Tumi and Tau Go to the Pastel Pink Planet

By Ingrid Keizan

Tumi & Tau is a friendly and inspiring story filled with good morals for both children and adults to follow. This is an adventure that stimulates the imagination. It also focuses on a number of life lessons, the largest being that regardless of how different you are or how lost you feel in this world, life shows you that you are always worthwhile.

Tumi is an amazing and special child who has a blue skin, a loving heart, and a way of improving the lives of those around him. Tumi is bullied by a group of children from school known as the Nasties. He has difficulty in coping and consequently lacks self-confidence. Under the guidance of his special friend Tau, who is an enormous lion that has magical powers and great wisdom, Tumi is taken to the Pastel Pink Planet. Unbeknown to him, he is on a magical mission, and in doing so, he regains his confidence and learns that many obstacles can be overcome with love, kindness and care.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Sep 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482803198

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Ingrid Keizan.

ISBN:          Softcover           978-1-4828-0320-4

                    eBook               978-1-4828-0319-8

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

About The Author

Special Note:

Blank pages are there for children to create their own illustrations.

CHAPTER 1

T he precious baby was born. After years of longing for a child, Mali and Tunde had finally been given their wish. Their special baby had been born in a small village in the mountains far away from the big cities, and he was now being taken home to the beautiful farm high in the rocky ranges of the Drakensberg.

This was no ordinary baby because the colour of his skin was different. It was certainly not what anyone was used to. The nurses at the clinic where Mali had given birth were amazed at this little baby. Unusual, astonishing, incredible, they all said, but they went about their days as if they could accept anything. The doctor who delivered the special baby told Mali that her baby had blue, yes, blue skin.

But please don’t worry he had consoled her, your baby is healthy and happy and he’s certainly special in our rainbow nation, maybe he’ll make history. Mali simply smiled a knowing smile and held her newborn tightly in her arms.

Mali & Tunde knew that this baby was an amazing gift, not only was he the child they had longed for, but he was a special baby. A Medicine Man had visited them while she was pregnant; he was a magic man who had grown up in the mountains near their farm. He was old with a gray beard, very wise and he could even see the future. He spent a lot of time healing people, helping with their problems and teaching Mali and Tunde about the magic of nature and life.

The Medicine Man had told Mali that the baby would be born but he would be like no other baby, he would be the first blue baby born to a rainbow nation. Mali and Tunde were so happy at the thought of having a child that nothing else mattered. They decided to name their unique baby Tumi.

No matter what, said Mali we’ll teach him to be strong, so strong that he will be able to bring new messages of hope and understanding to all.

Everyone on the farm was delighted with Tumi. He was a happy baby, always smiling and laughing, so he almost never cried. He loved being outside where he could watch the farm animals.

Tumi was accepted and loved by all his parents’ friends and relatives. Maybe they thought Tumi was strange but after being in his company for a short while, they were so enchanted by his personality that they soon forgot about his blue skin.

The Medicine Man was a regular visitor over the years and he was always overjoyed by Tumi’s progress. He brought Tumi a gift, a beautiful cuddly toy lion with a tawny coloured mane and piercing yellow eyes. Tau is his name, the Medicine Man told Tumi when he first began to talk.

Taau Taaaaaaau repeated Tumi in his baby voice. The Medicine Man laughed and laughed till he almost cried. Tumi was a great source of pleasure to him.

Tumi is a symbol of a new beginning, he told Mali.

Tumi seemed to have a wonderful way with the animals on the farm. Long before he even learned to walk, Mali would sit him on a blanket outside. The animals always seemed to know when he was outside and they would suddenly appear from nowhere as if they were coming to say hello. The cats, dogs, sheep, chickens and even a few of the cows would arrive, walk up to Tumi and then as if they had said what they needed to, they would wander around near him. It seemed to Mali that Tumi was able to talk to animals before he could talk to people.

Before long, Tumi was running around and helping his parents on the farm. He loved the mountains and the sense of peace they gave to all around them. The mountains were so tall; their heads often seemed to be playing in the clouds.

Tumi was very happy growing up on the farm, even though he did not have any friends of his own age. His friends were the animals, his parents, the people who lived on the farm and especially the Medicine Man who had given him Tau, his favourite toy.

One cold wintery morning, when Tumi was about eight years old, his parents had a very serious discussion with him.

Tumi, my boy, said Tunde, the farm is not doing well and the time has come for you to go to a proper school in the city. We are going to sell our beautiful farm and move to a new house. We'll live in a place near to a nice school, you'll make many new friends and get a good education.

Tumi felt very sad, he couldn’t believe that he would have to leave the farm. His mommy, who always had a way of helping him cope with his feelings said:

Tumi, my dearest, it's always hard to make new starts in life. Life is like that. Everything changes. We’re so blessed, and we have each other, which is a great help.

Tumi’s daddy looked at him and said,

You know, Tumi, what we are going to do, that is, move house, takes tremendous courage. Mommy and I know you have courage. Another thing is if we don’t try, we’ll never know if we can do it.

Tumi sat down next to his mommy who was sitting on the couch and rested his head on her lap.

Mommy, how will I manage? he asked.

Tumi, you are such a beautiful soul, always kind and caring, you’ll make friends easily when we move. It will be fun, you’ll see. New friends mean new experiences and opportunities. In cities there are movies, big shopping malls, swimming pools and so much more. Just think of it, Tumi, we’ll be living near the sea and we could go to the beach often.

Mali went on describing the opportunities and new adventures that lay in store for Tumi. Her descriptions were so clear, it was as if she was painting a picture and he could imagine everything.

"Mommy, do you think we can go on