* * *
THE DEEP HOT DESERT
Once upon a time, in the deep hot desert,
there lived a big gray elephant, he was young and handsome, but he was not
happy. Every day he imagined, "How wonderful if I could stay in the
forest, I could be cool and comfortable all day." But in the desert like
that, he could hardly find any water anywhere. The only water he found was a
hot little puddle, no bigger than his foot. Everywhere in the desert was dry,
the mud was cracked, and everywhere was burning hot like fire.
One day, the elephant was stomping in the
sandy desert, he fanned his face with his ears, he could stand no day in such a
hot desert, he whispered to himself, "I will keep walking, until I cannot.
This desert is no place for me; I will walk to a forest where my parents used
to live. So it's cool, I can stay comfortable, not with any sun heat." So
cheerfully, he walked and walked, day by day, he kept walking, with his eyes
straight to the front... until...
"Ouch!" He bumped into a rock that
made him almost fall over,
"Who put a rock here?!" He looked
around, there was no one, but only sand, endless sand.
As he started to walk again, he heard a
little sound, "Who stepped on me? So rude!"
From that voice, the elephant was surprised
to see that the ROCK popped out a little head, it wasn't a rock, it was a
turtle!
The elephant stepped back and said. "I
apologize; I was rushing to the forest, didn't see you on the ground."
"Forest?!" The turtle looked at the
elephant with an astonished voice, “Did
you say FOREST! I always wanted to be in the forest! A turtle like me, I can
never walk to the forest, I’m too slow." The elephant leaned his head
down. He looked at the little cute creature and replied, "Then why don't
you come with me, turtle."
"Yeah, great!" said the turtle,
"You are so kind, I love kind people. By the way, I have a name..."
"Well, you are a turtle." said the
elephant.
"Turtles also have names! My name is
Neasenulagesaka, you can call me ‘Neaka’ for short."
"All right." said the elephant in
the mumbly voice. He really didn't want to stay for this long.
"Ok, climb from my trunk, turtle. You
can stay on my back."
"Say ‘Neaka’ please, don't you
remember?" said the turtle.
"All right, all right, Neaka."
replied elephant in the frustrated way.
"Yes!” He climbed happily on elephant's
trunk and onto his back.
"We're on our way--" said the
elephant. As he walked, the elephant turned his head and said, "My name is
Ethan, you can call me ‘Ethan’ for short...Oh, well, I don't have a short
name." Turtle and elephant all laughed.
* * *
GREAT PLACE TO LIVE
The elephant kept on walking and
walking...one day, the elephant suddenly stopped.
"What's happening?" The turtle
asked.
"I smell water!” cried the elephant
happily. "We must reach the forest!"
"How
could you know?" The turtle asked confused.
The elephant
replied, "Elephants can reportedly smell water from miles away."
The turtle
was so excited, and said, "I wanna run!"
"Are you making a joke? You better stay
on my back; my walking is faster than your running." The elephant laughed.
🐘 🐢
They both were very eager to get to the
water. The elephant started to walk faster. In the direction of the sound of
the water, they reached the forest and saw a beautiful flowing river, and a
pleasant meadow, they had never seen in the dessert. Elephant said to himself,
"For all this walking, I finally reached the place where I can live."
The turtle couldn't wait to get down to the elephant's back.
They drank
the crispy and refreshing water. Ethan wiped his mouth with his trunk and said,
"I can drink a lot, like an elephant."
"You ARE an Elephant!" said the
turtle laughing. They hiccupped as they walked by the river, they enjoyed seeing
the beautiful flowers, and were amazed on how bees were busying on collecting
pollen. As they were wandering by the river, they happened to find a green dark
misty cave.
"This can be our new home!" Neaka
said excitedly.
Ethan said, "Let's go take a rest, I am
feeling a little exhausted."
"I'm not really." said the turtle.
"Of course you are not; you've been
staying on my back all the time." Ethan replied.
"Oh! That's right." turtle just
realized it. They both laid in the misty cave.
