Chester looked left and right.
Then he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.
A human with a long stick was trying to catch him.
Why?
Chester didn’t know why, but it was great fun playing chasings.
“You can’t catch me,” he said, even though he doesn’t speak human.
KK the Kookaburra was sitting in his tree. He laughed and laughed at Chester and the humans.
Chester ran over a rock, under a log and between the legs of a human, before escaping into his burrow.
“Haha, you can’t catch me,” he said.
Cheeky Chester.
Chester was really tired after playing chasings, but even though his burrow was nice and cosy, he couldn’t sleep. He didn’t know why.
Chester couldn’t sleep the next day either. And he was hungry – sooooo hungry.
He went outside to eat some grass. He saw humans again.
Then Chester had an idea, and he told Colin the Cockatoo all about it.
The brilliant idea worked.
When the humans walked towards Chester, Colin and the Cockatoos squawked loudly.
“Run, Chester run”
Chester ran into his burrow where the humans couldn’t find him. Chester loved playing hide and seek.
Cheeky Chester.
The little wombat was happy, but he was still hungry and sleepy. And he was itchy.
One evening, Chester went outside for breakfast.
Breakfast in the evening?
Yes, wombats normally sleep during the day, so they have their breakfast at night time.
The cheeky little wombat had another idea.
He went to the back of his burrow, and he did what wombats do best.
Soon, he had a new secret entrance to his burrow, and even a tunnel under the ground.
KK laughed and so did Chester.
“I tricked the humans again!”
Cheeky Chester.
A few nights later, Chester woke up.
He was still tired and itchy, and verrryyyy hungry.
He wanted to eat some grass, but he couldn’t.
Do you know why?
What is this little door? Chester asked himself.
I don’t like it. But I’m really hungry. What should I do?
Then he had an idea. A brilliant idea. A very cheeky idea.
1,2,3…
Cheeky Chester
The next night, Chester was shocked.
The door was back.
“But how? I destroyed it.”
It seems the humans put it back in front of his burrow.
Our cheeky little wombat had to make a decision.
If I go outside, I can eat some grass.
If I stay in my burrow, I’ll be hungry.
If I walk through this little door, what will happen?
Chester had to be brave.
1,2,3…he did it.
Eeeeiiiooouuuwww, a strange, sticky liquid ran down his back.
“Uuuuugggghh yuk, I’m all wet.”
It wasn’t fun getting all wet and sticky, but the next night Chester wasn’t so itchy.
A few days later, something was different.
Now, Chester was only a little bit tired, a little bit hungry and a little bit itchy.
He didn’t know why, but he knew someone who did.
“Ooh Ooh”
It was Ollie the Owl.
“Chester, are you happy?” Asked Ollie.
“Yes,” Chester replied.
“Why?”
“Because I tricked the humans. I played hide and seek, and chasings, and I made KK laugh.”
“But are you hungry?”
“Yes”
“Are you sleepy and itchy?”
“Yes.”
“I know why, young wombat.”
Ollie is so wise that he speaks human, and he told Chester:
“The humans say you have mange.”
“What’s mange?”
“It’s a disease. It comes from a little bug that gets in your skin, and it makes you sleepy, hungry and itchy.”
So, Chester was sick.
He felt sad. He doesn’t like being sick, he likes being cheeky.
“How do I get better?” he asked Ollie.
Ollie told Chester how to get better.
The very next day, Chester had another great idea.
This is what happened.
Colin and the Cockatoos squawked.
“Run, Chester, run.”
But this time, Chester didn’t run away from the humans, he ran towards them.
“You can’t catch me,” he said to the human with the big stick.
But Chester tricked them. He slowed down and let the humans catch him.
What happened next made KK laugh.
After playing chasings, Chester slept very well.
The next night, Chester wasn’t so sleepy, but he was still a bit itchy.
He had an idea.
Wendy the Wallaby and Polly the Pademelon listened to the idea.
“It’s a treasure hunt,” Chester explained.
“The first one to find all the doors is the winner.”
“How many doors are there?” Asked Polly.
“10”
“Where are they?” Asked Wendy
“In front of my burrows.”
“Ready, set, go!”
Polly and Wendy sprinted to the burrows. KK laughed as he watched them hop around the bush. They were so fast.
“I found one,” shouted Polly
“Me too,” called Wendy.
But Chester wasn’t worried.
Chester was slower than Wendy and Polly, but he is clever.
He used his secret entrances and secret tunnels to find all of the doors.
Every time he found a door, he did what Ollie had told him. He walked through the doors and let the medicine slide down his back.
“It’s a bath for wombats,” he told Polly and Wendy, and they laughed.
One night, Chester woke up.
He was hungry.
He walked through the door and had his bath.
He was about to start eating when he heard a noise.
“Oooh, ooh”
It was Ollie.
Chester had a mouth full of grass, but he said:
“Hi Ollie!”
“Hello young wombat, are you happy?”
“Yes”
“Are you sleepy?”
“No”
“Are you itchy?”
“No”
“Are you hungry?”
Chester swallowed the grass that was in his mouth.
“Not anymore.”
“Thank you, Ollie for making me better. Can you do one more thing for me?”
“Oooh, Oooh”
Out of the darkness came KK.
“Ooh Ooh”
Then Colin.
“Ooh, Ooh”
Then Polly and Wendy.
Chester made all of his friends stand in front of the camera that the humans put outside his burrow. Then he counted
“1,2
1,2,3,4…”
It was a great photo.
The End
Images: Paul Looyen
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