Meerkat Madness. Ian Whybrow

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      “Exactly!” cried Uncle. “The Blah-blahs build hollow, pointy mounds, quite close together on TOP of the sand, what-what! Each mound is a burrow for a small tribe. Each mound is taller than a thorn tree; pointy at the top and much wider at the bottom. And do you know,” Uncle went on, letting them into the secret, “there’s no strength in those mounds at all. The walls are so thin that they ripple in the wind! Isn’t that ridiculous? A jackal could tear through those walls in two bites!”

      “Ah, but the Blah-blahs are bigger and stronger than us, aren’t they, Uncle Fearless?” put in Skeema.

      “Oh, yes!” said Uncle. “They’re giants. But in many ways they are just like us, only much funnier – and MUCH more charming and cute. I came across several tribes in my travels. Now, who do you want me to tell you about? The Oolooks who always jump up and down when they see a rhino or a giraffe and call oolook-oolook! Or would you like to hear about the Whevubins that are always dashing about calling hurryupp-hurryupp! when they can’t find their young. And when they do find them again, they chase them up and down calling whevubin- whevubin!

      Little Dream took his thumb out of his mouth and said wetly, “Click-clicks. Say about you and the Click-clicks.”

      Uncle scratched his ear with his back leg and he shook so violently that the kits had to hang on tight so as not to fall off his lap. The two biggest ones clung to his chest hair and Little Dream had to keep a good grip on the collar Uncle always wore with great pride.

      “Well then, Little Dream,” he said. “This collar you can feel round my neck was presented to me as a mark of respect by a very important Blah-blah. He was Chief of the Click-click tribe, no less! I used to see him passing by every day in his Vroom-vroom.”

      “What’s a Vroom-vroom?” asked Mimi.

      “Vroom-vrooms are huge, dreadful things!” said Uncle. “How can I explain? Ah, yes . . . now you all know that meerkats always make sure to dig plenty of escape tunnels when we build a burrow, don’t you?” (He felt his little audience nodding away.) “Well, the flimsy mounds where the Blah-blahs live have only one entrance. So they keep special moving burrows nearby and jump into them whenever they sense danger. At the first sign of a lion or a rhino or any animal that bites or tramples – off they run, Vroom-vroom! Those things can move like stampeding wildebeest, what-what!”

      “Oh, really, Uncle!” laughed Skeema not believing a word, but still enjoying the story.

      “You’ll be telling us next that Vroom-vrooms have got legs!”

      “Not at all, my boy. They glide along on round spinners that throw up clouds of sand, so they do! They do a terrible amount of roaring and dust-kicking and sometimes they let out an alarm call . . . Barp-barp! I’m pretty certain that these are tricks to frighten their enemies. But did your Uncle Fearless jump down the nearest bolthole when he saw them coming?”

      “Never! No way!” cheered the kits.

      “Of course not!” crowed Uncle Fearless. “I stood my ground like a king . . . ”

      “And then you tamed Chief Click-click!” cried Little Dream, full of admiration.

      Skeema rolled his eyes. It’s all made up, he thought. Still, he didn’t want to interrupt a good yarn.

      “Well done, Dreamie! Yes, I tamed him. Mind you, it took ages before he and two of his subjects plucked up the courage to leave the safety of their Vroom-vroom. But finally they came out. And bit by bit they moved closer towards me on their tall, tall hind legs. The Chief led the way. He was very shy in spite of his great bigness and at first he only dared look at me through the shiny box he held up in front of his eyes to protect them!

      Sometimes the chief went click-click! with his tongue, too, meaning that he was my subject. As each suntime passed, he became bolder and moved a little closer, bringing me tasty gifts of food. In the end he knelt on the sand in front of me and bowed down – completely tame. “You are my king!” he seemed to say. I could do what I wanted with him. He even allowed me to climb on to his head and use him as a look-out post.”

      “Oo! What did he feel like?” gasped СКАЧАТЬ