From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 18 - August 1994
See Home Page at http://www.ivymag.org/
A Very Short Story
By Britta Burtles, England
Once upon a time there was a little girl called Bea. One day Bea went
for a walk and found a magic Bridge which helped her cross the rough
terrain. In her mind the Bridge merged with the landscape. She felt
so safe and invulnerable that she disregarded all precautions. She
quite forgot that woods had snakes which sometimes bite and wasps
which sometimes sting. To her, all creatures were beautiful,
loveable and amiable.
She had so much fun on her walk picking flowers and watching birds
that she did not see the snake sliding through the grass at her side.
To the snake the bouncy happy girl seemed a threat. It slid nearer
and nearer. But Bea `knew' nothing could happen to her, since she
was on that strong Bridge. When she lay down in the grass to have
a little rest and to admire the clouds and the butterflies, the snake
bit her.
At first Bea was so stunned that she did not pay any attention to
the bite. She got up and went back home. Only then did the snake's
poison start to take effect and Bea became very ill. She would have
died, if a clever surgeon hadn't straight away cut out the snake bite.
Fortunately she was surrounded by many good friends who helped
her in all sorts of ways during her recovery. One friend, Andy, even
came from a foreign land to assist her.
So she slowly recovered and became as happy and bouncy as she was
before. She also decided that she could not blame the snake for what
had happened, since snakes do not know any better. Bea knew that she
had been careless and that there was a lesson to learn. She realised
that even walking on a magic Bridge, one always has to be alert.