If you want a good laugh Just draw a Giraffe. The height of the beast Must be five yards at least; A face like a goat, A snake's neck and throat, Four legs tall as trees With knobbledy knees, And a tail with a tuft at the end, if you please. You must dress him in check From his feet to his neck, And two little horns Should be pearched, like a faun's, On the very tip top Where he comes to a stop. And your Aunts, when they look At this page in your book, Will sniff and say: "How Is it, dear that by now You still draw so badlly? Just look at this cow!" But some, with more kindness, Will say, in their blindness, "This unshapely mammal Is meant for a camel." While another will swear It's a new kind of bear. And that's where you laugh And you say: "On behalf Of my ungainly friend Whose picture I've penned I ought to explain That it isn't a crane, A cat or a cobrra, a cow or a calf, My dear Aunt (or Uncle), It's just a Giraffe."
This wonderful little rhyme was written by Hugh Chesterman, and it is still as funny today, As it was when Diddily was a little one.
Dr. Do-Diddily has a great game to play, maybe Dee and Dot will play with you.
There is a lovely little game to play and it is easy to get ready you will need;
A piece of paper, (A4) A pencil and some coloured pencils or crayons then draw a squiggily line somewhere on your paper. Not to small cos we then pass our piece of paper to your friend(s) Now each of you have to make an animal out of the squiggle.
Then when complete and coloured in, blu tac them onto a door and ask mum or dad etc. to chose the best one. Not just for the strange animal, but for the name you've given it.
Dr. DooDiddily and the Dee-Dot's ELEPHANT LAND
The African Elephant
Numerous myths are told in Africa about its biggest
animal, the elephant, whose very size makes it
unassailable in nature, except by man, who has weapons
and magic to kill it. In the African fables the elephant
is always the wise chief who impartially settles disputes
among the forest creatures. A hunter in Chad found an
elephant skin near Lake Chad and hid it. Soon he saw a
lovely big girl crying, because she had lost her good
'clothes'. The hunter promised her new clothes and
married her. They had many big children, for the son of
an elephant cannot be a dwarf. One bad day when the
grainstore was empty, his wife found the elephant skin at
the bottom, where the hunter had hidden it. She put it on
and went back to the bush to live as an elephant again.
Her sons became the ancestors of the clan whose totem was
the elephant. They do not have to fear elephants.
A myth of the Kamba in Kenya tells us how elephants
originated. A very poor man heard of lvonya-Ngia, 'He
that feeds the Poor'. He decided to go and find
Ivonya-Ngia but it was a long journey. When he finally
arrived, he saw uncounted cattle and sheep, and there,
amidst green pastures, was the mansion of Ivonya-Ngia,
who received the poor man kindly, perceived his need and
ordered his men to give him a hundred sheep and a hundred
cows. 'No', said the poor man, 'I want no charity, I want
the secret of how to become rich.' Ivonya-Ngia reflected
for a while, then took a flask of ointment and gave it to
the poor man, saying: 'Rub this on your wife's pointed
teeth in her upper jaw, wait until they have grown, then
sell them.' The poor man carried out the strange
instructions, promising his wife that they would become
very rich. After some weeks, the canine teeth began to
grow and when they had grown into tusks as long as his
arm the man persuaded his wife to let him pull them out.
He took them to the market and sold them for a flock of
goats. After a few weeks the wife's canine teeth had
grown again, becoming even longer than the previous pair,
but she would not let her husband touch them. Not only
her teeth, but her whole body became bigger and heavier,
her skin thick and grey. At last she burst out of the
door and walked into the forest, where she lived from
then on. She gave birth to her son there, who was also an
elephant. From time to time her husband visited her in
the forest, but she would not be persuaded to come back,
although she did have more healthy children, all
elephants. It was the origin of elephants and it explains
why elephants are as intelligent as people.
Relics and rats cantrips and cats giraffes with short necks and kangaroos without flaps. Teapots and toads dead skunks and stoves terrible journey on ramshackle roads. Wombats with wings see-saws with stings these are just some of my favourite things. Relics and rats imps in straw hats maidens with cherries and silken cravats. Kettles and kippers vicars and strippers chocolate ice cream and ladies with flippers. Fairies and foam griffin and gnome - fine in their place, but not in the home! Teapots and toads leprechauns in brogues cucumber coffee and squid a-la-mode. Owls baked in omelettes cats stuck in pelmets children on stilts and grannies in helmets Pigs in pink dresses tarts with dark tresses lime-flavoured ladders and foreign addresses Daisies that sing button that ping these are some more of my favourite things.
