Seleke Regains the Bucket

One day there was a girl named Seleke. She lived in a house with her mother, not at the bottom of a cliff, and not at the top, but right in the middle. Below the cliff lived Ugly Giants, and above lived Snarling Wolves.

One morning Seleke's mother said, "Seleke, I am making pancakes this morning. Bring me some water from the cistern."

During the rainy season water rolled down the cliffs and collected in a big slate cistern behind Seleke's house. But this was the dry season, when rain never came.

When Seleke got to the cistern she saw that it was nearly empty. It had not rained for many days, and Seleke knew that no more rain would come for many days.

Seleke scooped up the last of the water. Her mother made delicious blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. Seleke was very happy.

But that night, as she lay in bed, Seleke was troubled. She thought about the cistern, and how it was empty.

Luckily Seleke's family had another way to get water. They could lower a bucket down the cliff into a water fall that gushed from the cliff's face. Unluckily, Seleke had lost the bucket many weeks ago and now it sat at the bottom of the cliff.

Seleke decided that she would have to get the bucket. Very quietly she snuck out the front door and into the moonlight.

Seleke got a long rope. She tied it to a great big rock and began to climb down the cliff. Below her the gushing waterfall sparkled from the light of the moon.

Just as she reached the water fall she saw an Ugly Giant coming up the beach. It carried a heavy club made from a tree trunk, and a great big torch. The torch's fire was bigger than Seleke's whole fireplace. The giant was so tall he could have reached up and grabbed Seleke off the rope.

Seleke hid under the gushing waterfall, and hoped the giant would not see her.

Boom Thoom! Boom Thoom! The giant's footsteps approached. Seleke could see nothing through the rushing waterfall. Soon the orange glow of the giant's torch lit the falls. Seleke held her breath. Then the orange glow moved away. When Seleke peaked out she saw the giant walking away down the beach.

When she got to the bottom of the cliff Seleke looked around for her lost bucket. It was not there. Instead she saw many large sea shells. Some were as big as her foot, some were bigger than a chair.

All of the shells were occupied by strange creatures called Hermit Crabs. Hermit crabs have pinchy claws. One claw is very big and can give you a big pinch. The other is teeny tiny and doesn't hurt at all.

Hermit crabs live in sea shells that were made by other animals, like snails and conches.

As Seleke watched one of the Hermit crabs walked over to another, raised its big pinchy claw, and said, "Humminy hubbidy, humminy hubbidy. Get out!" The other crab raised it's claw, but it was smaller, so it left its shell and the bigger clawed crab moved in.

The hermit crabs didn't look very interested in her. Mostly they walked around looking for nicer shells, and the ones with bigger claws usually got what they wanted from those with smaller claws.

Then Seleke saw her bucket. As she got close to it her bucket moved. Then it moved again. A hermit crab had decided her bucket was a great place to live and moved in. When she got close the Hermit crab retreated inside the bucket. How would Seleke get her bucket back?

As she stood thinking Seleke heard something. Boom Thoom! The giant was returning. Quickly Seleke found a great big shell. She hid inside.

The giant stopped near her. She could hear him sniffing the air. Then the giant got down on his hands and knees and looked very closely at all the shells. The hermit crabs hid and Seleke did too.

After turning a few shells over, the giant got up and stomped off.

Then Seleke had an idea.

Seleke dragged a shell near the hermit crab that was in her bucket, and climbed in. She picked up a big piece of drift wood and waved it around.

"Humminy hubbidy, humminy hubbidy." Seleke said, "Get out!"

Sure enough the crab in her bucket raised his claw, but Seleke's drift wood claw was bigger. The little crab left the bucket.

Seleke grabbed the bucket and began climbing up the rope. On the way up she stopped at the water fall, filled her bucket, and continued to climb. The water made the bucket heavy, but Seleke was determined to get to the top.

The next morning when Seleke's mom asked for water for pancakes there was plenty.

The End
(c) 2008 Ken Demarest