Written and Illustrated by
Liliana Julia Monge
December, 2012
San Luis Obispo, CA
Dedicated to Alfredo del Transito Monge Menjivar,
my grandfather, who was very special to me.
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Chapter 1: Connecting with Rising Water
Someday, when I start school, I’ll miss my days with Rising Water. Rising Water, my one and only friend, is a wolf. Every morning, I leave my house and make my way through the cold air through the woods and across the river to play with Rising Water. Most of the time I find him snuggled up in his den, waiting for me. But other times, when the air is warm, I find him swimming in the cold lake.
I always carry my light brown wooden flute, a signal to tell the wolf I have arrived. The wolf comes leaping out to greet me. He licks me so much that I look like I’ve just come out of a water hole. On cold days, Rising Water and I have races to cross the frozen fields. And on warm summer mornings, we go swimming in the lakes.
I think there’s nothing better than playing with Rising Water. While I am gone, my parents and my little brother, Foxtail, are home sipping their mint tea and telling stories by the fire.
My father is always telling me how foolish I am to be spending my days with a wolf. But I don’t take offense; I just remember the day I met Rising Water.
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The Story of How Dragon Snake Met Rising Water
It was a warm summer night and I, Dragon Snake, was sent to collect firewood for the family fire. I ran close to the stream by the tall meadow grass when I stopped to look at a tall tree right at the edge of the meadow with a red and black rope curled around one of the main branches. Since I was very curious, I climbed up the tall tree and poked the black and red rope with my finger. I heard a loud hissing sound. I jumped back and fell onto a lower branch. It was a snake! I climbed down the tree as fast as I could, but the snake had already caught me by the leg. The snake bit me and I fell into the big cold river. I was under water for quite a long time when I bobbed up for air, but the snake was waiting for me. I plunged back into the water and got my hand stuck in one of the roots. I pulled at the root but my hand would not come out of the thick root. Suddenly, I felt teeth grip my free hand and pull me up to the surface of the water. It was a wolf! I tried to wiggle my arm out of the wolf’s teeth but the wolf would not let me go. Finally, as I relaxed against the soft, grey, thick and warm fur, I suddenly knew that the wolf’s name is Rising Water.
I almost fell back into the water when I heard a hiss. The wolf ran over to the hissing sound and stomped on the red and black snake. He fought and bit the snake until it slowly gave up and climbed back up the tree. By the time the wolf got back to me, I was asleep. The wolf nudged me with his nose to wake me up. Then I climbed onto the wolf’s back. The wolf trotted away. When the wolf finally got to his den, I was asleep on his back. The wolf lay down and pushed me onto a soft pile of leaves, then lay down next to me. All night we were cuddled up in the den together. In the morning, when I woke up, the wolf was gone. I was surprised to be sleeping in a pile of leaves in a cave, alone. I found a sappling and hollowed out the inside. Then I poked holes with a rock in it. I blew through it and it worked! It sounded just like a real flute. I played it again and again until I stopped to see a grey figure moving through the meadow with a few petals of dandelion flower in his mouth. As the figure came closer, I realized it was a wolf, the one who brought me up from the water and saved me from the snake. The wolf came running into the cave. I got on his back and the moment I clutched his fur, the wolf took off toward the river. When the wolf got to the river, he let the petals soak in the water while I watched to make sure they didn’t float away. Then the wolf grabbed a few plantain leaves and put them in the river too. After a few minutes, I took them out and placed them in the wolf’s mouth again. The wolf pressed the leaves down with his tongue and lay them on the ground next to me. I put the poultice on my leg where the snake had bit me and tied it with some grass. And that night, I got on the Rising Water’s back and the he took me home. I had no idea how he knew where I lived, but I think he was watching me.
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Chapter 2: Helping Foxtail
Today it is hot and Rising Water and I have decided to play in the river. When we first get in, it is very cold and we sit still, shivering. But after awhile we get used to the frozen water and we have races across the cold river. After that, we have a splash fight. When we get out of the water, we go to dry out in the sun. When night falls again, Rising Water takes me home.
