Amazon
Category:
Children
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN-10: 1503253155
Type: Fiction
Pages: 94
ISBN-13: 9781503253155
Jungle Olympics 3rd story book.
Mr Rhino, the Jungle team's hardest hitter, is on the verge of thumping his side to victory. Mr Lion, in his desperation to win, has asked Mr Monkey to bowl the last over despite his having a disabled arm. But fear not - the previously under-estimated Mr Monkey has a cunning plan to save the match and become a hero from zero.
Excerpt
They'd been having a very tough time in the jungle. It had not rained for many days. All the rivers, streams and ponds were almost dry and there was very little water available for drinking. Each and every one in the forest was praying for the rain, which had refused to come. They were afraid that if the drought continued, their lives would be in danger. So they were employing all conventional and unconventional methods to get rain. They had tried rain dancing and presenting burnt offerings to their Rain God by burning a branch of olive tree. But the result was the same…..no sign of any cloud ….no rain.
“Well,” roared Mr Lion “Tell us about Cricket.”
“I was flying over a place called Manchester in England,” shrieked Mr Seagull “I had flown over the Atlantic and was very tired. I was about to land, when I saw a large crowd gathered around a big oval ground called the Old Trafford Cricket Stadium. I landed safely on its grass and looked around. There were many local seagulls there already. I asked one of them what the commotion was about. He informed me that the crowd had gathered to watch Cricket. The stadium was completely full with spectators, who had even bought very costly tickets to be there.
When I requested my mate to describe what Cricket is, he asked me to be patient and see myself what an interesting thing the Cricket was. I perched in a high tree to have a good view of the event.
I saw that the grass was finely cut and lush green. In the centre of the ground they had hammered six sticks, three on each side of the bared strip of ground. The crowd was very noisy and excited, and then they started to clap.
I saw two priests wearing white robes and black trousers arrive. Then their eleven disciples in white uniforms followed them. One of the priests stood behind three sticks which they called stumps, and the other one at the opposite end of the bared strip which they called a pitch.
All the disciples spread themelves around the pitch and then the crowd started to clap again as two more disciples entered the ground, each of them carrying a wooden object, and they called that a cricket bat. These persons took their places on each side of the cricket pitch and after that one of the disciples came running in and swung his arms around. Then it started to rain. It rained so heavily that the ground had to be covered to safeguard it against damage by the rain water.
It was only then that I understood. Cricket is a ritual to get rain, better than our rain dance or the burnt offerings to the Rain God. It guarantees rain because I have watched cricket in London, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka - result was always the same… heavy rain.”
The crowd sighed with relief. They could kill two birds with one stone - apart from Mr Seagull, of course. They could have a brand new Olympics event which would ensure rain.
“Wonderful,” roared Mr Lion, “Let us get more information about Cricket and its rules. Who knows more about Cricket?”
“I have watched cricket from above many Cricket grounds,” uttered Mr Pigeon, “I know all about it and all the rules. That is why I am alive today; otherwise, that red ball they call a cricket ball would have killed me long ago. It is tough and shoots like a bullet. You have to know the Cricket rules to be on the safe side.”
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