Highly Commended Story - Vanilla the Sweet Girl

“Vanilla the Sweet Girl” by Anika Vineeta Sarbajna, Kothari International School, Noida, India, is the Highly Commended story in the sub-junior category of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2018.

Anika Vineeta Sarbajna, studying in Kothari International School, is a Grade 3B student. She is a keen reader and writer of short stories as it is the most favourite pass time for her. Hindi short stories are also her favourites. Apart from reading, she loves studying Science. She aspires to be an Astronaut one day.

Vanilla the Sweet Girl

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Vanilla. She was helpful, wise and generous. Her father was a farmer and mother was a house wife. She lived in a village named Imarti. She was devoted to the village temple. She used to go there every day in the morning to offer her prayers to the GODs. The village priest was fond of her as she used to bring flowers for the offering to the gods.

Before going to the temple, she used to go to the nearby forest of the village to collect flowers. She used to sing melodious songs in the forest and pick the flowers which had fallen. The plants in the forest loved her because she never used to pluck flowers from them. Listening to her melodious songs, birds used to sing along, and animals used to dance. This was her daily routine before she took a bath in the lake in the forest.

After a long summer, the Rain God wasn’t kind enough to give enough rain to the village. Imarti was going to face a drought. Months passed by, without a single drop of rain. All the plants and crops dried up as there was no water in the river and lakes. There was no water in the wells too. All the villagers were scared as there was no food and water due to the drought.

Vanilla thought she could help. She took a bucket and went to the forest. She asked the birds and plants if they could help her to find a way to find water. The birds start chirping and took her into the deep forest. She reached a small hill from which she noticed ‘A magical fountain of IBIS”. All the animals were drinking water from the lake of IBIS formed by the fountain. Vanilla was thrilled to see the spectacular site and thanked the birds. She took some water to the village in the bucket she was carrying along.

Seeing her, the villagers were very happy. VANILLA has bought water to the village. She informed everyone about the fountain. She agreed to take everyone there. All the villagers followed VANILLA to the FOUNTAIN OF IBIS. With the water brought back from the fountain, the villagers watered their crops and gardens. IMARTI became green again. Everyone was praising Vanilla for saving Imarti from the drought. Seeing the efforts taken by Vanilla and the villagers, the Rain God also became very happy and gave lots of rain to the village. Drought was over in the village.

The GODs appeared in the temple and gave her a boon that “A plant will grow in the village which will have the sweetest fragrance and would be named Vanilla.” And hence the world got VANILLA flavor and it became famous all around the world. People started making VANILLA ice-creams and cakes and people liked it very much. Growing the VANILLA plant, the villagers got a way of living and the whole village prospered.

Moral: Good deeds are always rewarded.