“We can’t leave you by yourself, Monkey,” Steenbok said desperately. “Crocodile will find you. It’s too dangerous!”
“Need…water…” Monkey moaned, lying limply on the ground.
“Please get up, Monkey,” Steenbok pleaded. “I’ll carry you on my back. We’ll find you some water!”
With a lot of begging and pleading they got Monkey onto Steenbok’s back. Monkey was lying face down on Steenbok’s back, his hind legs hanging down, one on each side of Steenbok’s back. They managed to get him to put his arms around Steenbok’s little neck, linking his fingers in front. Then he passed out. But they kept on walking, Ground Hornbill leading the way, keeping his eye on the dragon’s back. Steenbok was bringing up the rear, panting and struggling under the deadweight that was Monkey. The dragon was now close, very close.
Then suddenly, Steenbok stumbled…
~~**~~
“Ouch!” Steenbok cried as she fell down. Monkey slid from her back and fell face down in the dirt. He did not move.
“Ouch!” Steenbok cried again as she tried to get up. A sharp rock was digging into her ribs. Slowly she managed to get up.
“You stumbled over this,” Ground Hornbill said, pecking at the rock. It was a funny shape.
“It looks like a big, sharp claw,” Steenbok said, inspecting the rock from up close. Then she stood back a little bit and suddenly she knew what it was.
“It’s the dragon!” she exclaimed.
“Where is it?” Ground Hornbill asked, looking around. “Where’s the dragon?”
“I stumbled over one of the dragon’s claws! See there’s its foot!”
Ground Hornbill stood back and then he could see it as well. The claw was attached to a foot. The foot was attached to a leg that went a very long way up. High above was the dragon’s back.
“It’s the dragon!” Steenbok exclaimed again.
“Yes, now I can see it as well,” Ground Hornbill said. “But the dragon must have been asleep for a very long time. Look at all the grass that’s growing on it! There’s grass and trees growing all the way up its leg, for as far as I can see!”
“Yes,” Steenbok agreed. “It must have been asleep for a very long time. Let’s wake it right now!” So Steenbok stomped on the dragon’s claws with her little hooves. But the dragon did not move.
“The rain must be allowed to escape! We must wake the dragon!” Ground Hornbill was not wasting any time. With his strong bill he attacked the dragon’s foot. He pecked and pecked. But the dragon did not move. Ground Hornbill walked higher and higher up the dragon’s leg. He kept on pecking at the dragon’s leg. But still the dragon did not move.
“We have to find his face so I can peck him in the eye, Steenbok,” Ground Hornbill called. “Come along!” Steenbok looked at Monkey, lying limply in the dirt and then she ran up to join Ground Hornbill. Every couple of steps she stomped with her little hooves, trying to wake the dragon.
They went up all the way, onto the dragon’s back. Ground Hornbill was now pecking ferociously at the dragon’s back. “Wake up, you silly dragon!” he cried.
Steenbok stopped her stomping for a moment and looked down at Monkey’s lifeless body, lying down at the bottom. Monkey looked very small, next to the dragon’s huge claw. Then Steenbok lost her temper.
“Wake up, you horrible beast!” Steenbok shouted, stomping real hard. “My friend is dying while you lie sleeping! Wake up you lazy, miserable excuse for a dragon! Wake up!” Steenbok was mad. Even Ground Hornbill cringed away from her anger.
Crack!! A sudden explosion ripped the air. What was that?
Crack! Another one! And another!
Steenbok stopped her shouting and stomping and looked around. The sky was dark and ominous.
Crack! Again! Then she saw the clouds. Dark, heavy clouds were hanging in the air. Lightning bolts were dancing all around them. A lightning bolt whipped through the dark sky and hit the earth so close to where they were standing that Ground Hornbill jumped in fright.
“You’ve done it! You’ve done it!” Ground Hornbill shouted. “You’ve woken the dragon!”
Then the first drops of rain splattered onto the dry earth. Big, fat drops of water dripped from the heavy clouds. The smell of rain on scorched earth rose up from the ground and they sniffed the air appreciatively.
