An Ocean of Stories : Tale From Bali, Indonesia
The Gecko
Drawings by SEED student: Ilo Ogochukwu, Nigeria
Retelling of story © Copyright 2006 Laura Simms
One night the chief of a village awoke suddenly. He heard a loud sound. Looking out of the window he saw a Gecko. He yelled, " What are you doing in the middle of the night?" The Gecko said, " I can not sleep. There are fireflies flying in my house. You are the chief, tell them to go to bed."
The chief yawned, " I will speak to them in the morning." So Gecko went home. The next morning when the chief spoke to the fireflies they complained, " The buffalo are leaving their manure over the entire road. If we do not flash our lights in the night, people will step in it." The chief sighed, " That makes sense. I will speak to the buffalo.
The next day he spoke with the buffalo who explained, Of course we leave our manure on the road. There are holes in the road from the pouring rain and we fill them so no one will stumble. Speak to the rain."
The chief found the rain and the rain said, " I have to rain every day so the mosquitoes will have puddles to swim in. If there is no water, the mosquitoes will die. If there are no mosquitoes there will be no food for the Gecko."
That night Gecko complained about the fireflies and the chief explained that the fireflies lit up the road where the buffaloes left their manure. The manure filled the holes made by the rain that formed puddles for the mosquitoes so the gecko could eat.
When Gecko heard the story he thanked the chief, saying, There are some things one has to learn to put up with." He went home, closed the shutters, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
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Since everything that exists is made of water, can you name any object or a food and trace it back to its connection with water? Make a list and then invent a tale that connects all of those things.
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