Another Kid’s Story: Land and Water

Prior children’s stories on Scotteriology: The Amazing Artist, The Story of the Onion.

This story takes place a long, long time ago. So long ago that it was before there was any people, animals, houses, cities or anything of that sort. There was nothing, anywhere, on the whole earth. During this time there existed only Land and Water. At that time Land wasn’t broken up like it is now into continents and islands: it was just one big mass. Likewise, Water was not divided into streams, rivers and lakes: it was just one large ocean. The world was half land and half water.

For the most part Land and Water got along quite well. Sometimes one of them would try to explain to the other just what it was like to be what they were, or would try to make the other laugh by performing some silly trick. Land would cause a funny looking mountain range to pop up on its ridge or Water would make crazy waves crash into each other. Things were good and had been for as long as they could remember.

One day while Land and Water were playing Moon came over the horizon to watch, after observing for a while Moon asked them “Between the two of you which one do you think is stronger?” “That’s a good question,” said Land. “We really don’t know,” added Water. “Well what would you guess?” Moon said to Land.“Hmmmmm…” Land thought for a bit “I think I must be stronger, my body is so hard that Water could never hurt me.” Water instantly replied “I’m stronger! My waves are big and quick and could easily beat your ground!”

Land and Water argued for a long time about who was stronger until finally Moon suggested that they have a contest to find out who was right. “What sort of contest?” they asked. “Well” answered Moon “Water you could you could hit Land with your waves and Land you could hit Water with your ground, and whichever one of you makes the other give up wins.” “Sounds fair to me,” said Water “How about it Land? Should we have the contest?” “Yes!” exclaimed Land, “How should we begin?” Land’s question didn’t really matter because Moon was so excited to see the contest he couldn’t contain himself and yelled, “GO!”

Instantly, Land and Water lashed at each other with all of their might. Land smashed Water with peninsulas, islands and mountains; Water retaliated, with inlets and tidal waves. The contestants gave it everything they had. Land was reaching far into Water, and Water was reaching far into Land. The contest raged for what seemed an eternity. They were at the point where it seemed one of them should have given—both were well past tired—but they both wanted to win so badly that neither of them would quit. Then something very strange happened: at exactly the same moment they both broke. There were large pieces of Land flying everywhere splashing into Water, and huge amounts of Water running into the openings created in Land. Neither of them had any control over themselves. The fight was bad; this was a hundred times worse.

“Arghhhhhhhhh” Land and Water let out a terrible scream together. “Get off of me!” bellowed Land. “I can’t pull myself together!” cried Water. They continued to try and separate themselves from each other, but they were so tired from the contest that they soon realized it was hopeless. “Help us Moon!” said a voice unrecognizable from the other, “This is your fault,” maybe a different voice this time. “There’s nothing I can do” the Moon whimpered looking down in horror, “You have to pull yourselves back together… I only asked you a question!”

A lot of time has passed since the contest between Land and Water; however, even now, Land and Water are still constantly trying to be whole again. Sometimes the efforts of Land will cause an earthquake or volcano to erupt; and if you stand on the bank of a river or stream you can see Water flowing, moving trying to get itself back together again.

A short time after the contest Sun came up, and shocked with horror he looked upon the aftermath of the struggle. “Moon come here!” commanded Sun. Moon edged over the horizon and meekly said “Yes?” “What do you mean “yes”? What happened down there?” “Ah yes that. Uh well….” Moon went on to tell Sun everything that had happened, and when Moon was finished explaining the story Sun really didn’t have anything to say… he just continued to stare at the mess of Land and Water.

After a very long silence Moon finally said, “Sun, which one of us do you think is stronger?” “Moon” said Sun slowly, “I’ve got an idea. You go on that side of the planet, and I’ll go on this side of the planet, and let’s just stay as far apart as possible!”

The End