In the middle of a large forest lives a
weird little animal. Its name is Floepje. It swims like a fish and
flies like a bird. Floepje can run as well, but not fast. He lives in
a beautiful pond with clear water. One day, Floepje wants to go on an
adventure. Floepje takes his backpack, puts food in it and leaves.
His friend, Sloompje the snail, goes along with him.
After walking for a very long time they
are both tired. They are very hungry. They eat the food from the
backpack en rest in the grass. “I can’t go further, I’m too
tired”, Sloompje says, “go on without me”. “I also can’t
walk any further”, Floepje says, “but I can fly. What should I do
with my backpack? It’s too heavy to carry on my back when I fly”.
“I’ll take care of your backpack until you come back”, Sloompje
says. “Good”, Floepje smiles, “I’ll find something to eat
along the way”.
He flutters his wings and flies high in
the sky. Floepje flies very far beyond the forest. Suddenly, he sees
houses from people. A whole village. Across the village is a small
river. “Yippee”, Floepje shouts, “I’ll take a cool splash in
the water, that’s nice”. He dives into the water.
He swims and swims and likes it a lot.
Suddenly, a fish passes by. “Good day, mister fish, how are you?”
Floepje asks. “Bad”, the fish says, “I’m ill. The water is
not healthy here, it’s filthy”.
“Oh no”, Floepje shouts, “I like
it here!” and he swims along cheerfully.
All of the sudden, he has a headache,
and a stomach ache, and his eyes itch. Everything hurts and he almost
can’t move anymore. He swims up to the surface to get some air. He
holds on to the grass that grows by the side of the river. “Help,
I’m so ill, I’m dying”, Floepje cries.
Luckily, Bert and Lien pass by. After
school they are always walking home by the water. “Look”, Bert
calls out, “I see a little animal. I’ll go grab it.”
“Careful”, Lien says. “Here, tie
my jumping rope around your tummy, so you won’t fall into the
water.” Bert ties the end of the rope around his tummy and Lien
ties the other end to a tree. Bert carefully approaches the
riverside.
He fishes Floepje out of the water with
his cap. “Hurray, he’s saved”, Bert cheers. “Thank you”,
Floepje says, “but I’m so ill of the filthy water. Who can cure
me?”
“Come on”, Lien says, “let’s go
to my father. He works at the Flemish environmental community. They
try to clean the filthy water. He’ll help us.”
The children run to Lien’s father
with Floepje. Her dad fetches a bowl with clean water and a few water
plants. Lien puts Floepje in the bowl. “You rest now”, she says
and gives Floepje a kiss.
The next day, Floepje is feeling a lot
better. “Hurray, our little friend is cured”, the children shout.
“But daddy, how is the water in the
river so filthy”, they ask. “The people make the water filthy”,
he responds. “When we clean our floors, do dishes or go to the
toilet, we pollute the water. That filthy water runs through the
pipelines under the ground to the river. That’s what makes the
river so grubby.”
“Also, the dung from the cows and
the pigs gets in the water sometimes. People build factories where
they make anything: plastic, paint, iron, electricity, … Filthy
water and poison from those factories also end up in the river
through the pipelines.”
“Even the factories that make candy
and toys?” Bert asks. “Yes, sometimes”, Lien’s dad answers.
“Do the people try to make the rivers
clean again?” Floepje asks. “Sure”, Lien’s father says, “but
that’s no so easily done. They build large round tanks where all
the filthy water fits in. In those tanks the water is cleaned. They
put new pipelines into the ground. This way, the filthy water from
the kitchen and the toilet goes into the tanks instead of to the
river.”
“We should use less tap water. And we
should definitely not throw oil, paint or poison in the water. That
belongs in the recycling centre. The factories should also clean
their water as much as possible before it streams into the river. The
farmers should use less manure on their acres. If everyone tries
hard, we will succeed!”
“We will also try hard and not throw
rubbish in the river”, Lien en Bert say.
“That’s good”, Floepje smiles,
“then I won’t be ill again when I swim in the water. And neither
will my friends the fishes.”
Floepje likes spending time with Lien
and Bert. But most of all, he wants to go home. To his pond in the
forest, to Sloompje, who is still taking care of his backpack and
starts to worry about Floepje.
Floepjes says goodbye to Lien and Bert.
“Will you come back later?” the children ask him. “Yes, of
course”, Floepje says, “we will always remain good friends and
I’ll visit every year. Bye!”
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