A Mysterious Earthquake
After these things, it began to grow dark. So our friends began searching for a place where they might stay that night.
Suddenly, the earth began to shake mightily. Our travelers fell on the ground while it was shaking tremendously. They did not know how it happened or who caused it.
To their horror, darkness covered the land. Nothing was visible.
Then they all began calling to one another. When they realized that they were still together, they decided to hold unto one another, lest they get lost.
The earth seemed to be moving very fast. They did not know what was happening. So they held tight unto one another.
Natasha and the cat were crying very hard. But George, the Friendly Statue and the donkey were not as sad.
"We're going to die," cried Natasha.
The statue was going to say "except me," but he restrained himself quickly, because he did not want to be special. As you already know, nothing could kill the statue. It would die only if you were to break all of his pieces.
To add to their terror, the earth began to go down. The travelers could not see anything. But the earth was going down very fast. They did not know where they were, or where they were going to. Because the earth was going down so fast, our friends thought that they would leave the earth. Nevertheless, they did not lose the earth.
Suddenly, the earth stopped moving so abruptly that our friends bumped into one another. They were dizzy and unconscious for a while.
"Where are we?" George asked after they were all alive again.
"Can't tell," replied the statue. "I can't see anything.
"Was that a natural disaster?" was Natasha's question.
"I don't think so," the Friendly Statue told her. "I believe it was a magical disaster."
"Who caused it to happen?" asked George.
"A wicked magician, probably," replied the talking donkey. He did not talk a lot, though.
"I don't think so," argued the Friendly Statue. "But I believe that we were walking on an enchanted ground. There are a lot of them in this country, you know."
"Thank goodness we don't have magic in our world," remarked Natasha.
"But is it any safer than this world?" asked George. "Our world is filled with natural disasters and wars. So our world is not better than this one."
"But who says you don't have magic in your world?" laughed the Friendly Statue. Pointing at Natasha, he continued, "Don't you think that your voice is magic?"
"Do you really consider my voice to be magic?" Natasha asked sweetly.
"Of course, my dear," was the happy reply. "I've never heard a voice that melted my heart within me."
With that said, Natasha sang another song, which made everybody fall asleep, except the Friendly Statue. They all slept on the hot ground.
The cat had given the sword to the statue, lest a big animal comes to attack them while they are asleep. He took a good care of it.
Even though the statue could talk and move, he could not eat, nor drink, nor sleep. So after everybody else had fallen asleep, the Friendly Statue respected them by not making any noise.
He did not like to be left alone. You see, he still had a heart. So it was possible for him to get bored sometimes.
To keep himself occupied, the Friendly Statue began to recall the beautiful days in which he lived in his native country of Statueland. That was before the evil magician had attacked him, of course.
For those of you who know nothing about Statueland. It is part of the country of Magica. It is considered both a city and a country on its own.
Now in each city of Magica, there were different kinds of humans. Some were like us, while others were non humans who could also talk. So because each city had different kind of inhabitants, each city was considered a country on its own. That's why the native country of the statue was called 'Statueland.' Only statues lived in it. But they could all talk and move, just like our friend.
So now, and while his friends were all sleeping, the Friendly Statue was thinking of his native country/city. He missed all of his statue friends. His desire was to reunite with them again.
Nevertheless, he was also determined to help his traveling friends to have all their wishes granted. He was very kind. He was particularly interested in helping George and Natasha, because they were the ones who had rescued him from the park. They took a good care of him while they were still in their world.
When morning had come, the Friendly Statue was glad to see the light again. The last time he had beheld light was when the earth began to shake.
Now he knew how tired his friends were. They had walked a lot. So he decided to let them get up whenever they liked.
"Good morning," said the donkey quietly, as soon as he had beheld the light of the day.
"It certainly seems to be a good morning," replied the statue, glad to see one of his friends awakened.
Soon they were all awake. They had good sleeps after all that walk.
"Thanks for being our guard," said the cat.
"My pleasure, ma'am," replied the statue.
"Can you tell where we are now that there's light?" asked George in a hopeful tone.
"I have to admit that I've never been to this part of the huge world," was the statue's answer. "But I saw a house not far from here. We should perhaps go to it. There might be something for you to eat."
Now they still had their original food and water with them. Nevertheless, they were tired eating only fruits and vegetables. So they agreed to go to the place that the statue had pointed out.
After they had prepared all of their things, our friends followed the Friendly Statue as he led them toward the house that he had told them about.
"It looks like it's going to rain," remarked Natasha.
"Let's hurry, then," the donkey told them.
At last, the Friendly Statue knocked on the door. He had the cat's sword with him, in case the people that owned the house were mean.
"Is this a friendly visit?" a voice from the inside of the house said.
"Yes it is!" replied the statue happily. Then he put the sword away.
Next, the door was opened by an old gentleman. He was wearing old clothes. His face was covered with his beard. In fact, most of the visible parts of his body were hairy.
He was even wearing a furry coat. So in short, he was not pleasant to look at. But we shouldn't look at his physical appearance, because his looks could deceive us. Instead, we must look at his heart. His actions tell us all that we need to know about him.