Zeus the Koala and the Magic Egg

By Bethlehem Georgellis

This is another book written by Greek author Bethlehem Georgellis. The story tells of an immigrant from Greece, Mr. John who lives on a farm with his wife.

In the beginning of the story, Mr. Johns explains to a koala, which he calls Zeus, the origins of the Greek Olympic Games. The koala then dreams that he really is Zeus, the Ancient Greek God, sitting on the sacred rock of Uluru, in Australia.

Next, Mr. John saves a frog from being eaten alive by a snake, and when the story spreads through Mr. John’s farm about him being a hero, the animals decide to stage a concert for him. Zeus the koala even rocked up decorated with eucalyptus leaves around his head, like the Greek athletes used to.

Later, a kookaburra tells all the birds and animals in the rainforest about a golden egg, that’s hidden on an island. They all go in search for this treasure, but end up with nothing, until they come across an emu, who tells them that an emu once laid a golden egg, but died shortly after, and no one knows where the egg is.

They later met a wise man that was waiting for them, and he told them that one-day the emu will return to earth with the golden egg, and the world will be a happier place.

The story ends with Zeus the koala, feeling like a Greek athlete, wishing for the world’s children to be happy and to stop suffering.

I really enjoyed this Aussie style story a lot, and particularly enjoyed the way it mixed an Australian story full of Australian animals with a Greek background. I would thoroughly recommend this book if you would like to find out more about Australian animals and other cultures.

I would also like to say a big thank you to Bethlehem Georgellis, the author and illustrator, for letting us use some of her drawings from the book for our web site. Our coach, Tina, was lucky enough to have met Bethlehem at the Glendi Greek Festival in Adelaide and we may have the opportunity of meeting Bethlehem in the future.

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