Life, 1886-10-21 · page 12 of 16
Life — October 21, 1886 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Tale of a Kangaroo" - Life Magazine This is a nine-panel satirical comic strip about a kangaroo that loses its tail in a wildcat trap. The tail, being essential to the kangaroo's balance and locomotion ("ballast"), causes the animal to become helpless and confused—it cannot bound properly without this counterweight. A shepherd discovers the distressed kangaroo and has a "bright idea": he fashions an artificial replacement tail/ballast from materials at hand. Once equipped, the kangaroo returns to its natural, joyful state, bounding freely across the landscape. The satire appears to mock human dependency and desperation. The joke's final panel suggests the kangaroo and shepherd now enjoy companionship and meals together—implying that necessity and shared problem-solving create social bonds. The humor lies in treating the kangaroo's plight as analogous to human predicaments where a practical solution restores dignity and happiness.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE: : THE TALE OF A KANGAROO. No. 3.—Essaying to bound as of No. 2.—He gets his tail in a wild- yore, he finds he has lost his ballast. cat trap and leaves something of con- siderable value behind him. No. 1.—A free and fearless Kan- garoo bounds proudly over his wide domain. No. 6.—A wandering shepherd finds him and takes in the situation at once, No. 4.—He cannot understand what No. 5. —He discovers that he has on earth is the matter, and in trying no proper prop and comes to grief to find out again. No. 7.—A bright idea strikes the No. 8,—Again, like a'freeand fear- No. 9.—And don't they just have shepherd: he will supply the poor less Kangaroo, he bounds over hill nice social and culinary times to- creature with artificial ballast, and plain, gether | comicbooks.com