In the morning, I wake up early from the sound of my brother crying. I run to his bed, where I see my mother and father stroking Foxtail’s head and getting medicine to give him. I know that this means I cannot play with Rising Water today. I run outside and make my way through the forest and across the cold river to Rising Water’s den and I find him sleeping, snuggled up in his cave. I reach for my flute inside my leather pouch and pull it out. I blow it as hard as I can and the wolf stands up. He comes running towards me. I tell him that my brother is sick and I need his help. Then Rising Water nudges me with his nose. I know what this means from the day I met him. I get on his back and he trots to my house. Even though the wolf is eager to heal my brother, he will not let himself be seen by my parents. So he picks a hiding spot behind a large bush and collects herbs and tells me to fetch a bucket from my house. I come back with a clay bucket in my hand that I made myself when I was three years old. Rising Water places some of the herbs he has found in the bucket and takes them down to the river while I get honey from my father’s bee hives. When Rising Water comes back with a bucket full of water and herbs, he tells me to give them to my brother: the yarrow to be placed on his hand and feet with a cloth to help his fever and the peppermint and honey to be made into a tea for his cough. I go in and get a cloth made with wool and dip it in the bucket of yarrow and rub it on his hands and feet. Then I go to the kitchen and prepare the peppermint and honey tea. I bring it to my brother’s bedside and tell my mother and father to give the tea to him.
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The next day, Rising Water comes early in the morning before my parents have awakened to check on my brother. First he comes inside and wakes me up. Surprised and tired, I lead him to my brother’s bed, where he looks at my brother. Before we leave he tells me my brother has improved but is not fully healed. It is almost winter now and it is so early that the sun is not up. It is so cloudy you cannot see, so I go to my room and I light my candle. Then I get on Rising Water’s back and he takes me to his den, where we sleep some more until sun up. Now we will have races across the field. Usually the he wins, but today, I am lucky and he is tired. I take off at great speed and am the first one to cross the finish line.
I figure today Rising Water is going to feel like me, because every day to keep me busy and make me feel like I’m not slow, we have a competition of who can climb the highest in the tree. Of course, I always win that. So I guess Rising Water won’t win anything today.
After that, I decide to stay late with Rising Water so I can hunt with him. I get on his back and he takes me to a place I’ve never seen before. It has so many trees that I can barely see the clouds moving across the sky. I hide behind a bush with Rising Water and we sit crouching there for awhile. All of a sudden, he jumps out. I peek out of the bush to see a red and black snake curled up in the tree. I crouch down lower and push my way through the leafy bush. I hear a howl and then a bark and a stomping noise. Rising Water attacks the snake and comes pounding back to me. I think to myself how this could have happened and what would have happened if Rising Water was not there to protect me.
He comes back and crouches behind the bush with me. I feel bad for him because I know Rising Water needed to hunt instead of protect me. He signals me to climb onto his back. He freezes so fast that I almost fall off. I look around to see a big fat rabbit hopping around in the grass. Then Rising Water plunges over the rabbit, throws me off his back, and scratches it with his claws. Surprised, I stand back up to see the Rising Water carrying the dead rabbit in his mouth. We head back to Rising Water’s den. Rising Water drops off the rabbit and motions me to get on his back. He brings me home, where I get into bed and fall asleep.
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The next day the wolf comes early again before my parents wake up. I am already by my brother’s bed giving him the peppermint and honey tea for his cough. Rising Water tells me that Foxtail is already better. So I get on his back as usual, and we head to his den. I play my flute for awhile, then we get tired of staying inside, so I tie my scarf around my neck and we go outside to play. We decide to have a snowball fight, but that doesn’t work so well because I am the only one who can actually make snowballs. It is getting late anyways, and I need to get home before the snow gets too deep for the wolf to bring me home.
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Chapter 3: A Blizzard
Tonight is unusual because I never really have dreams, but tonight, the first night I have ever dreamed of something, my dream is very powerful. I see a big storm with crashing trees, frozen ice, deep snow, and harsh winds. Rising Water is stuck in his den with another wolf. The other wolf is trying to get out to look for food, but cannot find the right time because every five seconds a tree crashes or a harsh wind blows. Finally, he finds the right moment. He leaps out of the den and sprints under a tree. In my dream, I see myself asleep in my bed, having this same dream.
I wake up. It is the middle of the night. Everyone is asleep so I slip on my moccasins and tie my leather pouch on with my flute. Then I open the door and slip outside. It is cold and the river has frozen so I have to break through the ice, which means no shoes, so I slip them off and plunge onto the frozen river. I would walk across it but I am afraid the ice might crack and if I’m walking I’m not prepared to swim. So instead, I step onto the ice and reach for a nearby stick. With one big smack, the ice breaks in front of me and I plunge into the pool of freezing water. I do the same for each stroke I swim--I smack my stick onto the ice so I can swim farther each time. I make sure to hold my flute tightly so it doesn’t slip out of my leather pouch.
