Tale of a Tail

It was a dark and stormy evening. The ominous grey clouds loomed overhead, as Neferneferuaten-Tasherit shivered, clutching her umbrella with all her might.

Ok I lied. It was actually a nice, warm Spring afternoon. Neferneferuaten-Tasherit and Pedro were walking past the pond at the front of Neferneferuaten-Tasherit's house, when all of a sudden, Neferneferuaten-Tasherit stopped in her tracks.

What was it that hung from the tree, just milimetres from her face?

Was it a stick? A bit of string? A bird? A plane? Well no, not a plane... unless it was a really, really small plane.

It was a tail. Not just any tail, but the tail of a possum.

Not just any possum tail though. The tail of a possum, with one of its foot attached. I guess it would be a bit of possum bum with foot and tail attached.

Neferneferuaten-Tasherit shuddered. "Gross."

Pedro looked confused. "What is it?"

"It's a tail. With a foot... and stuff."

Pedro ceased to look confused. "Cool!"

So they went inside and told their tail... er... tale, to the family .

Now, I bet you are sitting there reading this tale, thinking something along the lines of "bulldust" or "codswhallop" or "piffle." But we have evidence...

It was a dark and stormy night, and this time I actually mean it! It had been raining quite heavily, so Neferneferuaten-Tasherit feared the condition of the tail might deteriorate. Granny and Dan were at Neferneferuaten-Tasherit's house, so she told them to go outside and view the miracle of the tail. It had stopped raining for that moment, so that was ok, as was the tail. Neferneferuaten-Tasherit rushed back inside, trying so desparately not to trip on her thongs as she ran, slid through the lounge, grabbed her digital camera, and scurried back outside to photograph the tail.

So there you have it.

Can't see the features of the animal parts? Here you go!

Now, the question is, how did it get there?

Some theories are:

a possum was being chased by something, got stuck, and ripped its body away from its tail and one of its feet
a cat left it there, and devoured the rest of the body
a bigger possum left it there, and devoured the rest of the body
Dad was hungry, but didn't want that bit
possum was found as roadkill, and something like a cat or currawong carried that bit to the tree and left it there to pick bits off it, but ate too quickly and felt sick, so decided to leave it there for anyone else who wanted it. Either that, or there wasn't enough meat on this one and it was too lazy to dispose of the rest
Davey Crocket was making a hat, but ran out of time

Got your own theory? Send it here!