by Shivangi Mittal
Once upon a time there lived a twelve year-old girl named Maria. She loved reading about brave people, especially brave women like Joan of Arc of France and Queen Lakshmibai of India.
Maria loved animals, especially dogs and elephants. She had a dog of her own, a huge golden Labrador named Jimmy. And every weekend her father took her to the zoo. There she would rush straight to the elephants’ enclosure and spend hours talking to the elephants form the other side.
However, today something was different. There was chaos all around. People were panicking and running here and there. Everyone was shouting at the same time. Maria also saw that there were no elephants in the enclosure.
Her father asked the manager what the problem was. He said that somebody left the cage open and all the elephants were gone. They had stamped all over the zoo and broken a lot of things, and then they had rushed out of the gate in a herd.
Maria wanted to try and locate the elephants. She asked her father for permission. Her father knew that she was a very determined child, so her gave her permission and some money, on the condition that she would take Jimmy with her.
Maria went out of the zoo, asking people about the elephants. Here and there she saw broken trees and smashed shops. After searching for two hours she found the elephants in a park. They were tired by this time and doing nothing. They had sat down in the park and were playing with the water of the lake in the park. Maria told Jimmy not to bark at them or make them excited.
Now the problem was how to take them back to the zoo. Suddenly she saw a man wheeling a barrow of bananas near the park. She bought all his bananas and laid a trail of bananas from the park to the zoo. The elephants were quite hungry by this time. They quietly followed the trail of bananas back to the zoo and into their cage.
Her father and mother were very proud of her. She also got the Children’s Bravery Award from the President. There were pictures of her in the newspapers. Maria says that when she grows up she wants to live in a mansion with a zoo attached to it!
Shivangi Mittal is 10 years old and a student of class VI in New Delhi, India, She loves crafts and art, and making up stories.
Words and More (Kids) 