“The rain has escaped…” Steenbok whispered. All her anger was spent. “At last, the rain is free…” A tear ran down her cheek.
~~**~
“Monkey!” Steenbok called out, running down the dragon’s back. It was raining hard. “We have to check up on Monkey!” she shouted over her shoulder to Ground Hornbill, as she ran down the dragon’s leg. She jumped off the dragon’s big foot to where Monkey was lying next to the dragon’s sharp claw.
“Monkey…?” Monkey was still lying lifeless, his little face down in the ground that had become a muddy slush. “Monkey…!”
“Come and help me, Ground Hornbill!” Steenbok called out hoarsely. “Be quick!” she shouted when Ground Hornbill did not answer immediately.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!”
“Quick! We have to turn Monkey around! Be quick!”
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” grunted Ground Hornbill, stumbling down the dragon’s leg in the heavy rain.
“Don’t die, Monkey! Don’t die!” Steenbok pushed her snout in under Monkey’s tummy, trying to turn him around.
“Help me, Ground Hornbill! What’s taking you so long?!” she shouted.
“I’m coming!” Ground Hornbill wheezed. Then he was at her side, breathing heavily.
“Don’t die, Monkey!” Steenbok cried. “Help me, Ground Hornbill!”
Steenbok again pushed her snout in under Monkey’s tummy. Ground Hornbill did the same with his curved bill.
“On the count of three!” he ordered. “One…two…three! Heave!” he shouted. But they only managed to turn Monkey a little bit. Then he plopped back onto his face in the mud.
“He’s dead!” Steenbok cried. “My friend is dead!”
“On the count of three!” Ground Hornbill ordered again. “One…two…three! Heave!” But again Monkey plopped back into the mud.
“He’s dead! I told you to be quicker!” Steenbok sobbed, her tears and the rain streaming down her face. “Now my friend is dead!”
“Calm down, Steenbok!” Ground Hornbill shouted impatiently, but there was worry in his voice. “Let’s try again!”
“One, two, three, heave!” They heaved and strained. They put all their strength into it. Slowly, slowly they rolled Monkey over so that he lay on his back. The rain was pouring down.
“He’s breathing!” Ground Hornbill said.
“We have to get him to open his mouth, so that he can drink the rain,” Steenbok said, nudging Monkey’s face with her snout.
“Open your mouth!” she ordered Monkey, but Monkey was not responding.
“I said: Open your mouth!” Steenbok shouted and this time she nudged really hard at Monkey’s chin with her snout. “Open up, I say!” Monkey’s mouth popped open and the driving rain filled his mouth.
“Swallow!” Steenbok ordered. “Swallow, will you!” she shouted at Monkey, pushing him hard on the chest. Monkey’s throat moved and then he swallowed a mouthful of water.
“Another one…!” Steenbok ordered and when Monkey had swallowed it, she ordered relentlessly: “And another one!” Eventually Monkey coughed and opened his eyes.
“Had…enough…” he mumbled hoarsely. Steenbok whooped with joy.
“You’re alive!” she shouted, prancing around happily. Ground Hornbill was also happy and he tried to smile. But then he remembered that he couldn’t. He only had a bill and one couldn’t smile with only a bill, even though it was a big one. So he gave a loud boom instead.
~~**~~
There was water everywhere! They didn’t need to walk all the way along the twisting river and it didn’t take them very long to find Jackal and Porcupine.
Jackal was
still limping, but his leg was much better. He could keep up with the group as they returned home. Monkey walked with Jackal, chattering all the time, even though his little chest was still sore where Steenbok had nudged him.
Porcupine wanted to know every little detail of their fight with the dragon, but Ground Hornbill had to answer all his questions.
Steenbok was skipping ahead, she was very happy. She had found the rain!
The End
###
Other Books by Salome Byleveldt
African Fable Series:
How Giraffe came to be at the Pyramids
How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro
How Hyena came to cross the Namib
What’s the matter with Elephant?
How Hippo helped the tides
Monkey Trouble!
Will Steenbok find the rain?
Smartykidz Series:
Olivia and the Giant
Robyn and the Black Rabbit
Liam’s Superpowers
Author’s Page
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