New Tales of the Gobi Desert
Ying Wa Primary School, Jason Siu, Fiction: Group 2
F
ar on the steppes of Mongolia lived a very poor family. They were nomads of the Gobi
Desert. Mr. Zaya had a small piece of farmland. His wife worked on the field with him
every day. Their skin was tanned and dried by the burning hot rays of the Gobi sun. They
had no children but a faithful camel, Woody.
The land stayed thin and there were less and less grassland due to desertification. Mr. Zaya
wanted to find ways to resolve the problem.
“Our food is depleting. It’s time to protect our homeland. The desert seems to be engulfing our
land. Let’s plant ten trees each day as a barrier to stop its invasion,” suggested Mr. Zaya.
“Sure, Zaya! I’m always ready to help,” agreed Mrs. Zaya.
From then on, the family planted ten trees each day after they had finished working on
their farmland.
One day, a new neighbor came. He was called Mr. Greed. Mr. Greed was the boss of a gold-
mining company. He came to the Gobi Desert to develop his mining industry. He brought a team
of experts and miners to the desert. He accommodated them in hostels built near the Zaya’s
family. Once he passed by Mr. Zaya’s tree barriers while the family were busy planting trees.
“Hi, guys! What’re you doing here?” Mr. Greed asked the family in astonishment.
“Hi! How do you do? We’re the Zaya’s family. We have been living here for generations.
However, the desert has been expanding at an alarming rate. We’re now planting trees to make a
tree barrier to slow down the expansion,” replied Mr. Zaya.
“You said you want to stop desertification just by both of you? Are you kidding? I bet it
should be a failure!” said Mr. Greed with a scornful tone. He snorted and laughed at them and
kicked their camel, Woody. Woody was very annoyed and burped at him.
“You filthy bad-breath nuisance!” barked Mr. Greed at Woody and turned to the family, “Your
trees are blocking my mines. My miners will cut them down one by one!”
However, Mr. Greed’s words didn’t affect the family’s enthusiasm. Day by day, they worked
on the tree barrier. Although the sun’s strong rays beat down on their skin and sweat rolled down
their cheeks like pearls, they didn’t give up.
One Sunday morning, Mr. Greed set off to the workers’ hostels. He has planned to bring a
team of miners to destroy the tree barrier for the expansion of his mines. On his way to the
hostels, he wished to check the progress of mining work. He walked close to one of his mines. At
that very moment, he heard some bizarre sound. Something is howling. A sense of terror went
through his nerves.
“Is it a…” muttered Mr. Greed in a trembling voice.
Before he could react, a dust storm came. The whole sky was overcast with dust and sand.
The wind was especially strong around the mines as there were nearly no plants and the sand
was loose. Mr. Greed wanted to grasp the trees in the tree barriers but it was 400 meters away. He
staggered towards the trees but it was too late. He fell into his mine!
“Help…help!” shouted Mr. Greed non-stop at the peak of his voice but nobody answered. He
was shocked, desperate and exhausted. He fainted.
The storm calmed down and it was time for the fierce sun to be on duty. Woody came by. He
