There once was a group of animal friends who all lived out
in the forest next to a lake and a river. The animals were a lion, tiger, wolf,
jackal, tortoise, and elephant. They had all lived together their entire lives.
They did everything together, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, sleep, play, and
relax.
The lake and river were on opposite sides of the property. The
water was the animals’ favorite part of their habitat. All of the animals
enjoyed bath time and loved to go for a swim when it was warm outside. The animals would always play games in the
water like colors and Marco polo. They were just like little kids. The river
was their drinking water as well. It was pure, clean, and cold water.
One summer there was a frightful drought. The animals were
very frightened because they did not want their lake and river to dry up. They
relied on the water for drinking, bathing, and for fun. They were all so sad
and did not want to play with each other.
(Drought)
As the summer went on, their river and lake started to
become very low. The animals went on an adventure to try to find more water in
surrounding areas. They would be gone for a day or two. However, they were very
unsuccessfully in finding water.
There was only one month left of summer when the river and
the lake dried up. The animals were devastated. How were they supposed to live
with no water? They did not know what to do. They all sat around of a couple
days doing nothing because they did not have any water.
One night, they all met up and had a meeting. They all
brainstormed ideas on how to bring the water back. The lion had the best idea
of doing a rain dance. They had all heard about them from friends in other
areas and heard that they do work. However, they were skeptical because they
did not think that dance could bring water back.
They all danced together; in a circle, in a line, with
partners, individually, in every which way. They were determined to dance until
they saw water. But after an hour, there was zero water. So, they all took a
break to brainstorm some more. They decided to dance again and really believe
that the dance was going to work. All of the animals danced and told
themselves, the dance will bring back all of the water.
All of the animals danced for about two hours when all of
the water appeared back in their lake and river. The animals were all so ecstatic; the dance actually brought
back the water!
The original story, The Dance for Water, was about a drought where the rivers dried up and the springs did not even give water. The animals did not know what to do, but looked to find drinking water. However, they were unsuccessful. One of the animals had the idea to go to the dry river to dance to bring the water back. Most of the animals danced until water was brought to the surface. However, the rabbit did not dance so the other animals believe that she should not have water. One night the rabbit got some water while the other animals were sleeping. They were very unhappy and planned to kill the rabbit. In the end, the rabbit got away free.
In my story, I kept the original characters, but adding more to the beginning of the story to show the relevance of the water to the animals. I made it where all of the animals participated together in the dancing, and took out the part where they tried to kill one of the animals. I did not want any violence in my story.
Bibliography:
The Dance for Water
This story is part of the South African unit. Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).