水之異族與黑魔導
Aquatus and the Dark Sorcerer
26th October 2021
Written by Noah (Age 7, Co. Galway)
Translated by 龐啟真 張仁奎 王翔岳 李長軒 游政諺
Illustrated by 何驊臻 莊皓婷 錢欣伶 楊鎧憶 郭芷妤
很久很久以前，奧蘭尼亞河是個非常平靜的地方。水之異族的半人馬座守護著生活在河裡的生靈們。水之異族既勇敢、強壯且擁有神秘的魔法力量。
有一天，黑魔導搬來河邊居住，他既粗魯又不友善；而且對他的鄰居很反感。
每天晚上當黑魔導施展完咒術後，他就會把魔法鍋裡的髒東西全倒進河裡。
河變得越來越髒，那些魚、鳥及水獺也都生病了；水之異族察覺到了這件事，並且也知道是黑魔導的錯。
某天，水之異族衝進黑魔導的家，並大聲說道：「你到底在幹嘛，破壞河川嗎？」
黑魔導笑著說道：「大家都叫我黑魔導，不是嗎？我要讓這條河變得又黑又髒這樣你和你那些煩人的朋友們都得滾蛋。」
水之異族呢喃道：「我們走著瞧！」
隔天，水之異族有個計畫，他給黑魔導留了一條訊息，上面寫著：「今日下午三點整，決鬥吧！切勿遲到。」
三點到了，黑魔導離開他的家準備赴約，卻未見水之異族；他划著船，試圖找尋著他們的蹤影。
突然間，整個世界開始旋轉，黑魔導瞬間被捲進一個漩渦裏。
他沉的越來越深，最後終於在河床底部發現了水之異族。
半人馬座嘲笑道：「我就知道你會出現在這裡。」接著，他旋轉他的手臂使河川裡的漩渦轉得越來越快。
黑魔導無力抵抗，在消失前怒喊道：「我們之間還沒結束呢！」
漩渦順道把河床請清理得一乾二淨，一切都恢復得完好如初。
(Original Text)
Long ago, the River Aurania was a peaceful place. Aquatus the water centaur watched over all the creatures that lived in the river.
Aquatus was brave, strong and magical.
However, one day, a dark sorcerer came to live beside the river. He was rude, unfriendly and he didn’t like his new neighbours one little bit.
Every night when he finished with his spell-making, the sorcerer poured the gunge from his cauldron into the clean water of the river.
The river got dirtier and dirtier, and the fish, birds and otters became very sick. Aquatus noticed all of this and he knew that this was the work of the dark sorcerer.
Aquatus stormed into the dark sorcerer’s house and shouted, “What have you done?! You’re destroying the river!”
The Dark Sorcerer laughed. “They call me The Dark Sorcerer, don’t they? So, I’m going to make your river so filthy that all your annoying little friends will go away.”
“We’ll see about that,” Aquatus muttered.
The next day, Aquatus had a plan. He sent a message to the Dark Sorcerer that read: I challenge you to a duel today at three o’clock. Don’t be late!
At three o’clock, the Dark Sorcerer left his house but couldn’t see Aquatus anywhere! He sailed his boat into the river to try to find Aquatus.
Suddenly, the whole world began to spin…he was caught in a whirlpool!
The Dark Sorcerer sank further and further into the water and then finally saw Aquatus on the bottom of the riverbed.
“I knew you’d come out here!” Aquatus jeered. He spun his arm and the whirlpool spun even faster.
The Dark Sorcerer yelled, “This isn’t over!” as he disappeared.
The whirlpool cleaned up the river and all was well once again.