The Tiny Mudfish

Once upon a time, in a peaceful little billabong, there was a tiny Mudfish.

The tiny Mudfish had everything they wanted, but they was still sad, and all the animals of the billabong could see it.

"Why the long snout, Mudfish?" asked madam 'gator as the tiny Mudfish swam by.

"Oh madam, I have more water then I can ever swim in, more food than I can ever eat, and more mud than I can ever roll in, yet I have none to share it with." the tiny Mudfish said.

"What you need is a partner, Mudfish." Madam 'gator replied.

"Oh but madam, where will I find such a person? Surely no one can stand a mudfish like me..." the tiny Mudfish sighted.

"Just go out there and talk to other animals. When they see how delectable your beady eyes and bacony fins are they will surely fall for you!" madam 'gator said with a wide, fang filled grin.

At this sight the tiny Mudfish hastily thanked madam 'gator went on his way.

Miss Ibis was sitting on the edge of the billabong, judging every animal who swam, flew, or walked by. After all, how could they be even half as graceful as her?

While looking into the pond, admiring her own reflection, she noticed something peculiar.

A tiny pink fish who was racing through the water as if the world was ending.

"Oi lil' fishy, where you going so quickly? Is the pond drying up or sumthin? " she shouted.

"Oh thank goodness no, I am just looking for someone to hang out with, that is all." the tiny mudfish replied.

"And you thinking you can find it here? Don make me laugh! Nun wants to hang out with a fat, fugly, mudfish like you!" miss Ibis said with a cackle.

"You really think so, miss? Well allow me to proof you wrong then." Mudfish replied with a big grin, even if they knew deep inside that Miss Ibis was probably correct.

The tiny Mudfish swam to a unknown part of the pond, and here they met a beautiful golden carp.

The carps scales glistened in the mid-summer sun light, and her tail waved through the water as a thousand ribbons in the wind.

"Ex... Excuse me?" the tiny Mudfish asked.

"Yes?" the golden carp replied.

"Wou... Would you like to hang out with me?" the tiny Mudfish nervously stampered out.

But before the golden carp could reply a familiar black beak appeared above the water.

"Ha! As if ever a fish so boutifull and clean as them would hang out with a mudfish as filthy and fugly as you! What'ya wunna do for your first date anyway? Roll in some mud?" miss Ibis mockingly said from up on the water edge.

The tiny Mudfish wanted to say no, but before he could even get a word out the beautiful carp had already swam away in disgust, and with ears hanging low the tiny Mudfish went on.

Then the tiny Mudfish swam to a muddy beach, where a white Kurī dog was playing.

The Kurī was a joyful little pupper, with a bushy tail and long drap hairs filled with mud.

"Hoow doo yoou doo, stranger?" the white Kurī howled.

"Not that well, not that well at all..." the tiny Mudfish replied.

"Hoow coome?" the white Kurī howled.

"No one wants to hang out with me..." the tiny Mudfish said.

"I woould loove too goo oon oout with yoou!" the white Kurī howled.

The tiny Mudfish was filled joy, that someone would say yes, but who should appear but that pesky miss Ibis.

"You again, Mudfish? Still tryin' to find sumone to go out with?" miss Ibis said.

"Not anymore Miss, for I just found somone!" the tiny Mudfish proudly declared.

"With the cody? How will ya two ever do anythin' together? Your a fish! Ya two can never go run in fields, or swim to the bottem of a lake together. So what can ya two do?" miss Ibis squawked with content.

The tiny Mudfish was trying to come up with examples of the things they could do together but before he could say anything the white Kurī steped foreward

"I am soo soorry but she is coorrect... It woould never woork. My apooloogies!" the white Kurī howled and her ran of into the grassy meadows.

The tiny Mudfish went back home from their adventure, disheartened and alone, and they went to sit under the willow.

The shade under this willow was his favourite, and the mud around it was refreshingly cool.

But as they arrived a sight most strange appeared: a giant Merlion was weeping under the willow.

"What has happened to you that you are so sad, mister Merlion?" asked the tiny Mudfish.

"Oh woe is me!" said the Merlion "For I am no cat nor fish! My fellow felines don't want to get anywhere near this lake I call home. And my fellow fish don't can't join me on the land I need to rest on for air! Is there no being I can hang out with?" he continued to lament.

"Well I may still be a fish, but I can hold my breath for long enough to stay with you when you take me up on the land." the tiny Mudfish said sheepishly.

"Would you really be willing to that for me?" the Merlion asked, trying to hide his excitement.

"S...Sure! If you don't mind hanging out with me." the tiny Mudfish replied.

"But of course not!" the Merlion roared as he nearly squished the little pink fish into a sausage.

The two of them spend the entire having fun together: swimming through the billabong, jumping up and down the beaches, and generally having a blast.

That was until they passed the always cranky miss Ibis.

"Well well well, looken at that. Seems like ya finaly found sumeone as worthless as you, Mudfish!" miss Ibis laughed

While the tiny Mudfish had grown so accustomed to miss Ibis's continues taunting that he just ignored her, this wasn't the case for their new friend the Merlion, who lacked the thick skin of his partner.

The Merlion was prepared to rip the long necked bird into ribbons before the tiny Mudfish calmed him down, after which the little fish turned to the mocking bird.

"Why are you so mean to everyone?" they asked miss Ibis.

"Me mean?! I am not mean! Those animals who called me a feathered bin rat! A scabby irrit! The wurst bird who brings shame on the bird family! None likes me! They are mean!" Ibis replied

"Just because animals are mean to you doesn't mean you can be mean to others... I tell you what: If you stop being mean to other animals we will help you prove them wrong." the tiny Mudfish said.

"You really?" Ibis asked hesitantly.

"Really" the tiny Mudfish said.

And so the Ibis would never be mean to other animals again. And the three of them, the Mudfish, the Merlion, and the Ibis lived happily together for many years, through both good and the bad years.

The end.