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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015
As the snow starts to fall on a winter's night, a young arctic fox heads out to find food for her little brother, a stone hare is brought to life by moonlight magic and a brave zebra saves Santa's sleigh ride, just in time for Christmas. A delightful anthology of animal stories that makes perfect bedtime reading. Snuggle up with your little ones and share these sweet stories before they go to sleep.
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Seitenzahl: 90
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CONTENTS
THE FAR END OF NOWHERE
Liss Norton
“He’s there again,” said Kaya to her little brother, Tuaq. The two Arctic foxes were playing and Kaya had just spotted the boy outside their den. He was crouched behind a bush, watching – just watching – the same as always. Kaya wasn’t worried. The boy came most days and did no harm.
“Got you!” Tuaq yipped. He nipped the tip of Kaya’s tail. Kaya rolled over, then sprang up and batted his ears. When she glanced round, she saw that the boy was laughing.
Summer slipped into autumn and the leaves turned sunset red. The wind blew cold. It whisked into the den, making Kaya and her family shiver.
Now when the boy came, he was wrapped up in thick layers. He blew into his hands and sometimes stood and stamped his feet. Occasionally he brought strips of meat. He threw them to Kaya and Tuaq and they gobbled them down, even though Mother had told them not to.
Mother said humans were dangerous. “They take Arctic foxes to the Far End of Nowhere and nobody ever comes back from that terrible place.”
Kaya listened to her warnings, but the boy didn’t seem dangerous at all. How could someone who brought them food and laughed at their games be dangerous?
Winter came, bringing deep snow. Kaya’s fur turned white and so did Mother’s.
“Beautiful!” cried Kaya, twisting her head to admire her fluffy tail in the dim light of the den. Tuaq’s fur was mostly white, too, but his ears were still the blue-grey of his summer coat.
The boy no longer came to watch. “I wish he’d come back,” Kaya said, her tummy rumbling. “He brought good meat.”
“It’s too cold for him,” said Mother. She was weary from long hours of hunting. It was getting harder to find little animals hiding underneath the snow for them to eat.
“Can I come hunting with you, Mother?” Kaya begged every day. She longed to learn all she could about catching food. One day soon she’d be grown up and have to fend for herself.
“No, Kaya,” replied Mother, nudging her gently with her nose. “Stay close to the den and don’t let Tuaq get too cold.”
One day when Mother came in from hunting, a flurry of snowflakes whooshed into the den with her. “I daren’t go out again,” she said, even though she’d brought nothing to eat. “The wind’s growing stronger by the second. There’ll be a blizzard soon and I must stay home until it blows itself out. Humans send blizzards to blind the eyes of foxes so they end up at the Far End of Nowhere. That’s not going to happen to me!”
“I’m hungry,” whimpered Tuaq.
Kaya didn’t say anything, but she was worried. Tuaq was too little to go for long without food.
“We have to be patient,” Mother said. “I’ll hunt again when the blizzard stops.”
But it didn’t stop. The next morning, they could still hear the wind shrieking and the foxes huddled together in the den all day.
That night, Kaya lay awake listening to Tuaq whimpering in his sleep. She knew he was desperately hungry. Her tummy ached for food, too. She didn’t know how much longer they could go without having something to eat, but Mother was too worn out from her long days of hunting to go into the storm.
“Don’t worry, Tuaq,” Kaya whispered. “I’ll find food for us.” She crept across the den and slipped into the tunnel leading out of their cosy home. The wind was still howling, but she didn’t turn back. The thought of being outside alone at night was frightening, but she had to help her little brother. “I won’t go far,” she told herself. “Definitely not to the Far End of Nowhere.”
The tunnel sloped up towards the outside world and the cold grew with every step Kaya took. Part of her wanted to run back to Mother and snuggle against her for warmth, but there’d be no food for Tuaq if she did that.
The tunnel opening was covered in snow. Kaya dug into it with her paws. It was deep and icy, but she kept on digging until at last her nose pushed through into the bitterly cold night. The whirling snow had turned the sky grey and she couldn’t see the moon or stars.
As she scrambled out into the open, the wind flattened her thick fur and stung her face with snowflakes as sharp as stones.
“I’ll break the ice on the river,” she said, determined not to turn back. “And I’ll catch Tuaq a fish.” She wondered why Mother hadn’t thought of doing that – the river was close to the den. If she ran all the way there and back she’d be home again before anyone noticed she’d gone.
