GAMES WITH OPO

Te Ao Hou, July 1958, Page 23

GAMES WITH OPO As for herself she was really and truly a children's playmate. Although she played with grownups she was really at her charming best with a crowd of children swimming and wading. I have seen her swimming amongst children almost begging to be petted. She had an uncanny knack of finding out those who were gentle among the young admirers, and keeping away from the rougher elements. If they were all gentle then she would give of her best. When playing with a rubber ball no one could help but be thrilled by her antics with it. She would push the ball along the water and then flip it in the air, catch it on her nose then toss it in the air again, or she would try and sink the ball by pressing it under her body or tail. She must have got it fairly deep at times as the ball bounced nearly four feet up in the air when it escaped from under her. Then she would toss it in the air and hit it with her tail. To watch her was one of the most fascinating sights imaginable. Then there was her game of playing with empty beer bottles. Toss her a beer bottle, empty or full, and she would treat it with disdain. She had to find her own bottle from the bottom of the sea. How she balanced it on her nose I cannot imagine but she really did and she would toss it quite a distance up in the air. I have tried to make her play with a glass ball, a float from a seine net, but she never seems to use it which makes me think she could not see anything clear like glass. It had to be coloured before she would take notice. She even tried to toss a piece of brown paper which I threw overboard.