The Day Water Saved Earth

“Today we are learning about why rain is good!” said the teacher…..

One day, in the land of dinosaurs where there are many mountains, yet another earthquake was sent out from the mountain in the centre. At least, it looked like the other mountains, but there was a large hole in the middle of it.

There were also many trees around it, and the ground below was mostly sand. Every day the mountain would shake and the ground would crack a little more.

There were lots and lots of dinosaurs around, on one side a T Rex, on another a triceratops or two, and above, there were a million pterodactyls flying overhead, away from the shaking. They could see from above when the great hole opened up and swallowed the creatures who could not run away in time.

That morning, everything had been normal. There had been only one

earthquake. But then another came. And then another. And another.

Once the ground settled, tonnes of reddish-orange liquid oozed down the face of the mountain, and hundreds of rocks flew through the air from the deep grey clouds of ash. Sometime later, the rocks were still flying as the volcano threw them out of its massive mouth. Thousands of creatures were lost as casualties of the volcano, and any trees which remained were on fire. It was so hot nothing could breathe.

Then, all of a sudden….water began to fall from the sky. All of the fires were put out and the volcano eventually returned to being a mountain. The world had been in distress, but suddenly it had stopped. Everything was silent and the sun came out once more.

And it brought with it the most wonderful rainbow.

“And that is why it rains so much in Scotland,” concluded the teacher. “Any questions?”

“Yes! I do!” said Sally. “So why does it rain so much? I don’t quite understand.”

“Ah,” said the teacher, “it rains so much as a precaution. In case any other volcanoes decided to erupt…!”

Jasmine, S3