Yiler's Story: Chapter 1

By Yiler Huang

Once upon a time, there was a valley sitting in between two mountains. Above it, a stream of water ran down from the cliff, forming a waterfall. There was a pond where the waterfall touched the ground and a lively town beside the pond. There were houses with walls crafted from wood and roofs made from straws, and a couple of farms surrounding the village. A family of three lived in one of the houses, and in the family, there was a boy named Damon.

“The last one, finally,” Damon mumbled to himself as he dug up a bush of weeds from the ground. He collected all the weeds he had removed from the farm and returned to his home. He sat down on a chair, filled up a cup of water, grabbed some food from a shell, and enjoyed his lunch. “Damon.” His mother called out to him. “Don’t forget to go talk to your uncle this afternoon, he says he’s giving us his farm. He said his crops always die, and promised us to let us have it if we give him some of our crops.” Damon’s family is currently trying to expand their farm, which would allow them to grow more crops for the family. At the same time, Damon’s uncle is willing to give his farm to them. “Yes, I will,” Damon replied to his mother and went out to meet with his uncle shortly after.

“Aye, Damon. You’re finally here.” Damon’s uncle, Rowan, standing in front of his farm and waved at Damon. Rowan had a stick in his hand and a dog sitting next to him, he patted the dog’s head gently and spoke again. “You came here to talk about the house ain’t you?”

“Yes, mom says you’re giving us this farm,” Damon said.

“Right, we are here to talk about this.” Rowan began walking into the farm, telling Damon to follow him. “You see, for some reason, everything I planted here dies pretty quickly. I thought maybe you guys could help me grow something on this poor farm. But before giving it to you, I have a small request.”

“What is it?” Damon asked. “I’m willing to help, as long as it’s not too difficult.”

“Wonderful! So, can you go get some fish for me? I’m making a pie tonight, and they taste horrible without the fish.”

“Sure, that shouldn’t be too hard,” Damon replied.

“Thank you! I’ll be here waiting for you.”

As they finished their conversation, Damon set off to the pond under the waterfall to get the fish Rowan wanted. He squatted near the edge of the farm, waiting for the fish to come. He attempted to grab the fish that swam next to him but failed every time. The sun was already set, but Damon still couldn’t catch a single fish. Just as he was about to give up, a white fish approached the edge of the pond. Damon took a deep breath and reached his hands out to it as fast as he could. He grabbed the fish and threw it onto the ground, preventing it from escaping. “Yes!” He celebrated as he brought it back to Rowan’s house.

“That took quite a long time, what happened?” Rowan asked.

“It’s harder than I expected, but I got it.” Damon showed the white fish to Rowan proudly.

“That’s a nice-looking fish! Where did you get it?”

“The pond under the waterfall.”

Rowan paused, staying silent.

“What’s wrong?” Damon asked.

“Sorry, Damon. I was talking about the fish from the river across the forest. Can you catch some fish for me again the next day?”