Mustering all her courage, she set off towards the river, her paws crunching over the snow. She’d been there with Mother and Tuaq a hundred times. Surely she’d find it easily, even in a blizzard?
On and on she trudged, head down as she fought the fierce wind. “I’ll be home in no time, just as soon as I’ve caught that fish,” she said. But she walked a long way without reaching the river. “I must have gone too far,” she said at last, feeling a stab of fear. “Maybe the snow’s settled on the frozen water and I crossed without noticing it.”
Forcing herself to stay calm, she turned and headed back the way she’d come, sniffing the air to find the fresh, clean river smell. But she could scent only snow, and its biting chill was tiring her out. “I’ll go straight home,” she said. “Even though I haven’t caught a fish.”
She lifted her head, trying to pick up her own trail so she could sniff her way back to the den, but the wind had blown that scent away, too. Heart pounding, she sped up, racing through the whirling snowflakes, desperate to find her home. But which was the right way?
On and on she ran until her legs ached so badly that she had to stop. Frightened, she threw back her head and howled. But the wind whipped her cry away and she knew nobody would hear.
Kaya tried not to think about the humans who sent the blinding blizzards, and the Arctic foxes who went to the Far End of Nowhere and never came back, but she couldn’t help wondering if she was trapped in that terrible place right now.
She trudged through the snow, her legs as heavy as boulders.
At last she saw an enormous, dark shape ahead. She crept closer. Perhaps she could shelter behind it.
Kaya froze in her tracks – the dark shape must be a human-home! Mother had told her about their high walls that stretched up towards the sky. She shuddered, knowing now that the very worst had happened… She’d reached the Far End of Nowhere!
Too cold and weary to go back through the blizzard, Kaya spotted a low opening in a wall. She used the last of her strength to crawl inside for shelter.
When Kaya woke, the wind had died down. She remembered at once that she was at the Far End of Nowhere. Leaping up in panic, she looked around, her fur bristling with fear. There were no humans to be seen, just a heap of logs. Perhaps there was still time to escape! She ran to the hole she’d crept through last night, but before she could squeeze back out, footsteps came clumping towards her hiding place.
The footsteps stopped outside. Kaya crouched low, heart pounding and legs trembling. Did she have the strength to squeeze back through the hole and run to safety?
“Be brave, Kaya,” she told herself. She dived out of the hole, past a pair of human feet in big boots. The human gasped. Kaya ran.
When she was far enough away to feel safe, she halted and glanced back. There were two human-homes here, the small one she’d sheltered in and a much bigger one that reached towards the sky, just as Mother had said. The human was standing between them. He was wrapped up against the cold, but Kaya recognized him at once. He was the boy who’d watched her and Tuaq playing outside their den.
Slowly, the boy inched closer while Kaya stood, quivering, in the snow. He crouched down and spoke to her in his strange, human language. He held out his hand to her. She didn’t move. Could she trust him?
The boy went into the big human-home. When he came out, he was carrying meat. It smelled delicious.
The boy threw a small piece of meat to her. Kaya’s mouth began to water, but she picked it up carefully in her teeth. She’d carry it home to Tuaq. If she could find her way home…
The boy walked away from Kaya and threw down more pieces of meat.
Watching him closely, ready to run if he came towards her, Kaya crept forward. Now she knew there was more, Kaya swallowed the first piece of meat. She snatched up the next, before looking round for more. She’d save the rest for her little brother.
The boy was a good way off now, but he dropped more meat in the snow.
He wants me to follow him, Kaya thought. But why? She couldn’t be sure, but he’d never tried to hurt her when he’d been watching near the den. Warily she crept after him, picking up the meat as she went.
Soon they were a long way from the human-homes at the Far End of Nowhere. Kaya was glad of that, though she wished she knew where the boy was heading. Suddenly her nose twitched and her eyes opened wide with joy. Home! She’d scented home!
As she darted forward, the boy smiled at her. He watched until she reached the den and began to dig down through the snow. Then he turned and hurried away.
Kaya dug frantically and soon uncovered the den’s entrance. She dashed down the tunnel, woke Mother and Tuaq and set the meat in front of them.
“Food!” yipped Tuaq.
“Kaya, where did this come from?” asked Mother in astonishment.
“Let’s eat first,” Kaya said. “Then I’ll tell you my story.”
And what a story it was! She’d been all the way to the Far End of Nowhere and come safely home again.
