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Our wonderful world page # |
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Our wonderful world |
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Writer: Herminder Ohri
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© Pratham Books, 2014
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Our wonderful world page # |
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Once upon a time long ago, when there were no people, God looked down at the beautiful world he had made. |
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He thought I must have someone to look after my creation. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The lion roared, "I am the king of the jungle, I can look after the world." |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The elephant trumpeted loudly, "My Lord, you have made me so big and majestic." |
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"Surely I am right for the job." |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The whale looked up at the sky and spouted a fountain of water, "Do they know how to swim and look after the fish, the reefs, the coral and millions of tiny sea animals?". |
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"I can look after the oceans." |
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"I can also keep my head above water and see what is going on on the land." |
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"I am so LARGE, no one will dare to do anything against your will." |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The shark thought his sharp teeth were all that were needed to do the job. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The eagle laughed, "These animals can only look after those on land, while the whale and the shark can only see the water animals." |
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"But I fly, I see the sky, land and water." |
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"I am the only one fit to be the keeper of the world." |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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God listened carefully to the animals, to the fish and the birds. |
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"I will create man," he said. |
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The animals all wondered, what was this thing called "man". |
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What colour, with feathers or fur, or scales? |
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Will he run like the lion? Swim like a fish? |
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Fly high like the eagle? |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The sun had set and it was night. |
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He wrapped himself in the night sky, put the twinkle of stars into the eyes and used the black clouds for hair. |
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He also put pieces of the moon in the nails and the shine of far away stars in the teeth. |
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So the first man and woman were created with shiny black skins like the night. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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Soon the night faded and it was morning. |
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God covered himself in the white morning light, took the blue sky for the eyes, the gold of the sun he spun into hair, and before him stood a man and woman with white skins, blue eyes and golden hair. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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Now the morning had turned into afternoon. |
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The sun was very bright, so he pulled the yellow light, and the deep black shadow of the afternoon and made a man and woman with yellow skins, black hair and eyes that slanted to look into the sun. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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It was now evening, the sky had become dusky and a few stars had also appeared in the sky. |
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God looked down and saw the beautiful rich brown of the earth and the dusk of the sky for the skin. |
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The black colour of the night was for the hair and he used the sparkle of stars for the eyes. |
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Before him stood a man and woman with brown skins, black hair and eyes. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The animals all looked in wonder at the strange creature who stood on two legs, with naked skin, with no fur or feathers or even scales. |
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The lion looked down his kingly nose and roared, "I can outrun them and with a swipe of my paw I can kill them, sorry for saying so." |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The zebra suggested, "Some stripes would have improved their look." |
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The leopard said, "A few spots." |
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The elephant trumpeted, "Surely grey would have been a better colour?" |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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The shark looked at their teeth and smiled showing his sharp teeth. |
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"Ah! No fins, how will they swim? And they are going to be the keeper." |
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"Ha! Ha! Ha!". |
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The fish, big and small, laughed as they dived into the deep water leaving a trail of bubbles of laughter. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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God smiled kindly, "You see, to survive, man will have to look after the animals, the oceans with all their life, the plants, from the tiniest to the largest trees." |
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"The day he starts destroying the world with his greed, he will be destroyed." |
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The animals, the fish and the birds bowed their heads and hoped they would be safe. |
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So let us, YOU and I, look after this wonderful world. |
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Our wonderful world page # |
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Our wonderful world.
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Writer: Herminder Ohri.
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Language: English.
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© Pratham Books, 2014.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
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(CC-BY) Version 3.0 Unported Licence
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Disclaimer: You are free to download, copy, translate
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or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you
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attribute or credit the original author/s and illustrator/s.
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