Thief returns boy's pet lizard

2006-10-09 11:33

Sydney - An Australian boy was reunited with a treasured pet on Monday after a thief returned to leave a cardboard box containing Harry the blue-tongued lizard on four-year-old Ethan Payne's Melbourne doorstep.

"He turned and looked at me," Ethan said. "He was very happy. He was just lying down and was very sleepy. I was very, very, very, very, very happy."

Cucumber-sized Harry was stolen from a fish tank in Ethan's bedroom a week ago by a burglar who also took a treasured Hopf violin, which was made in Klingenthal, Germany, in 1760.

'Sorry, here is Harry'

The cardboard box came with the message: "Sorry, here is Harry." The theft, and Ethan's grief, had stirred hearts and made the pages of Melbourne newspapers.

His mother, Lynne Payne, recalled Ethan's joy at the unexpected reunion.

"He took Harry straight up to his bedroom and put him in the tank, and then he said, 'What about your violin, Mum?' which I thought was a really sweet thing, to think about me," she said.

Harry himself had a surprise on his return home: Ron and Jumping-Jack, fellow blue-tongued lizards given to Ethan by well-wishers keen to staunch Ethan's tears when he thought he wouldn't see his pet again.

Sapa-dpa

- SAPA