The Weepy Wempati!....

Once upon a time there lived a little Wempati. She was a very sweet little thing who loved her mummy, papa, sister, baby brother, pet dog and favourite doll very much. She was a very happy Wempati.

When Wempati was four years old, Papa Wempati and Mama Wempati had a serious talk.
“It’s time that little Wempati went to school” they said. That sounded like fun to little Wempati.

Her sister went to school and always went with yummy things packed in her lunch box and came back with delicious paint stains on her hands and clothes.

So little Wempati went with her Mama and Papa to the shops with her shopping list.

When there was a mark next to every item to show that it had been bought, Wempati had a big ice-cream treat.

The next morning, Little Wempati woke early and got all dressed up in one of her two new frocks.

She did look smart. Happily she drove with Mama, Papa and big sister, after having said “bye-bye” to baby brother. She felt all grown-up and very important.

The school gates were very tall. There was a policeman-looking man who stood there, only letting children in and keeping the parents out. Little Wempati didn’t like the look of this man and held Mama’s hand tightly. Big sister Wempati kissed Mama and Papa good by and ran in. But little Wempati didn’t feel so happy. She didn’t feel that grown-up and important either. Instead, she felt a little sick in her tummy. Mama and Papa walked her to the gate. There an aunty stood with her arms stretched out. Wempati saw here banana – like fingers clutch hold of her little hand. Little Wempati felt Mama let go of her. She felt herself being pulled into the big gates and they closed her in and her parents out.

And little Wempati wept.

She called for her Mama and Papa. What was wrong with them? They just stood and watched her being taken away by the banana – fingered aunty.

Oh dear, little Wempati did not like school at all.

She wept through storytime, she wept through singing and she wept through plasticine time, she wept through storytime, she wept through singing and swinging. She wept until it was time to go home.

The same thing happened day after day. Nothing anybody said could make little Wempati stop crying. All the other children loved school. They listened to the lovely stories, they sang on top of their voices and they just loved the swings. Through her tears, little Wempati saw them having so much fun. She wondered why none of the children cried like she did, “Perhaps,” she thought, to herself in between her tears, “perhaps school isn’t THAT bad after all.”

So the next day, Wempati wept through plasticine time, storytime and singing. But when she got onto the swings, she stopped crying and began to swing higher and higher. Whee! This was fun.

“Look at little Wempati,” the other children shouted, “she can swing higher than any of us.” That made her very happy.

So the next day, she cried through plasticine time and storytime. But she sang on top of her voice at singing. “What a lovely voice little Wempati has,” said the teacher. And that made her happy too.

I’m sure that you can guess what happened after that. Little Wempati stopped weeping. Then she discovered what fun school could be and she wasn’t scared of the big gates any longer.

I hope YOU’RE not a weepy Wempati?

600 words | 6 minutes
Readability: Grade 5 (10-11 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: stories
Tags: #swings, #tears, #banana, #plasticine, #singing

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