The Klad

(inspired by a typo at work)

The Klad is a friendly little animal with green skin, six legs, a big nose and a black tail. It groans.

Of course the Klad doesn't groan without a reason! In the old times on the planet Slaan it was kept as a cute pet in aquariums. Because the ancient Klad was a water creature with scales and fins.

Day in, day out those Klads swam their rounds in the aquariums of Slaan and were quite content if they were fed some cookies from time to time. The Klad is not particularly intelligent and therefore doesn't need any special entertainment. It's quite satisfied just being a Klad.

But then one day water became scarce on Slaan. This got the Slaan people in difficulties. They liked their cute Klads - but on the other hand they needed the water for themselves. So they decided to put them into the last remaining few pools.

But it soon became terribly tight in there and the Klads, used to paddling around their aquariums alone or by two, felt a little uneasy. And there were never enough cookies for all of them. So more and more of the Klads crawled on the shore to look for something edible and a little bit of quiet.

Within a short period of time their fins evolved into legs and their scales turned into skin. Of course this is not as easy as it sounds - because for a moderately gifted animal like a Klad it's quite tricky to keep six legs in order while walking!  In addition it has some problems breathing air. That's why it groans. 

So today the Klad wobbles through the steppes of Slaan, tries not to stumble and is happy if somebody throws it a cookie. And it groans.

Drawings: Zeynep Sayin