ELEPHANT'S ARE IN HERE SOMEWHERE! AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND THEM, THEN YOUR NOT LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE. HE, HE, HE
http://www.a-gallery.de/docs/mythology.htm
Suk (Western Kenya) www.heidilangebatiks.com/
The Suk once had a great reputation as fierce warriors,
beating even the dreaded Maasai-Samburu in c. 1850. The
Suk are the first branch of the Kalenjin family of tribes
to leave their original homeland of Mount Elgon's slopes.
Originally only hunters, the Suk now herd cattle in Kerio
Valley, living in peace with their neighbours if they
can.
They believe in God, whom they call Tororut, offering
him animal sacrifices. God's son is called Ilat; he has
to fetch water for his father in Heaven. When he spills
it, it rains on earth (ilat means 'rain'). Tororut's
blessing must be invoked at least once a year for the
crops and the cattle. An ox is selected by the priest,
tusin, to be slaughtered; he rubs its blood on the chests
of the participants, all men. In times of drought, famine
or epidemic, similar rituals are necessary, to propitiate
God. Personal illness is blamed on Oi, the spirit of
disease, who may be expelled by emptying the sick man's
house, after which the priest casts the evil spirit out,
since it has nothing left to lurk behind inside. Tororut
has a wife, the Pleiades, and a brother, Asis, the
Sun-god. Tororut's wife Seta has three children, Ilat,
'Rai', Arawa, 'Moon', and Topoh, the 'Evening Star'. The
appearance of the Pleiades marks the beginning of the
planting season.
After death, a man's spirit may travel in the shape of a
snake. In the bush, snakes may be killed, but if a snake
enters a house, it must be given milk and meat since it
is the spirit of an ancestor who can intercede with God
on behalf of the living, in order to avert disease and
other disasters. After death an old man or woman would be
buried in his or her own hut, after which the descendants
would move house; this was no hardship, since they were
nomads anyway. Death 'infects' a house. The bereaved
shave their heads, but when the New Moon appears,
mourning ceases.
www.heidilangebatiks.com/
THE ELEPHANT Can anyone tell me how many types of elephants there are in the world? Goodness me, What about the countries that they live in? Dr. DooDiddily will have to send the Dee-Dot's out to look for them.
In Southern Africa there is told the tale of the girl
who grew up so tall and fat that no man wanted her as a
wife because she was accused of witchcraft. She was
exiled from her village and wandered into the wilderness
on her own. There she met an elephant who began speaking
to her politely in good Zulu. She agreed to stay with him
and he helped her to find wild cucumbers and other fruits
of the forest. She gave birth to four human sons, all
very tall and strong, who became the ancestors of the
Indhlovu clan of paramount chiefs.
In the African fables, the elephant is usually described
as too kind and noble, so that he feels pity even for a
wicked character and is badly deceived. The Wachaga in
Tanzania relate that the elephant was once a human being
but was cheated out of all his limbs except his right
arm, which now serves as his trunk. He paid for
nobility!
The Ashanti of Ghana relate that an elephant is a human
chief from the past. When they find a dead elephant in
the forest, they give him a proper chief's burial.
AFRICAN PRINCESS This is a very sad little poem sent to me by a friend who has lived in many parts of the world, and not all of them are as nice as they could be.
African Princess, seven years old -they have stolen your country, they have gouged the minerals from your fresh and the oil from your belly;
they have erected barbed wire fences upon your soil and gathered the wild animals into tiny reservations, they have erected borders and bounderies of iron and steel upon your soul and gathered the people into squalid ghettos and shanty towns to work the mines and factories; they have raped and violated your tender young body and tried to rip out your tongue.
They have put guns and grenades into the hands of your brothers and uncles and blindfolded them with lies and greed for little things.
African Princess, seven years old, Queen of the dry, red dust,
How could they think they could break your courage?
How could they think they could silence your laughter?
How can they possibly hope to stand before your indominitoble beauty,
imps in straw hats
Pigs in pink dresses
HE, HE, HE
inside. Tororut
has a wife, the Pleiades, and a brother, Asis, the
Sun-god. Tororut's wife Seta has three children, Ilat,
'Rai', Arawa, 'Moon', and Topoh, the 'Evening Star'. The
appearance of the Pleiades marks the beginning of the
planting season.
AFRICAN PRINCESS