A legend for kids - The brave grandmother

Deep in a dark forest, just as the road turned and you passed the big Oak tree you would find a little house.  In this house lived Nomsa and her grandmother.

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They were very happy and lived a life of freedom and peace, living off the land.

Nomsa would play deep in the forest every day and all the animals knew and loved her. She had a kind heart and the animals loved her.  She was not scared of them and made a point of talking to which ever animal crossed her path.

At lunch time her grandmother would stand outside the house and sing a beautiful song.  The song would travel through the forest and Nomsa would know that it was time to go home and have lunch.

One day on her way home, skipping and singing she encountered an ugly monster.  Because Nomsa was kind, she spoke to the monster and asked him where he was going.

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The monster was mean and heartless and before Nomsa knew what was going on, the monster grabbed her and stuffed her into his big bag.

Nomsa was so shocked that she could not even scream.  She just sat very still in the bag, singing softly and hoping that somebody will save her.

The monster was on his way to the cave where he lives and he has plans to eat Nomsa as soon as he got there, but on his way he sees the little house and he smells the food.  

His mouth start watering and suddenly he gets very hungry.

He knocks at the door and an old lady opens the door - she first wanted to slam the door shut again, but then she sees the big bag he is carrying and hear the soft singing coming from the bag and she knew right away that it was her grandchild in the bag.

"I am hungry.  I want your food" the monster said very rudely.

Nomsa's grandmother stayed very calm and told the monster that she would gladly give him food but it is not ready yet, so maybe he would like something to drink so long.

The monster was thirsty and he demanded water.

"You will have to go down to the river.  I will give you a bucket that you can take with.  Just leave your bag here and when you come back, the food will be ready."

The clever grandmother made a hole in the bucket and she knew that if the monster tried scooping up the water, it will go out of the hole and it will keep him busy for a while - during that time she would save Nomsa.

Once the monster was gone, she quickly opened the bag, let Nomsa out and told her to go hide in the other room.

When the monster came back, she gave him his food and when he was done eating, he grabbed his bag and left without even saying 'thank you.'

The monster could not wait to get home.  He was still hungry and could taste the sweet meat of the little girl already.

At last he reached the cave and he could not open the bag fast enough.  He got such a fright, because out of the bag came a lot of poisonous snakes.

The grandmother put them in the bag after she rescued Nomsa.

They knew what the monster did and they loved Nomsa because she was always kind to them.

They started hissing and spitting and tried biting the monster.

The monster got such a fright that he ran far away.  He did not stop and just kept running.  If you look closely you will maybe still see him running away in fright.

Nomsa and her grandmother lived happily ever after and Nomsa was very glad that she had such a clever grandmother that got rid of the monster for ever.

Now she could go back into the forest every day and play with all the animals without being scared.