Ethan was so tired and fell fast asleep.
Ethan dreamed the beautiful fairies flying around, and magical rainbow flowing
through the air from his eyes, like sparkling dash of magic. He dreamed that he
stayed with his mom and dad playing in the grassy hill happily…
The next morning, Ethan and Neaka were
playing so hard, they can't even stop. They were picking fruit. Ethan lifted
Neaka on his trunk high up in the air, and Neaka grabbed the stems tightly with
his little mouth, he pulled and twisted. Every time the fruit fell, it would
fall on Ethan's head that made them chuckle.
As they played and played, they suddenly saw
a herd of gray elephants. Each one was holding the twigs. The leader was
wrinkled but looked strong. He was holding the biggest brown twig with leaves
on it. Ethan got so excited, so he carried the turtle and went straight ahead
to them. As the elephants put down the twigs and they were marching in circle.
The leader saw him with his black peering eyes, he said in the deep low voice
to Ethan, "Who are you? I've never seen you before."
Ethan took a
breath, "Hi! My...my name is Ethan." He said in a nervous way.
"I came here from the desert."
"Get away from us!" The leader said
in the furious way, "We don't know who you are!"
"Well, of course you know who he
is." Neaka smiled at the leader cutely, "He is an Elephant, same as
you."
"Don't interrupt!" said the leader
unhappily, Neaka stopped smiling.
Ethan looked at the leader and said, "My
parents used to live here, but there was once a hunter came that killed my mom,
so my dad had to take me to the deep hot desert to survive. But there was not
much food in the desert, so my dad died too..."
"Oh, too bad! You need a tissue?
"Neaka said.
Without even looking at Ethan, leader
replied, "I don't believe you. You are make things up. Get away from
us!"
By this moment, one elephant stepped up and
said, "Please, just let him stay."
"I am the leader. Do what I
ordered!" The leader said impatiently and showed them to leave.
So Ethan walked away slowly and sadly. They
went back to the meadow.
* * *
FIRE SPARKS
"Why don't we play and have some
fun!" said Neaka.
They soon forgot all about what had happened
before. The forest had so many things to explore and to be enjoyed, every day
with the birds singing woke them up, they went to pick fruits, laid down on the
meadow, and played in the river. They really enjoyed the pleasant time. The
forest was so beautiful, the sunshine was just right to warm their bodies.
One day, they were laying on the soft grass
daydreaming, the turtle said, "What a nice place, I wish this day would
never end."
"I wish
the same, but... I’m feeling a little bit lonely." Ethan said.
"What! You feel lonely even when you
stay with me?!" said the turtle with his mouth pouted.
Ethan turned his head to the turtle,
"Elephants belong in the group, but I am the only elephant that is being
lonely in this forest."
The turtle frowned...
One night, they were going to the bed, the
turtle wasn't feeling sleepy, so he decided to take a walk around the cave.
Suddenly he saw some little sparks of fire.
He quickly knew this was not right. He
scrambled into the cave, he used his little head to lifted Ethan's big ear up
and shouted,
"Hurry up, Ethan!
Go, take a look!"
Ethan
yawned, “What is it! Can't you see I am trying to sleep?"
"But you got to see this, something is
going wrong!" turtle yelled.
Ethan stood up tiredly, as he walked out the
cave. Soon he realized that turtle was right, "Neaka! You climb on my
back. I will take you half way to the fire. You go there to see what's going
on." Turtle agreed, but he didn't think he would ever reach the fire.
As the
elephant was walking closer to the fire, he dropped the turtle down, "Now
you have to walk all the way to the tent, and hear what they are talking about.
If there was a trouble, try to find their guns and unload the bullets."
Neaka knew this was a serious job, this was all about his best friend Ethan, so
without any hesitate, turtle followed the direction of fire, he walked and
walked, it was a very long way for him... when he reached the tent, it was
nearly late night.
The turtle reached the tent and ducked his
head through it, and saw a thin tall man and a fat short man. The fat man was
sitting on a chair, drank the beer and bit the big ham.
