Storytelling for Week 10: The Little Captive

Elki peaked over the bank of the river and stared at the dozens of darting fish weaving their way through the rocks. Elki was mesmerized by their sparkly scales that reflected the sunlight in different directions each time they moved. He leaned further and further over the bank to get a better look until SPLASH - Elki tumbled into the icy cold water!

Elki waved his arms frantically as he tried to keep his head above water.

"Mo..m! He...l....p! Dad! ....Plea...se!" Elki chocked out as the river water viciously filled his lungs and impeded his speech.

It was no use. Elki had wondered too far away from his family. They could not hear his cries for help.

Suddenly something took hold of the young boy's ankle and ripped him beneath the surface. Elki's wide fearful eyes watched the outline of the sun shrink before him as his was pulled deeper and deeper into the depths of the river. Out of fear and lack of air, Elki slipped into unconsciousness.

(Sun Under Water. Web Source: pixabay)

When he awoke, Elki reached his palm towards his sleepy eyes to rub off his slumber. The young boy was startled when his arm moved much slower than he was used to and when he touched his face, it was wet! Elki sat up and looked around frantically! He was still under water!

Elki's eyes settled on an older looking woman who was calmly staring at him from a chair in the corner of the room. She was unlike anything he had ever seen before! The woman's hair looked like green moss as it floated around her face. Her skin was a very pale - almost white - shade of blue. Around her eyes and down her arms and legs were tiny opaque scales that reflected every color in the room. Finally, sitting on her lap was a tray of food.

When the woman noticed that Elki had finished studying her and his eyes had found the tray, she lifted it up and offered it to the boy.

"My dear Elki, you will feel much better once you eat. Here, take some food," the woman said gently.

It was not her voice that made Elki feel uncomfortable, but rather her large greedy eyes. Elki took the tray and slowly took a bite of food. With that bite, his fate was sealed. He could never again leave this river and return to his family without losing his life. He was forever with the wakanda's wife.

Author's Note: My story this week is based on the Native American story, The Wakanda, or Water God. In the original, there is a young boy who falls into the water while he is playing. His parent's, who of course are very distraught over this, mourn the loss of their son and hire two men to go into the water to retrieve their boy. The two men find the boy still alive, but in the care of the Wakanda's wife. She tells the two men that they boy can never again leave the river without dying because he as eaten the food of the water god. So for my retelling of this tale, I gave the boy the name Elki, which means "hanging over the top," and told a portion of the story from his prospective. I wanted to end with him still being in the water versus taken out of the river and dying as he did in the original story to leave room for the imagination to create a new ending of the boy discovering a new life beneath the surface.

Bibliography:
"The Wakanda, or Water God," by Judson from the Unit: The Great Plains