The Kelpies

A story by Merryn

One night in a village in Africa there was a girl called Ano. She was 12 years old and had a dog called Midnight. Her and her friend Joe liked to play in the fields behind her house.
One night when they were playing there it started to pour with rain. It was Monsoon season, so when it rained they weren’t allowed to be outside. The next morning everyone was stranded, because it had flooded. The kids had only stayed in the summer house on a hill, so they had some land.

They decided to go swim in the lake, to play. Then, Joe suddenly sunk. Ano desperately tried to find him, but he was nowhere to be seen. So she dived under. She found a cave; it had some air in it so she could breathe. She was relieved as she heard something that she thought was the sound of Joe’s voice. But, when she swam towards it, it turned out to be a Kelpie!

Ano couldn’t believe it, she had heard of Kelpies in tales, but never thought they were real. The Kelpie started to swim towards her; it was getting closer, and closer and closer.

She didn’t know what she could do; she was up against a wall. The Kelpie suddenly blew out a stream of air bubbles. Ano was out of breath, she tried to swallow the air bubbles, and she never thought it would work. Suddenly she could breathe. Then she spotted a flash of green. It turned out to be Joe’s t-shirt – he was right there. She was so happy to be reunited with him.

The Kelpie started to motion for them to follow it. So they did. It took them through lots of caves and tunnels; eventually they found a drain that had been covered. Ano and Joe heaved and pulled at the drain and eventually they made it come free. The Kelpie suddenly disappeared in a flash of bubbles. Joe and Ano swam back to the surface. They went home to find their mum and dad happy to see them again. Their dad built a bridge over the lake connecting all the houses. That way if it ever flooded again they wouldn’t have to worry as they would still be able to get everywhere.