"Stop eating, Fatty. We got to sleep
now. Tomorrow we’ll have to wake up early to hunt the elephants." the tall
man said.
"Oh! I know, I know..." said the
fat man, while he was still eating, "I know by tomorrow, I will be
rich!"
"No, Fatty. WE will be rich!" They
all laughed greedily.
By hearing this, the turtle got shocked!
"What am I gonna do?! What am I gonna do?!" The turtle thought. He
climbed out the tent. By this time, there was a big orange parrot that flew
right before his eyes. "Stop, stop! Over here!" yelled the turtle.
"What's happening, turtle?" said
the bird, as he flew down.
"Can you do me a favor, bird?” without
waiting for the bird reply, turtle continued, "Can you help me send the
message to the elephant, who lives in the cave right by the side of the river?
There are two hunters that are coming to kill the elephants tomorrow."
The bird replied, "That is a very big
emergency, I will be straight there!" The bird lifted up into the air,
faster than a blink of eye and disappeared into the night.
* * *
TROUBLE IN THE FOREST
The turtle sneaked back to the tent. He saw
the tall man handed two guns to the fat man.
"Fatty! You'll have to load the bullets
in these two guns. I'll go check the car gas." The fat man wiped his
greasy mouth, and started to load the bullets as he was whistling.
By now, the bird reached to the tunnel and
told the Ethan the massage.
"Oh, No!" said Ethan, "I have
to inform other elephants."
The bird said, "It's too dangerous, you
can't go out there."
But Ethan didn't care; he said strongly,
"I have to! Or else, they will have trouble." He went out to find the
group...
Back to the tent, both two men were sleeping
with big snoring. The turtle thought it was time to do what Ethan told him. He
sneaked to the guns that were laying against the wall, but it was too high for
turtle to reach, so he pushed his head to the guns, "Bonk!" the two
guns fell on the ground heavily.
"What's that noise, Fatty! I just heard
a noise." The tall man sat up quickly.
The turtle froze frightened; he knew he
walked very slowly, so he would never get to hide, if they had come.
"What...I didn't hear anything..."
the fat man said dreamily, and turned another side fell asleep again. The tall
man listened closely, there was not a sound so he went back to sleep too. As
the snoring noise came again, the turtle quickly unloaded the bullets with his
little mouth, then he used his feet to dig a hole and pushed the bullets in and
buried them. After that he was so tired, he felt like he had to lay down to
sleep, but he couldn't stop, he knew he walked slow, so he decided to walk into
the car first thing in the night.
In the forest, Ethan was still trying to find
the group of elephants he had seen before, he searched and searched, with the
help of the bird. The bird was looking at the faraway places, while flying low
in the night. As Ethan was walking, the bird suddenly called, "I see them!
I see them!" In the direction of the elephants, Ethan followed the bird
and found them.
As they reached the herd of elephants, he saw
the elephants sleeping soundly. The leader was on the top of the hill, laying
down by the tree. He soon found out Ethan was coming closer, he quickly stood
up and walked toward the Ethan and said," What are you doing here, get
away!"
"But...I just need to tell you tomorrow
there are hunters that are going to kill us." Ethan said with heavy
breath.
The leader said, "I don't believe you, like I
said, you are just making things up."
Before the leader continued, the bird said,
"That is true, the turtle asked me to send the message to him. He
especially came just to rescue your group." The leader got shocked and
looked at the Ethan.
"Then what are we gonna do?" The
leader asked in the worry.
"I know there is the cave that is very
safe. Please follow me." Ethan said.
The leader called all the elephants in his
herd, one by one, the elephants holding on one another's tail and followed
Ethan, as they went toward the cave, the leader stayed in the back to protect
his group, to make sure no elephants got lost. When they reached the cave,
Ethan let all the elephants to hide in the cave. But there were so many
elephants they could not fit all. So Ethan decided to stay outside with the
leader.
