Little Inklings 2022

Once there was a family of three living in China; a father and mother were raising a son. He was a regular boy. They never spent time together. He had grown up to be very angry. His name was Chen. He was a normal human, but eventually, he gained the power to control earthquakes with his temper. If he was calm and quiet, then the ground was calm and quiet. If he was mad and angry, the ground was shaking and splitting up making cracks in the Earth. Chen began to punch, kick, and do anything that would hurt the ground. Nu Gua heard the ground’s whimpers and came rushing to protect Earth. She tried to talk to Chen calmly, but he didn’t listen. The Earth was yelling for help. Chen became angrier and the Earth’s surface began to rumble like a hungry stomach. Nu Gua could see that she had to stop Chen before the rumbles turned to valiant shakes. Nu Gua began to fight back to protect Earth and its people. She tried to drown Chen in the ocean, tried to burn him in the desert’s heat, and tried to freeze him at the top of Mt. Everest, but nothing worked. As the fighting continued, they destroyed everything in their path: houses, people, crops, farms, buildings, trees. Finally, Nu Gua tried using Chen’s power against himself. She outsmarted Chen. Chen created a crack in the Earth and began chasing Nu Gua, hoping she would fall in. Nu Gua led him straight into the crack. “This is what you get for destroying my creations!” Nu Gua said. How earthquakes came to be ALYSON KAPLAN ❜ 28 8