Philosophy Tales - Sophie (a)
Once upon a time in space, there was a little girl with a pure heart
called Sophie. Every morning, Sophie would head to the river, to frolic and
play and laugh all day.
Splashing or paddling, rowing or skating, Sophie never tired to be with
the river and the river never ceased to tire of Sophie.
Sometimes the river was warm and sparkling. So sparkling, Sophie swore
that’s where the stars took their bath. And at other times the river was hard
and freezing. So freezing, she turned blue and started wheezing. However,
nothing would stop Sophie from heading to the river, to frolic and play and
laugh all day.
But one day when Sophie played in the river all went dark, the air fell
silent and then the river ran wild. A giant wall of water rolled toward Sophie,
the thunder shook the land and the lightening ruptured the skies. Crash!!!!!!
The giant wall of water swept Sophie into the air, crash and then
dragged her under.
She struggled against this beast, spluttering and fighting. Sophie
screamed ‘Arrrrggghhhhh!’, as she was thrown out of the water and into a
shadowy cave. So surprised, so scared and so hurt, Sophie stayed in the cave
and her pure heart turned dark.
The cave was hard, wet and dingy. But unlike the erratic river that was
so kind, but then so awful, the cave was steady and predictable. It was safe.
The seasons slowly passed, autumn, winter, spring and then summer. But
the cave had no seasons, only emptiness. Sophie forgot that every day she used
to go down to the river to frolic and play and laugh all day, as she too became
empty.
But then, a beam of light entered into Sophie’s line of sight and
something entered the cave.
“‘Allo’, what’s your name?” It was boy! His appearance was scruffy. He
had dirt on his face and clothes, and he was smiling from ear to ear. An
astonished Sophie knew not what to say. “What you doing in here?” said the boy.
Sophie wanted to speak, but again nothing came out.
Becoming dis-heartened, the boy turned and headed back from where he
came. Suddenly, Sophie spoke in a panic. “Where are you going?” she said in a
scared little voice. “Well, to go down to the river, to frolic and play of
course.” said the boy.
Standing in the beam of light, protruding into the cave the boy shone.
“But what ... what if you get hurt and the river runs wild?” Sophie begged from
the dark corner of the cave. However, the boy replied, “Well that’s better then
staying in some dingy old cave.”
And with that thought – Sophie followed the boy into the light and out
of the darkness.
The End
By Ellese Elliott
