The Pelicans

It was last Saturday. Pliny and Nostradamus were walking along the Linear Park trail beside the River Torrens. They sat down on a gritty slope under a gum tree overlooking a wooden landing on which two pelicans were preening. Both pelicans had large yellow tags on their backs half hidden under their white and black feathers. The pelicans were talking.

First Pelican: How did we get the name pelican, I wonder? Is it from billycan?

Second Pelican: No! Pelican comes from the Sanskrit word for axe.

First Pelican: Axe! Strike me down! Why?

Second Pelican: Because of the shape of our bills.

First Pelican: But our bills don't look anything like an axe!

Second Pelican: No, they don't. But humans are pretty unobservant. Did you know they used to believe we fed our young by piercing our own breasts with our bills and nourishing them with our blood? They probably just saw us feeding them regurgitated food from our bill pouches. They thought if our babies died we could revive them by bleeding on them as well. Yerk! Humans will swallow anything.

First Pelican: How do you know all this?

Second Pelican: It's in a book called Pelicanthology for Pelicans. Want to borrow it?

First Pelican: ( looking towards the weir ) Look! Our friends are coming!

Second Pelican: Yes, let's go!

And they hitched up their tail feathers and plopped ungracefully into the water. Splash ! Splash!