Children’s booksDari arkib
The lonely rock and the bird
Nurin wrote stories all the time. This one, about a lonely rock and a bird, stayed a draft on two sheets of notepaper.
Nurin wrote stories all the time. Some became little books of her own. Many stayed as outlines on loose paper, lying around the house. She wrote them regularly, sometimes weekly and sometimes daily, depending on whether it was a school day or the school holidays, and whether we were at home in Singapore or travelling.
This one never became a storybook. It is a draft on two sheets of notepaper, with her crossings-out and the words she squeezed in above the line as she went.
It is about a rock that sits still and lonely, waiting for someone to play with, and a bird that swoops out of the sea with some fish. The rock wonders what is in the city, but it is too heavy for the bird to carry there. The two become friends, and the years pass.
Once there was a stone. It stood Still, Lonely, anyone want to play? He would say. The poor rock Sat still waiting for someone to play. Suddenly, a bird swooped out of the sea bringing with him some fishes. It sat on the rock. "Care for some fish?" offered the bird who was eating in arush. "No thankyou" said therock said "I dont eat fish". "Then what do you eat?" asked the bird. "I don't eat, bird" rock said. "Why do you sound so lonely?" the bird asked. "I wonder whats in the city bird, can you bring me there?" Said the rock "No- yo-ure too -.. He-avy!" "now back to my qustion, why do you sound so lonely?"
"Dear friend" said the rock "one day Ill dissapear and turn into sand... I had always wanted to see the city. Now do you understand?" "Oh yes I do my friend, I will visit you, always. Bye bye!" The next day, the rock waited patiently. Years pasted "Had bird forgotten?" thought the rock and suddenly he knew something bad. A letter was beside him, and when he read it, it said "Dear friend, I have died. I just want to tell you that Imay live for a shot life happily. I still remember, the day we met"
There is a lot in two pages: a friendship, a wish to see the world, a long wait and a goodbye. It ends with a letter from the bird, which closes with "I still remember, the day we met". It is a child's way of writing about a short life and about remembering a friend.
Her spelling is kept as she wrote it, including "dissapear" and "shot life".
