The giraffe had a sore throat, the elephant kept sneezing (and believe you me, you don't want to be around when an elephant sneezes) and the panda had two black eyes after doing three rounds with the kangaroo.

The dormouse couldn't sleep, the cheetah had developed spots, the bear had a sore head, the sloth had the jitters, the camel had the hump and the wasps were angry.

The rabbit was having a bad hare day, the anteater had a blocked nose, the goldfish had forgotten something, he couldn't remember what, the horse had got the trots, and the lion had eaten the unicorn.

The cows were in a moo-d, the sheep were being baaa-d, the pig had grunted and the frog had croaked.

Mrs. Noah couldn't dry the washing, it had been raining for forty days non-stop, and her three sons had generated a pile of dirty socks bigger than Ararat.

Mr. Noah was up on the bridge, the ark's equivalent to the potting shed, escaping the madness. He looked skywards - there was a break in the clouds! The sun popped its head through and a beautiful rainbow appeared.

"Land ahoy!" shouted the parrot, and the animals tumbled off the ark two by two.

"Thank you, God!" said Noah.