Just So

At the ‘Time of the Very Beginnings’, the Eldest Magician creates a world of beasts and birds and fishes and is delighted with the results.

Until he notices a small problem: all the animals look the same.

Rather than making a ‘Big Magic’ to change them, the Eldest Magician tells them to go out into the world and find their individuality.

Everything seems just so – until Pau Amma the Crab begins playing with the ocean, causing terrible floods that threatens the other animals.

To stop the crab, the insatiably curious Elephant’s Child goes on a quest to the great, grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, guided by his reluctant new friend, the Kolokolo Bird, and together they meet many other animals and make many discoveries on their journey.

They discover how the Leopard got his spots, how the Rhinoceros got his baggy skin, how the Kangaroo got his bounce and how the hungry Crocodile can turn an elephant’s blackish, bulgy nose into a triumphant trunk worth trumpeting about.

At the end of his quest the Elephant’s Child and Kolokolo Bird bravely confront the Crab and make their own magic to make him ‘play the play that he was meant to play’.

The Eldest Magician is delighted that his creations have now become ‘just so’ and joins the animals in celebrating the victory of his unlikely ingénues.