The Terrible Graakwa | Nal'ibali
Home | Create your own story | The Terrible Graakwa

Written stories

The Terrible Graakwa

Not too long ago, right here on the Cape Flats, lived a young girl, with a very special gift. Her name was Liso. She was able to hear the sound of grass growing, the butterflies flapping their wings, but best of all, she could understand and speak to all the animals in the veld. There was one special creature amongst all the animals, The Bird of Peace. The Bird of Peace had a special magic in its song. It's song brought peace and harmony to all on the Cape Flats. Not a single creature was angry, sad, lost or did bad things. Early One morning as Liso was waking up she heard the most unusual thing...she heard the loudest most unpleasant sounds and noises coming from outside. Stepping out she witnessed chaos in the streets and veld. The bird of peace had been stolen. The people and the animals in the veld were very upset and they did not know what would happen on the Cape Flats if the bird of peace was not there. Liso could not bear to see bad things happening, the fighting, stealing and sadness. The animals who were awake in the veld that night said that it was the Terrible Grakwa who had stolen the bird of peace while everyone else was sleeping. And they knew where he lived... The terrible Grakwa lived high up in the mountains in Elephant's Eye Cave. Liso volunteered to rescue the Bird of Peace. Everyone was so happy knowing that Liso was going to get the bird of peace back. The people and animals were too afraid to go with Liso so they gave her what they had, to help her on her journey. Zebra gave Liso a stripe from his back. Liso threw the stripe into her backpack. Leopard gave five spots from his back. She threw the five stripes into her backpack too. The other animals had nothing much to give so one by one, all the animals in the veld threw their sound into Liso's backpack. Lion roared into the bag, Snake hissed, Owl hooted, Dog barked, Cat meowed ... Liso closed her bag, said goodbye and started on her journey. It took her all morning to reach the mountain. she crossed the veld, she crossed the river and climbed all the way up the high mountain. Liso finally reached the dark cave of the terrible Graakwa. She stood outside the cave and listened for any noises inside. She could hear loud snoring . She could also hear a little voice singing “please help me”, it was the voice of the bird of peace. Liso made her way into the cave. She tiptoed past the Terrible Graakwa. She saw the bird of peace locked up in a golden cage and took it out. With the bird of peace under her arm, Liso tiptoed past the Terrible Graakwa. She went to the end of the cave but stepped on a few loose rocks and Ccccrrrrunch... The Terrible Graakwa woke up with a fright and realised there was a little girl in HIS cave, stealing HIS bird. Liso got such a fright and ran out the cave. It was such a long way down the mountain and the Terrible Graakwa was right behind her. Just in time, she remembered the animal's gifts. She took out the zebra's stripe and threw it down the mountain and it made a slide. She quickly slid down the zebra stripe, the Terrible Graakwa stepped on the slide but it rolled up and disappeared. The Terrible Graakwa went rolling and bumping all the way down the mountain. Now The Terrible Graakwa, scratched, bumped, bruised and really upset, chased Liso until they came to the great river. Liso had to get across the river to get to the veld. She took out the five leopard spots and threw it one by one across the river and used them as stepping stones across the river. As The Terrible Graakwa stepped on the first stone, when all the stones sank and disappeared. The Graakwa landed in the water, his fur was now wet and heavy and he was even angrier than before but he remained hot on Liso's heels. Liso realised the Graakwa would not stop chasing her even though she was so close to home. She remembered the last of the animal's gifts, their sounds. So she turned around and looked right at the Terrible Graakwa and opened her backpack really wide and let out the last of the animals gifts. All at once the scariest sound the Terrible Graakwa had ever heard came rushing out. The Terrible Graakwa got such a great fright, his very sensitive ears hurt with all the noise. This sent him running all the way back across the veld, across the great river and up the mountain, never to be seen or heard of again. All the people and animals were extremely grateful to Liso for being their hero. And to this very day... each and everyone, big and small, old and young, still work together to keep happiness and kindness and most of all to bring PEACE to the Cape Flats.