When I get to shore, I feel frozen. Since I have no shoes, I head to the nearest pine tree and take a big handful of needles, tie them together, then put them under my feet so they won’t freeze. But they don’t work. I have not tied them tightly with the proper material. They slip off my feet and I do not bother to put them back on. I am tired and I am not thinking as well as I normally would. So instead of trying to walk in the snow barefooted, I get back in the water, which is much colder, and swim upstream to see if I can swim farther toward the den so I do not have to walk a long ways. When I get out, I am lost. I probably would have gotten lost on the other trail if I had not been so stubborn, but this is worse. I get out of the water and try to climb up a tree, but the minute I wrap my hands around the thick bark, the tree collapses. I let go and I dodge over the tree. With all my strength, I run across the frozen fields to the den. Before I get in, I see a large wolf trying to make its way through the woods. I’m sure it’s not Rising Water, so I keep going. All of a sudden, he lays under a tree to rest for a moment, but the tree is weak, and a big wind sweeps across the base of its roots and the tree tumbles over on top of the big wolf. I head over to the dead wolf. With sad eyes I look down on it, but I am still determined to find Rising Water.
I leap across a few more trees. Then finally I come across the big den. Rising Water is laying down with five pups curled up beside her.
Then I actually wake up. Is Rising Water really a girl? Is my dream true? Who is the bigger wolf that the tree fell on who died? Was my dream all true or was it just a regular dream that all children have? I think it is true and if it really is, I want to be there for Rising Water to help her and to guide her. It is stormy and very choppy and in my dream, the river is frozen like it is now. Am I really awake?
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It’s very early in the morning, so if I’m going to leave, I’d better leave now before Mother, Father, and Foxtail wake up. I slip on my moccasins and tie my leather pouch around my neck with the flute in it. I open the door and run outside.
When I get to the river, I decide I should just follow everything exactly how my dream was. So I take off my moccasins and step onto the cold ice. I reach for a stick and with one smack I break the ice and swim. I do everything exactly how my dream says but I remind myself that in my dream, the shoes I made for myself from pine needles did not work. And so, of course, I get out of the water and tie pine needles to my feet but they fall off after a little while. So I get back into the water and swim further. I get out of the water. The wind stings my cheeks as I walk through the frozen wind. In my dream, I got lost and so I warn myself that if I am not careful, I will get lost. For a second, I look up off the floor to see a bird flying in the sky, and sure enough, when I look back down again I don’t recognize where I am. I run in every direction trying to find my way to Rising Water’s den, but I am lost. I can’t give up but I do need to let my feelings out by the river. I take a stick and I chop a little hole in the river. I sit down and I start to cry. All of a sudden, I hear a voice calling me:
“Dragon Snake, Dragon Snake!” It is Foxtail! He has come to bring me home.
“Foxtail!” I say to him in a low voice. “What are you doing out here in the cold?”
“Mother Father sent me look for you.” Foxtail says. “I thought ice would be frozen, so Mother, Father gave me this stick.”
“Oh, Foxtail, you’re so funny,” I say to him, pretending to keep my sadness to myself. “Foxtail, how did you swim in the water? You can’t swim.” I say in my happiest voice.
“Oh, ice chunks floating around. I sat on them.” Foxtail replies.
“Well then, Foxtail, get on my back and we can swim home together.” Even though I was trying to find Rising Water, I knew that my little brother had found me and that I needed to go home. So when we get home I make a plan to escape in the middle of the night where I can get a head start where nobody could catch me. Nobody knows where Rising Water’s den is.
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That night, I light my candle and stuff a few carrots into my pocket along with a blanket and a jar of fresh milk from our cows. This time, since it is so cold, instead of breaking the ice, I do what Foxtail had done to catch me. It seems like it would be quicker and I wouldn’t be so cold when I get to Rising Water’s den. When I get across the frozen stream, I hear a big crash. I run over to the noise. I find a tree has fallen over on a wolf. The wolf is much bigger than Rising Water but I still want to help it. When I get closer, I see that the wolf has already died, so I keep on running through the woods.
It is very misty and the snow is falling hard, but I have memorized my way to Rising Water’s den, so in five minutes I have followed a deer trail and get to the den. Rising Water is sitting up. She is not alarmed when I walk in. She greets me, but this time she greets me with a stomp on the ground instead of leaping up and licking my face. I come closer to her so I can greet her. Then she lays down and looks at me with her large orange eyes. I lay down next to her.
