The Idler, Thursday, January 31, 2019

This is the hour of pride and power,

Talon and tush and claw.

Oh, hear the call! — Good hunting all

That keep the Jungle Law!

 

HERE'S something worthy of Rudyard Kipling. A three-year-old boy who went missing for two days has told his family he "hung out with a bear" in the woods.

Casey Hathaway was found by a professional search and rescue team near Cayton in North Carolina, in the US, according to Huffington Post.

He was found entangled in thorny shrubs about a kilometre from where he went missing.

Craven County Sheriff's Office said they responded to a tip that the youngster was heard calling for his mother.

His aunt, Breanna Hathaway, said Casey was smiling and talking after he was found.

"He said he hung out with a bear for two days. God sent him a friend to keep him safe. Miracles do happen."

Makes ya think!

Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle — the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.
And trouble not Hathi the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair.

 

IS THERE an international racket in penguin trafficking? Three little blue penguins – little blues are the smallest of the species – have been stolen from their burrow in New Zealand, according to the BBC.

And in Nottinghamshire, England, two Humboldt penguins have been recovered from a private home by police, following a tip-off.

The little blue penguins were stolen at Hawkes Bay by two men seen using a crowbar to prise their way into their burrow. The men got away and the penguins have so far not been traced.

The Nottinghamshire Humboldt penguins had been stolen months ago from a zoo. A man has been arrested and the penguins have been returned to the zoo,

International penguin trafficking is taken very seriously by the authorities. Interpol has established a crack unit to intercept the racket. Its members wear evening dress, bow tie and all. They're known as the Penguin Suits.

 

COPS in New Jersey, in the US, got an emergency call: "Help, my kid's got stuck inside a toy." The mother was distraught, according to CBS New York.

Puzzled, Sergeant Rick Hernandez of the Fort Lee police, responded. Sure enough, Soona Choe's 20-month-old toddler had crawled into a plastic box designed to teach shapes. But the little boy was stuck, his legs and knees wedged fast.

"The expression on his face was quite something, embarrassment I guess."

A truck with the jaws of life was on its way, but Hernandez managed to break open the plastic box himself and free the kid.

Beware these boxes that teach shapes. They can't handle the shape of a toddler.

 

DURBAN poet Sarita Mathur tells us to put a smile on the dial.

 

Life is full if happiness ,

Life is full if fun.

Enjoy today and every day,

Until each day is done.

Let your mouth stretch from side to side,

A smile is in place.

Remember to do it more often,

So that the smile doesn't get misplaced.

 

Tailpiece

PADDY lingers long at the pub. Eventually he heads for the Underground to get home. As he gets to the escalator there's a sign: "Dogs must be carried on the escalator."

Paddy exclaims: "Now where am I expected to find a dog dis time of night?"

 

Last word

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.

Robert Louis Stevenson