Enter The Knothole

What are we looking for? asks Arthur.

The giant weta, says Gaius. You know that.

But what does it look like? asks Arthur.

He kicks at the leafy undergrowth.

A cricket, says Gaius. Broad body, round head, short mandibles.

Arthur loses interest in the wetapunga, on learning these facts. 

You should go back to the dingy and recover your shoes, says Gaius. You never know what you might step on.

All right, says Arthur. 

He is only too happy.

On the way he passes Katherine, who is resting against an old tree, reading her book about Proust.

Hello, Arthur, says Katherine. Found a wetapunga?

Not yet, says Arthur. I'm just collecting my shoes.

Good idea, says Katherine. No doubt there will be all sorts of spiders and beetles in the undergrowth. 

Tzit-tzit! 

A hihi, pops its head out of a knothole.

Spiders and beetles? Where?

But Arthur is not interested in the hihi. 

How's the book? he asks, taking a slice of dried apple from Katherine's packet.

I'm reading the chapter on how to suffer successfully, says Katherine.

Maybe I should read it, says Arthur.

You never seem to suffer, says Katherine.

That's why I should read it, says Arthur. 

Ha ha, laughs Katherine. She puts the book down.

The hihi flutters down and lands beside it.

Hello bird, says Katherine. Do you want to know more on the subject? Proust thinks we don't really learn anything properly until we encounter a problem. 

The hihi thinks, I should read this book, I have several problems. 

It flutters back up again. Enters the knothole.

The answer to our problems lies below, says the hihi.

Tzit-tzit, says the other.

If only we could read it, says the hihi.

Tzit-tzit, says the other,

I wonder if that was a hihi? says Katherine.

She picks up her smart phone and googles the hihi. It was. She reads further.

The hihi is the only member of it's own family, says Katherine. The Notiomystidae.

Notiomystidae, says Arthur. That sounds made up.

All names are made up, says Katherine. I bet the hihi doesn't know it's a hihi, let alone a member of the family Notiomystidae.

True, says Arthur, finishing the dried apple slice and taking another.

That's enough, Arthur, says Katherine, returning to Proust.

The hihi meanwhile has learned something about the magic of phones.