The Legend of the Desert
British International School Shanghai Puxi, Imogene Lacaille-Delmas, Fiction: Group 3
T
asha was a little girl living in one of the very rare villages in the Gobi Desert. She was
living with her mother and grandfather, but unfortunately her dad had died a very
mysterious death. He had gone alone on his camel to get water in the far, far dunes and
had never come back, so, they considered him dead.
One year the desert got really dry. The plants were dying, so were the animals. And during
one really sunny day the only water source dried away. This had not happened for years and the
villagers knew that the only way to get water was to travel to the far, far dunes. But no one dared
to go, as the few people that went were never seen again. Tasha, the youngest of all knew the
danger but could not bear to see her people die so she said:
“I could go to the dunes, I know the way and my camel is still alive”.
“You will not stand a chance, the desert is too dangerous”, said a villager.
“Do you want water or not? Do you want nature to take over, because one day it will, one day
we will not be there anymore”.
And so she went to get her bag ready. When her grandpa came in, he looked at her and said:
“I think that I should warn you. I have never told you this legend before but I think it might
be true. To go there you must walk for two days and just as you think it’s finished you’ve still got
so much to face! If you find yourself between three stones you are in great danger. However, there
is a path that goes around the stones, the only way, but one foot out on the orange sand and you
will disappear forever…”
“How do you know so much? I mean…”
“I went there myself but my companions didn’t have my luck, they both fell.”
“I know it’s dangerous! But still I have to go!”
“I know.” And he left.
So in the morning she climbed on her camel. It was a sunny day and it was boiling! She
kissed her mum and grandpa goodbye and told them: “I will come back.”
The first day was long and tiring and she needed to rest, so she stopped as she went to get her
gourd, she realised it had fallen off. She was left with nothing to drink.
“Oh no, where has it gone, I will never get to the dunes alive!”
So she decided to continue as night had fallen and the temperature with it. She also realised
that with the cold she could forget how thirsty she was. But her camel walked really slowly and
was starting to get feeble as it had not drunk water for days. Suddenly she saw something: a
lake, trees! She ran for it. As she got closer she could see it more and more clearly. And then… it
disappeared. Her imagination had tricked her. It was gone.
“Now is no time to loose concentration, I must carry on for my village’s sake.”
During the night she didn’t stop to sleep or rest but walked and walked until she was
completely dehydrated and could not walk anymore. She had just sat down on the damp sand
when she felt a hand gripping her shoulder. She shuddered, scared but when she heard a kind
voice, she calmed down.
“What happened to you”, said the women’s voice. “Are you ok?”
“No I’m not, I lost my gourd and walked all night, I fell really dizzy!” She looked up to see a
