Verdi, like all hatchlings, was sent into the forest to ‘grow up big and green’. But Verdi looked at all the big, green rock pythons and decided that they were not only ‘lazy and boring . . . but rude’. Besides, he liked his sporty stripes. Verdi loved to perform athletic feats, but the greens advised him against it. Verdi began to grow and at the
first sign of green on his skin he despaired and tried to wash it off. But it wasn’t long before he became properly green and disappointed to hear two young hatchlings laughing at the lazy green. He realised they meant him! Verdi surprised them when he showed them how to perform a ‘perfect triple fi gure eight’. Verdi said: ‘I may be big and green, but I’m still me!’