I wake up to the sound of her panting. Have I really been asleep? She keeps changing positions from laying down to sitting up. The panting gets louder. She lays down a last time when I see that she is getting ready to deliver pups. I hurry to the entrance of the cave and hang my blanket over the opening to keep the cave warm for Rising Water’s pups. Then I bring the candle close to her so I can see the pups. There are five of them, just like in my dream. The smallest one is huddled up closest to her. I bring the candle near her so I can see the black, wet, furry babies.
Everyone is nursing except for the runt. Rising Water nudges me with her nose, then pushes the runt towards me. I get the blanket from the cave entrance and pick up the soft black pup. I go to a dark corner of the cave and get my milk jar. The baby wolf holds his mouth open and I pour some of the milk into its mouth. Then I take the carrots out of my pocket and give them to Rising Water.
Now I understand who the big wolf that had gotten killed by the tree was. I think it might be Rising Water’s mate. She will no longer have a hunter for the family, so the family might rely on me. The rest of the babies are busy nursing while I take the runt to the darkest corner and lay her down beside me. Rising Water gets up and brings her pups to the dark corner where I am laying with the runt. She lays down beside me and all of us go to sleep.
I stay in the cave all night with Rising Water and her pups. In the morning, the storm is worse. The wind is blowing so hard into the cave that you can hardly breathe. But we stay close to each other in the corner of the cave. The babies are tiny and wet so I figure they are cold. I lay the runt beside the rest and lay the blanket on top of them.
All of a sudden, I hear a big crash and a moan too deep to be an animal. Then, I hear a crumbling sound. The cave is breaking because the snow is getting too heavy. I wrap the babies up in the blanket and give them to Rising Water. She runs out of the cave with the sack in her mouth and I come chasing after her with the runt. I run ahead of her but the air is fast. It feels as if a tornado is coming. The air is sucking us up, but Rising Water fights the wind furiously. The only way we can make it through is if we fight the wind, which means we have to go very fast. I get on Rising Water’s back and she sprints across the frozen lake, but we are too heavy. The ice cracks and Rising Water starts to swim. The sack of pups falls out of her mouth and I jump off her back. I give her a signal to keep swimming while I rescue the babies, so she does, but not as fast. I dive under deep. Finally, I catch sight of the sack. The pups are trying to swim up to the surface but they are sinking down deeper. I fight my way through the water, kicking my arms and legs furiously. When I am arm’s distance from the sack I reach for it. I pick up the sack and come kicking up to the surface. Then, mimicking Rising Water’s strokes, I swim as fast as I can. Maybe it was better that the ice cracked because the tornado would have already picked us up if we weren’t in the water.
I get up onto the bank of the lake and Rising Water is holding onto a tree that is getting ripped out of the ground. I open my free hand, where the runt is. She is still there. I get on Rising Water’s back, and she sprints away, getting closer and closer to the house. Finally, we stop at the location where the house used to be. There is nothing but ripped up wood in its spot. I run to the storm cellar. I open the door and walk down, expecting to see my family. But instead of my parents, Foxtail and a new baby girl sit together, huddled on the side, crying.
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Chapter 4: New Babies
Foxtail sits next to me under the blanket. As we listen to him talk about what happened, I realize that my mother and father are gone.
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The Story of the New Baby
Foxtail tells me that they were in the house when the whole house got covered in snow. Mother had just had the baby when the tornado came. It cleared off all the snow for a few seconds, and in those quick seconds, Foxtail was quick enough to get the baby and run outside into the storm cellar. But the snow was falling so fast that it covered the house again. The house collapsed and most of its pieces got swept up into the tornado.
Foxtail sat in the chamber for hours, waiting for someone to come and help him but no one ever did, so he decided to wait until the storm passed. He mentioned to me that Mother and Father had not chosen a name for the new baby.
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When Foxtail is finished, I uncover Rising Water and her pups and put the blanket half over us and half over them, then lay the baby’s blanket over us so there are not cracks. I think that Rising Water should choose the name for the baby. For a while we sit in silence, then Rising Water pricks up her ears and starts to wag her tail. I ask her what she has thought of and she picks the name Wind Running.
