Sparkle Glen – The tadpoles go exploring – Part 3

This is the final part of this fairytale series by Nan Bosler. You can read the first part of the series by clicking here or, if you need to catch up on part two here.

The tadpoles go exploring

Now these tadpoles were really very adventurous.  Instead of returning to their pool, the brothers thought they would leave home to explore the world. They headed away from their familiar part of the creek.  Their adventure had begun. How cold the water seemed to be compared with the warmth of their shallow pool.

It was fun to be able to swim down, down, down to the bottom, dodging in and out of the reeds and water plants.  It was wonderful! They swam on and on.

Eventually they decided to go up to the surface to peep at the world above.  The creek was beginning to weave its way behind a lot of houses.  The water wasn’t as clear now.  In fact it was getting so dirty that our adventurous five were finding it hard to see where they were going.  Bump, bump, two of the tadpoles swam straight into the sides of floating drink cans.

The other three were swimming near the bottom of the creek.  But that was worse.  One swam into an old tyre and became quite giddy before he found his way out.  Yet another grazed his tail on a jagged piece of glass.  The fifth one tried to swim up to the surface but got caught up in thick week.

The five recovered and swam as best they could towards what seemed to be a clearer spot.

“What ever have we found?” wailed the littlest tadpole.

The eldest brother considered for a moment and said, “I think this must be what humans call pollution?”

“I want to go home,” cried the middle brother.

And they all turned tail and swam towards home.

A fairy ring

While the tadpoles were off exploring the fairies were looking at their new house.  They had been watching the girls as they lovingly created each tiny room.  Now they were excitedly laughing as they flitted from room to room.  They were delighted and decided to spend the night in their new home.

Elly, Katarina and Leanne had made the little house believing that fairies lived on the creek banks and now the fairies wondered how they could let the girls know that they had been right.

Suddenly one of the fairies exclaimed, “let’s leave a fairy ring for them.”  The other fairies clapped their little hands.  And, with a touch of magic, a ring of toadstools was formed on the creek bank beside the new fairy house.

The fairies snuggled down to sleep, confident that the girls would find the fairy ring next morning and understand its message.

Could it be treasure?

It was very late that night when the tadpoles arrived home.  They were alarmed to find the water level in their home pool was rapidly getting very low.  The brothers and all of their other tadpole friends moved to the deepest parts of the pool.

Just as the sun began to light the sky Henry Frog decided that he could wait no longer.  He began croaking a warning to the creatures that lived along the banks of the creek.

“Water is building up above the pool.  It will flood the banks by mid morning.  Get ready to leave.”

The fairies woke with a start.  They ran to see what was happening.  They looked towards the sound of Henry Frog’s croaking but couldn’t see him because there was a bright light.

Instantly they thought of the Sun’s clue to help them find a new treasure.  Could it be the light they sought?

They flew towards the light and realised that the light was caused by the rays of the sun shining onto something in the pool.  The water level had dropped during the night to reveal lots of little gold nuggets.

Excitement rippled along the bank.  Henry Frog’s warning was temporarily forgotten.  Just at that moment the children were seen approaching the creek.  The creatures and the fairies scattered hurriedly, hiding so that Elly, Katarina, Leanne and Mikey wouldn’t see them

“Goodness, isn’t the creek low.  What could have happened?” said Katarina.

“Hmmmm. Could be because of the dam I built,” said Mikey.

The girls were very alarmed and insisted that Mikey remove the dam at once. Mikey was very proud of his successful dam but was easily persuaded to release the water and remove all the sticks that he had used to build the dam.

The fairies were watching as the girls went to have a last look at the fairy home that they had built.

Leanne was the first to spot the fairy ring.  “I knew that there would be fairies here.  Look they have left us a fairy ring!”

The girls were ecstatic!

Time to head home

It was with reluctance that Elly, Katarina, Leanne and Mikey responded to the calls from the campsite.  It was time for the family to leave.

“Oh, I wish we could stay longer,” said Mikey. “This has been the most exciting holiday that we have ever had.”

The creatures that lived on the banks of the creek, the fairies and the water dwellers all agreed.

Life certainly had been exciting while Elly, Katarina, Leanne and Mikey were visiting their Sparkle Glen.

photo: punchpunch