Story The Lake Monster (Read and Listen)

Story The Lake Monster: adaptation of the popular story from Africa.

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful girl named Untombina, daughter of the king of an African tribe.

A few kilometers from his home there was a lake that was very famous throughout the region because a terrible monster was hidden there that, according to legend, devoured everyone who wandered there.

No one, day or night, dared to come within many meters of that place. Untombina, on the other hand, brave and curious by nature, was eager to know what the monster that scared people so much looked like.

One year autumn arrived and with it so much rain that the entire region was flooded. Many homes collapsed and crops were devoured by the waters. The young Untombina thought that perhaps the monster would have a solution to so much misfortune and she asked her parents for permission to go talk to him. Terrified, they not only refused, but strictly forbade him to leave the house.

But there was no way; Utombina, in addition to being brave, was stubborn and determined, so she gathered all the girls in the town and together they set out in search of the monster. The king’s daughter led the procession at a brisk pace, and just as the sun was highest in the sky, the group of girls reached the lake.

Apparently everything was very calm and they found the place charming. You could breathe pure air and the transparent water showed the bottom of stones and white sand. The walk had been hard and the heat was intense, so they wanted nothing more than to take a good dip. Laughing, they took off their clothes, sandals and jewelry, and jumped in head first.

For a long time, they swam, dived, and played splashing each other. They were so entertained that they did not realize that the monster, stealthily, had approached the shore from another side and had stolen all their belongings.

When the first of the girls came out of the water to get dressed, she couldn’t find her clothes and told all the others what had happened. Very scared, they began to scream and wonder what they could do. They couldn’t go back to the town naked!

They approached the lake and, in a row, began to call out to the monster. Crying, they begged him to give them back their clothes. All except Utombina, who as the king’s daughter, refused to humiliate herself and beg for anything at all.

The monster heard the requests and, poking its head out, began to spit out clothes, rings and bracelets, which the girls quickly picked up. He returned everything he had stolen except the things of the proud Utombina. The girls wanted to go back, but she still refused to beg and remained motionless, on the shore, looking at the lake. Her attitude managed to anger the monster who, in a fit of rage, unexpectedly came out of the lake and swallowed her in one bite.

All the young girls screamed again in panic and ran to the town to tell the king what had happened. Destroyed by grief, he decided to act: he recruited his army and sent him to the lake to kill the horrible being that had eaten his little girl.

When the soldiers arrived armed to the teeth, the monster realized their intentions and became even angrier. With his hands, he began to catch men two by two and eat them without giving them time to flee. A thin and very clever one escaped from his clutches, but the monster pursued him relentlessly until, by chance, he arrived at the king’s house. By then, from eating so much, his body had transformed into a huge ball that seemed about to explode.

The monarch, very skilled with weapons, suspected that his daughter and the soldiers could still be alive inside the enormous belly, and without a second’s hesitation, he began shooting arrows at her navel. He made so many holes in it that it looked like a sieve.

Through the largest, all the men who had been swallowed by the beast came out one by one. The last one to appear before her eyes, safe and sound, was his beautiful daughter.

The evil monster stopped breathing and everyone thanked Utombina for his bravery. Thanks to his pride and stubbornness, they had managed to finish him off forever.

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