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The Fable of the Tarsierby Barry J. NorthernWhy not listen along to the Fable of the Tarsier as you read? Just click the play button below or download the MP3. A tarsier sat upon his branch, chewing on a large cricket he had just caught. A warm jungle breeze rustled the leaves about him, and above, stars twinkled through the forest canopy.He heard approaching footsteps on the branch and swivelled his head, fixing his large eyes upon a brother hurrying towards him. The younger tarsier waved his arms and chirruped. So hurried was Chirrup that Cricket-Catcher did not at first understand his words.“... coming … quick … coming … this big.”Cricket-Catcher smiled around a mouthful of food as he watched Chirrup extend his little arms as wide as his slight frame would allow. “Big, eh?”Chirrup jumped up and down and nodded. “Yes, yes. Big it is. Quick.”“Quick too?”“No, no quick, we must go.”“Where? I've just caught this cricket. I'm not moving.”This sent Chirrup into another frenzy of arm-waving and high-pitching singing. “... coming … big … snake.”This caught Cricket-Catcher's attention. “A snake? A big snake is coming?”Chirrup sighed and deflated. “Yes.”“Relax. Snakes are slow.”Cricket-Catcher spotted a Striped Tree Frog sneaking up the tree's wide bole below him. Finishing off his cricket, his mind already on his next meal, he spoke idly to Chirrup whilst eyeing the frog. “You know, those are clever little things. Tasty though. Worth catching. Can't leap as well as us. I saw one in the morning once, just before going to bed.”“Go! We go now!”“Yeah, yeah. Just a minute. It was pale coloured. You never see them pale like that at night. It's like they change colour to fool us. Argh! A snake!”Cricket-Catcher had never before seen a snake as large as the one that loomed up from the shadows beyond the small frog.“I told you!” cried Chirrup as the pair leapt upwards into the canopy where the branches were thin and the snake could not follow.“I know. But did you see the size of that thing?”A picture is worth a thousand words.The Fable of the Tarsier by Barry J. Northern is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.Hosted by The Internet Archive.Music by Jeff Wahl from the album, Guitarscapes, and provided by magnatune.com