can hop. Dingos can't hop. Crocodiles can't hop; neither can koalas and kookaburras.”

“That's right, Kip. Are you happy about that now?” His mama smiled at him.

“I'm happy that I'm a kangaroo and can hop all over the place. I can hop as high as I want. I'm glad.” Kip spent the rest of the day hopping about the bush, enjoying being a simple kangaroo.

Return to Children's Stories