Stories to Mend the World

By Julie Miller

Julie Miller’s dramatic short stories are designed to pull children into the wonderful world of the imagination. They are ideal for reading aloud. Some are new interpretations of well-known stories from the Bible, fairy tales and folklore from around the world. Some are completely new. Julie’s inspiration has come from such writers as Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen and Robert Browning as well as drawing from her own experiences and memories of her father’s words of wisdom. There are also stories taken from history and from the lives of inspirational people, including the Dalai Lama, Helen Keller, Louise Braille, Mahatma Gandhi and the Burgers of Calais.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A H Stockwell
• Release date: Sep 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780722349496

Julie Miller

USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Miller writes breathtaking romantic suspense. She has sold millions of copies of her books worldwide, and has earned a National Readers Choice Award, two Daphne du Maurier prizes and an RT BookReviews Career Achievement Award. For a complete list of her books and more, go to www.juliemiller.org.

Book preview

STORIES TO MEND THE WORLD

Julie Miller

ARTHUR H. STOCKWELL LTD

Torrs Park, Ilfracombe, Devon, EX34 8BA

Established 1898

www.ahstockwell.co.uk

© Julie Miller, 2019

Published in Great Britain by Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without express prior written permission from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Characters, events and locations portrayed and names used herein are fictitious or used in a fictitious manner. Any similarity to or identification with the location, name, character or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Any opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the publisher or any other entity.

Digital version by Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

Dedication

I dedicate my book to my family, friends and colleagues who have given me so much time and love.

Minti Nen Mends the World

Written when I realised one group of people decided another group of people were not worthy of respect or consideration because they were different.

Minti Nen was six years old.

She looked at the world and she liked it. She saw floaty white clouds in a blue, blue sky. She saw trees and flowers and grass and thought how green her world was.

Fruit grew and vegetables grew and fish swam in the rivers and seas, and animals lived everywhere. Minti was happy to see all the living, growing things around her.

Who made this? Minti asked her mother.

Some say Yahweh, some say Allah and others say God, but we will call our Maker ‘Creat’ because He created all this, said her mother.

One day Minti was watching the light catch the ripples made by the noses of fish as they broke the surface of the water.

‘How beautiful!’ thought Minti.

But then . . . another human came by and stood beside Minti.

What are you doing?

Watching.

Watching what?

Just watching.

Boring, said the other and threw his empty crisp packet and fizzy pop bottle into the crystal clear water.

That makes the water look horrid, said Minti.

Tough! said the other human, and he went away.

Minti walked home to tell her mother what had happened.

As usual, Minti’s mother was wearing her red scarf, which covered her thick, black, curly hair. It was the same scarf she always wore until Minti’s father came home from work.

Are you sad, Minti? asked Minti’s mother, who was scraping bright orange carrots into a very clean bucket.

Just a little, said Minti. A person spoilt the river today.

Look at it tomorrow. Nature always mends itself, said Minti’s mother, and she got on with the bright orange carrots. There was a delicious plop as the carrots dropped into the bucket of very clean water.

Another day, Minti woke early to watch the sunrise.

Minti liked the way a tiny line of light appeared as the sun came to life to start another new day. The light grew into a thousand colours as it lit Minti’s world and seemed to wake the birds as they spread their wings for their first flight of the day.

A noise startled Minti. The noise was big and got thunderingly bigger by the second. A huge – gigantically huge – lorry sped by on the roadway behind Minti.

Minti began to cough. She coughed and coughed and coughed as a cloud of dust and diesel fumes filled the air and settled on Minti.

Minti went home to her mother, who was wearing her red scarf, which covered her thick black curly hair, and who was picking bright green peas from silvery green pea pods.

Are you sad, Minti? asked Minti’s mother.

A lorry spoilt the sunrise, said Minti, and it covered me with dirt and made me cough.

Never mind, said Minti’s mother. It has gone now, and nature is clever at mending the earth.

And she went on podding the peas, which made a delicious rattly noise as they dropped into a very clean pot.

One day Minti saw a peacock. It spread its tail feathers into a miracle of rainbow colours.

Beautiful! said Minti, and she gave a long sigh of happiness as her heart lifted. I will tell my mother that nothing has made me sad today.

And Minti walked towards her home. As Minti walked she noticed something red fluttering in a hawthorn bush. The bush was shimmering as light caught its tiny white blossoms.

As Minti got nearer she thought, ‘That is like Mother’s red scarf,’ and that is what it was.

Minti began to run. Minti ran fast. Her heart was beating hard inside her chest and her ears pounded. Her eyes felt sticky and wet and her hair was flat against her forehead and neck.

Then Minti saw her mother sitting cross-legged on the very spot where her house had been.

Three men were standing nearby. They were not smiling. Minti could not understand why men did not smile when there were peacocks in the world.

Minti’s mother was not wearing her red scarf and she was trying to hide her thick, black, curly hair with her hands.

Minti said to the men, Have you seen the peacock?

No, said