Jillian was in the savanna with her pet giraffe, Addie. Jillian lived in the savanna because she was a student who was studying giraffes for college. It was Jillian’s day off and she and Addie were going on a hike together. They were going to the watering hole where all the animals gathered to drink. It was fun to see all the animals together plus Addie would be thirsty by the time they got there.

Before they left, Jillian packed some fried rice for herself to eat once they got to the water hole. She also brought a big water bottle for herself so she wouldn’t get thirsty.

They hiked the four long miles to the water hole, but they were both shocked when they got there. The watering hole was empty! There was still mud where the water had been but there was no water at all.

All the animals that were usually at the watering hole: elephants, zebras, hippos, hyenas,  rhinos and lions were all sitting around the empty pool looking very sad and thirsty.

Jillian asked Addie, “What do you think happened?”

Addie said, “I don’t know! Maybe we should ask the hippos.”

Addie walked over to the group of hippos and said, “What happened to all the water?”

The big mama hippo said, “I don’t know. We got here a little while ago and the last of the water was drying up.”

Addie walked over to a zebra and asked him the same question. He said, “I don’t know either. We arrived just before you did.”

Addie decided to finally go ask the big daddy lion, who was the king of the jungle. “What happened,” she said.

The big daddy lion said, “The summer is very hot. I think the sun has baked out the water.”

Addie went back and told Jillian what the lion said. Jillian said, “But where will everyone get water? They have to get water or they will die.”

Just at this moment, the mother elephant walked over to Jillian and Addie. “Maybe it could rain,” she said.

“But how are we going to make it rain?” Jillian and Addie said at the same time.

Then Mama Elephant said, “Hmmm. Maybe we could dig in the mud and see if the water comes from an underground spring.”

Addie and Jillian thought that was a good idea.

Mama Elephant called to the hyenas and said, “Could you please dig into the mud and see if there’s water underneath from a spring?”

The hyenas, who loved to get dirty, jumped right into the mud and started to dig. They dug and dug and dug, but they couldn’t find any more water.

“Oh, no!” said Papa Lion, “what are we going to do now?”

Mama Elephant thought and thought and thought and then said, “I remember a long time ago during a hot summer just like this that my daddy took us down a long path and at the end was a secret spring filled with water.”

Jillian says, “Can you remember how to get there?”

Mama Elephant said, “Yes.”

So Mama Elephant started to walk and all the other animals followed behind her. They walked a long way down a grassy path until all of a sudden they all heard water flowing.

Everyone got very excited and started to run. Down the path they ran and then they saw a huge watering hole with trees all around it protecting it from the sun.

They all shouted, “Hooray!” and started to drink.

Jillian drank a long sip from her water bottle and ate fried rice while she watched the animals play.

Addie came back and sat next to Jillian, “That was terrific!”

They both laughed, then relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.