I decide that Rising Water, the only mother, has to take care of the baby because we do not have some things that Rising Water has that the baby needs, like milk. The cows and the chickens and all of the animals are gone and so all we have is the wolf. I bring Wind Running closer to Rising Water. Immediately, Wind Running clings onto the wolf and starts drinking milk. It is safe, so when she is finished, I open the door to the chamber and we all get out.
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Chapter 5: A New Den
It’s late at night now and the baby is getting tired and she’s falling asleep. She is getting heavy in my arms and we have to go to bed soon, so Rising Water lays down and I put the baby near her belly, then I put the blanket around them. Foxtail and I lay down beside them and pull the blanket over us. It’s very cold, but the weather is changing. It has gotten much better and I think it is almost spring. The next morning, Rising Water and I go to find a new den while Foxtail watches Wind Running and the pups.
We come back with the good news that we have found a den close to the stream on the side of a cliff. I take the pups and wrap them in my blanket and Rising Water puts the blanket in her mouth. I take Wind Running from Foxtail and we all walk toward the den. The den is on a high cliff, where it is dangerous for the young pups and Wind Running, but we have been searching all day and can’t find anything else. I climb up the tall cliff with Wind Running in one arm. There are only little rocks sticking out of the edge that I can hold onto and the river is right under me.
When I get to the den, I put Wind Running in a small nest that Rising Water and I had built when we found the cave. Then I take a few strands of grass and start weaving a rope. It’s very long and I hang it over the edge of the den. Foxtail gets on Rising Water’s back and Rising Water grips the rope with her teeth and I pull them up. Everyone is safe. Rising Water drops the pups in front of me. I take out the runt and take the blanket from Foxtail and wrap it around him. I’ve been thinking about his name for a long time and I have finally decided he’s going to be named Grey Cloud. Then I ask Rising Water if she has thought of any names for her pups. She tells me that their names: Blizzard, Snowy, Fallen Oak, and Rain Shower.
Rising Water and I grab the rope and I start down the cliff first. We make sure that Foxtail will take good care of the babies while we collect things to make the cave warm and comfortable. We come back with a pile of pine needles and some soft earth, moss, and twigs to cover the floor. I signal for Rising Water to let go of the rope and I climb up and angle the rope over the cliff. Rising Water takes it into her mouth and climbs up into the den. Everybody goes to the corner of the cave, while I lay down the pine needles, earth, then the moss. In the middle I clear a space and fill the edges of the circle with rocks from the cave. I take two bigger rocks and scrape them together to make a fire while Foxtail builds the teepee out of the twigs. When I finish, I put the fire in the teepee and it catches fire. As I blow harder, the fire gets stronger. We gather around and Rising Water tells a story to me and I translate to the others since they cannot understand her.
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The Story of How Rising Water Got Her Name
When Rising Water was a young wolf, the age of her pups right now, her family went through a big flood. Their den was near a waterfall up on a high cliff. The waterfall came down off the cliff and over her cave. Once, Rising Water peaked her nose out of the cave and let it soak in the cool water. All of a sudden, a rock came down and hit her nose. She fell down into the waterfall. The waterfall came down into a pond, where she swam furiously to get to the land so she could climb back up the cliff again. The water started to rise magically, up above the pond surface, into the air towards her family’s den. Just in time, she got back into the den. The water was rising so fast. That night, the water was up to the den. No one knew how it was rising, but her parents believed that it was Rising Water’s power that made the water rise, and so they gave her the name Rising Water. The next day, the family had to move out of the cave because the water had flooded it. They plunged into the waterfall and Rising Water led them into the pond. As soon as she and her family fell into the pond, the rising water lowered into the calm pond at its regular height. They ran through the forest to find a new cave.
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Grey Cloud curls up beside me, and since we did not get a very good sleep last night, we all lay down by the fire. I know that our life has changed and we are going to have a new family. And so I am prepared for changes to happen and things to be taught to me.
About The Author
Liliana Julia Monge is 8 years old and in third grade at Montessori Children’s School in San Luis Obispo, California. She enjoys playing soccer, gymnastics, tennis, surfing and riding horses. She loves nature and has a great connection with animals, particularly birds, badgers, bears, horses, and dogs. Her nature name is Leaping Doe. She lives with her family in a house at the edge of a mountain. When she’s not writing, she spends her time climbing trees, hiking, making pottery, playing with her dog and her brother, and spending time with her nature connection friends.
I'm a little stunned and surprised. I didn't think I could have warmer thoughts an feelings for you than I already had.
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