The boonk is a new animal: with 3 eyes and 5 legs and thus altogether 31 toes. It wears boots because its feet are very tender. The ears are elongated and sinewy and covered with hair to serve as shock absorbers or sound cushions because the noises of this world are too brutal for its eardrums. Its ears are more useful serving as wings. Although the boonks fall about clumsily in the air they are seasoned fliers. They live on land or in the water. In reality they are crazy about water and when you wish to wash your hands it is not at all surprising to see one of them squelching from the faucet. They are peaceful animals and practically holy because so useless. Sometimes in the summer you can see a boonk winging or earring like an arrow straight up into the sky where it then goes to lie and snore on its back on a cloud as if in heaven. Sometimes they peer down over the edge of the clouds and call out. These sounds upset many people below because it is uncannily like uncontrollable laughter at what they observe. They live from treefish but they climb with difficulty as it is not easy to find secure footing when wearing boots. At night you hear them rustling and fumbling in the trees and when they are sated they will crow with deadly serious faces. Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki the females (with the flat tails) giggle, and the males respond with a rocking ku-ku-kuku-ku-ku-ku. They would dearly have loved to make a more robust noise but because they wear glasses for their weak blinking eyes they are limited to the sounds that will least fog over the lenses. They like rubbing over their bellies.
- "The Boonk," by Breyten Breytenbach, published in Chicago Review 56:4.