THE LITTLE CREEK
“…I don’t want to be swallowed by the sand…”
Following a long and terrible drought, heavy storm clouds rolled in from the west and rain fell over the MacDonnell Ranges, in Alice Springs, bringing life to the parched ground.
When the thirsty earth was satisfied, the little creek started to trickle down the slope, leaping over and around the ancient rocks, its dampness spreading out to awaken the frogs and wildflowers that had been asleep for a long time.
The little creek in the ranges happily ran its course to the point where it rushed into the dry bed of the Todd River and became a swirling torrent of water that raced through Heavitree Gap and out into the desert.
When an Eagle came down to drink, the little creek said: “I want to travel across the desert like you, but all my water gets lost in the sand.”
The Eagle replied: “You don’t have to get lost. Give yourself to the wind, it travels over the desert all the time.”
A Black Cockatoo overheard their conversation, and he remarked: “That’s right. The wind can move you over the desert. You will have to let the wind dry up your water and then it can carry you more easily.”
The little creek complained: “I don’t want to be dried up. I don’t want to be swallowed by the sand either.”
A Spinifex Pigeon joined in, saying: “Nothing stays as it is. We are all changing as time passes. If you want to enjoy being a creek, you will have to give yourself up to the wind. It will carry you safely over the Great Sandy Desert and you will live again.”
A wise old Ghost Gumtree nodded.
“This is something you must do if you don’t want to get yourself lost for ever,” it said. “If you stay, you will waste away into the sand.”
So the little creek finally allowed itself to be taken up by the wind and carried high above the Great Sandy Desert to a distant outback plain that was baked by drought.
There it fell to earth as rain.
Very soon it once again became a little creek that trickled happily into a lovely billabong.
