There was a village near a
lake.
There lived a young girl.
Her name was Atieno.
Atieno's father was a
famous fisherman. He had
his own little fishing canoe.
Atieno enjoyed going
fishing with her father.
Atieno loved to watch the
boys play football.
"Let me play with you," she
begged them one day.
The boys laughed at her,
"Go and play hide and
seek with girls. "
Girls said to Atieno, "Your
legs are too long." Atieno
was sad.
Each morning, Atieno
danced alone with the sun.
The sun became her
friend.
One day, the sun did not
rise. Cocks did not crow.
Birds did not sing. Children
did not go to school. Even
her father did not go
fishing.
Atieno was sad. "Where is
my friend, the sun? Why is
it so dark today?"
Atieno told the other
children how sad she was.
But they laughed at her,
"Perhaps your friend the
sun, is dead. Or perhaps it
ran away from you."
Atieno said, "The sun is my
friend. It cannot die."
Atieno was so sad that she
ran to the house.
She kicked her brother's
ball very hard.
Atieno thought, "I will play
with this ball until my
friend, the sun returns."
She picked up the ball and
ran out with it.
Atieno put the ball on the
ground. She thought, "I
can play just like those
boys."
She kicked the ball hard. It
went up and up into the
cloudy sky.
Everybody stared up. The
ball disappeared into the
thick clouds.
There was total silence.
Suddenly, the thick clouds
cleared. The sun
appeared. Life returned to
the village once again.
Everybody prepared to do
what they always did.
Atieno could not believe
that the sun was back in
the village. But most of all,
the sun was back in her
life.
She told the children, "My
friend, the sun is back!"
Siddeeqah-Davids_-Atieno_s-friend
