JOURNEY'S END

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 5

JOURNEY'S END

"SMA' WEE BEASTIE" VISITOR FROM EGYPT

To fly several thousand miles, under living conditions which must have been far from pleasant, cut off from supplies and consoled only by the thought that he was in the company of the elite—this was the destiny of Claude, who recently arrived from Egypt. \ Claude was discovered lying | snugly in a folded clipping from a pictorial magazine which arrived jwith a letter to a member of the ■ '■literary staff of the "Auckland Star' jfrom Cairo. The recipient—who had • not been expecting Claude —was ;(startled, and decided to refer the mat--1 ter to a colleague who possessed a magnifying glass.

"I Under the glass Claude's peculiar J > style of beauty did not show to r advantage. Brown in colour, he pos- • sessed two crab-like pincers which he, f wore for'ard of his oval body at a ( rakish angle, and these, magnified toj s about half an inch, gave him anj offensive or defensive weapon suffi-, j cient even for these troublous times.! Probably he had already used thisj weapon against the New Zealand; troops—for he was an Egyptian flea.) Up to this time Claude had not] stirred. Perhaps he was weak from hunger. It may have been this a motive which caused him to go int s.hction, pincers at the "ready, 'i J- towards a member of the "Star" ?• executive who had joined the specif tators. The prospective lunch took id a hurried step to the rear, for mag'dinified Claude was a formidable; even though only about a l , 3 t quarter of an inch long in his natural' Estate. 'I

Evidently his enforced sojourn with the cream of present Egyptian society had not sweetened the temper of the "wee beastie," as he was termed before his official christening. He had been nestling amid some fearsome members of the N.Z.E.F. Maori Battalion distorted in typical fashion while performing a traditional haka, while above him to the ileft and right respectively stood King 'George of the Hellenes and MajorjGeneral Freyberg, V.C., G.O.C.

It is sad to relate, however, that Claude's unexpected manoeuvring across the editorial table led to his sudden demise. Wielded by a panicstricken hand a pair of scissors made a successful attack from the air. There was a sharp tap on the table. Claude's journey was ended. Only lone question now remains to bs (settled among the rather worriec "Star" community. Did he come jalone? J _