* * *
SAVING THE DAY
It was nearly morning, the tall man was ready
to hunt, he called the fat man in bed, "Wake up, Fatty, we’re late!"
The tall man went outside to start the engine, the fat man got up and was busy
packing his food, "Wait for me!" shouted the fat man, as he packed
one more bag of food, he took the guns and walked clumsily with all his heavy
bags.
"Why do you pack so much food? We are
going hunting!" The tall man said unhappily.
"But we do have to eat." replied
the fat man with excitement.
They drove into the forest, they looked and
looked, but they could not find any elephants. The fat man started to complain,
"Are you sure you hunted a few years ago?"
"Sure I
did." The tall man stopped the car angrily and got down.
The turtle
in the car thought, "What a great friend, Ethan saved
all the
elephants in the meadow. Phew! I actually did not really
have to
unload the bullets."
As the tall man got down the car, the fat man
followed. He laid down by the big tree and started to unpack his food. While he
was just about to eat, the tall man shouted, "Look, Fatty! I found some
elephant poops and there are some elephant footprints!" The tall man turned
his head to fat man, "Come on, Fatty, it's not a picnic! Quickly clean up
and let's go!" The fat man grabbed a big hamburger put into his mouth and
went on, “Coming..." he said with his mouthful. Neaka in the car heard the
conversation and thought, "Smart Ethan! Good thing I have already unloaded the
bullets in the gun." The car followed where the foot prints would lead.
The car thumped and bumped on the waddled road. The fat man used a binoculars
searched while his mouth was still chewing. Suddenly he yelled out, "I see
an elephant!"
The tall man got excited, while he was
driving. "Where?! Where?!"
"Right there!" said the fat man,
holding the binoculars.
"Where?!" The tall man grabbed the
binoculars from fat man. Through the binocular, he saw a mighty elephant laying
on the meadow.
"Yeah! I see it!" The tall man put
on the high speed and zoomed to the direction. They quietly stopped the car
near to the elephants. The fat man jumped out the car, "Yeah!"
The tall man said, "Shush...you are
gonna scare away the elephants."
The fat man took the gun and walked
sneakily. The turtle soon rolled down
the car and followed the fat man. He raised the gun pointed to the leader and
whispered, "Here we go, I will be rich!" Before he was about to
shoot, the turtle took a big bite on his leg, “Ouch! Something bit me!"
This sound made the leader elephant stand up.
"Stupid Fatty!" The tall man said
madly.
The leader elephant found the fat man, he ran to the
fat man and used his truck to grab him and raised him high in the air, and
threw him far away.
The tall man got quite frightened. He raised
the gun pointed at the leader elephant. By this time, Ethan saw the tall man, and he
soon realized this tall man was the man that killed his mom years ago. Ethan
fiercely ran to the tall man with all the imagines of his mom. The tall man
quickly pointed to him with his hands shaking. Ethan wasn't sure if the gun had
been unloaded, he thought he might die, but he was fearless, he wanted to kill
this tall man before he died, for the deed of his mom and the herd.
The tall man shot, nothing came out, only a
puff of dust. As Ethan ran toward to him, the tall man dropped the gun and
started to run desperately! "Ahhaaaa---"
Ethan chased him down the cliff. The tall man
had nowhere to go, so Ethan pushed him off the cliff as hard as possible. Ethan
stood up on the high cliff and watched, he was happy, but he was even
happier that he had saved the herd. He raised his trunk with a long shout of
joy.
By hearing
this sound, all the elephants came out. They knew they were saved. The leader
walked to the herd of elephants and pointed to Ethan with his truck and said,
"From now on, this young man will be our leader!"
The sky was so blue and the white clouds
seemed smiling. The trees with breeze of wind seemed nodding their heads. The
birds were flying high in the sky with happy singing. The animals proudly
watched him standing on the cliff. All
the elephants raised their trunks and bowed, with a long shout to Ethan
respectfully.
Up came a little cute voice," Ethan, get
down, I need to climb on you back to seeeeee!"
