THE ENCHANTED GROVE

The prophecy

It happened. What everyone secretly feared in their heart had happened. The river of Aquaridge had dried up. This had never happened before. Without the river, we would be doomed.

I woke up very early the morning of that unfateful day to fetch water from the river which we would need for the rest of the day. I went there by about 6:30AM so that I could be able to get there before anyone else and be the first on the line to fetch water quickly.

I took two buckets and headed for the river. I was shocked at what I saw. Not a drop of water remained in the river. I hurried home to tell my mom about it.

"Mom!Mom" I called to her. She was sleeping when I came in. I had probably woken her up.

"What! Why did you wake me up" She was rubbing her eyes still feeling sleepy.

"The water in the river has dried up " I explained to her.

She paused to look at me.

Astonishment was written all over her face.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I went to fetch water this morning and there was not a drop of water there" I began to wonder if what I saw there was true.

My mom went to the door and opened it.  She looked around as if she were looking for something then called out to her friend, Mrs Olivia who was also coming out of her house with her buckets. She had not heard of the bad news.

My mom narrated the situation to her friend who could hardly believe what she heard.  As she was still narrating it to her, two boys came running towards the village. It seemed they had seen the river.

"The river has dried up! The river has dried up!" They exclaimed and caught the attention of the other villagers.

Some doubted it was true and went to check for themselves and they came back with the same bad news.

"Let's take it to the king! " A villager said and we all went to the king's palace.

Word had already reached the king and it was obvious that he didn't know what to do about it. He ordered for the village wise man to be called to the palace immediately.

The village wise man was as old as two centuries and had a lot of knowledge. He bowed to the king and the situation was explained to him.

"This has never happened in the history of this village." He said. He was sitting on a stool brought to him by some palace servants.

"What are we going to do about this? Is this a curse or punishment? Without the river we won't be able to water our crops or get fish to eat. We will also lose our respect from other villages. "The king was confused and worried.

"It has been bound to happen. It was stated in an ancient prophecy which was written by the first people to live in this village of Aquaridge. The prophecy also says that overtime, our land will become dry and unfertile and our crops will rot. The animals will perish and there will be little food to it. It's better to gather and save food before all that happens. "The wise man was now nodding his head repeatedly.

"Please tell us about this prophecy. Can it help us in anyway?" The king seemed to be impatient.

"The ancient prophecy stated that one very day, a child will happen to go to the river early in the morning and it would be dried up. " My mom looked at me after the wise man said that statement.

" The only way our waters can be redeemed is by that same child who will journey to the enchanted grove and help rescue the village of Aquaridge "I held my mother's trembling hands tightly. I looked at her eyes and it looked as if she was about to cry. Her eyes were as red as an apple freshly plucked from the tree.