Mia and the Glass Hill

 Once upon a time in Hillwood lived a poor farmer Arthur with his wife Betty and daughter Mia.

One day, when Mia was walking home from the market she heard a person screaming for help. She went in the direction of the sound and found a weird looking man in purple robes sinking in the river water. She immediately jumped in and pulled the man out of the river. The man said, “Thank you very much for saving my life. I am a magician. I had just come to this river to drink water but somehow, I fell in the river. I cannot do magic without my wand. I will go get my wand.” Saying this he picked up his wand from the river bank and came back to Mia. He moved his wand, muttered some words and conjured a blue stone out of nowhere and handed it to her. He said, “Here you go. This is a magic stone. This will provide you help in some way when you ask for it. Just rotate it 5 times in your hand and tell it your problem clearly. Help will be given to you in some way. I must leave now. Once again, Thank you.” Before Mia could say another word the magician had vanished.

One day, Arthur heard that their King David’s dear dog Smoothie was lost. He had also promised a huge reward for anybody who would get him back his dog.

He came back home and told his family about this. Betty said, “Oh, the dog couldn’t have gone much far now, right? Maybe we can try finding it… what do you think?” Arthur said, “Yes, but we have a lot of work to do in the farms so we won't have much time to search for the dog.” Mia said, “Mom, Dad, I don't have anything to do, so why can’t I try to go and find the dog. If I am successful we will be rewarded.” Arthur and Betty thought for a while and said, “Yes Mia, you can, but just take care of yourself.”

Mia packed all her essentials and left the next morning. She walked for a while searching for the dog. Whenever she saw a house in sight she used to pack water and food from there and continue her journey.

One day, as she was in an old lady’s house the lady asked, “Girl, who are you and where are you going?” Mia told the lady everything and pleaded, “Can you help me?” The lady said, “Umm… well, I know a place where you can search. Just a few kilometers away from here there is a glass mountain -

“Glass mountain?”

“Yes, a glass mountain. But the only problem for you to search there is that it cannot be climbed barefoot by humans as it is made of glass. Only animals can climb it.”

“Ohh...but how can there be a mountain made of glass?”

“I don’t know. It has been there since I was a child.” Mia thought, “How am I supposed to climb a glass mountain? I guess I’ll figure something out when I get there.” The lady gave Mia a map which she could follow to go to the Glass Mountain. Mia thanked the lady and left for the mountain.

After a few hours Mia reached the Mountain. She looked at the mountain with her mouth hanging open. It was huge, sparkly and beautiful. Mia tried to climb the mountain but slipped down. She thought, “The lady was right. No human can climb this. What do I do? I don’t want to go back without searching this mountain. My 6th sense is telling me that the dog is here.”

Just then she remembered about the magician and the stone he had given her. She rummaged in her pocket and found the stone. She rotated it 5 times and said clearly, “I want to climb the Glass mountain, but I don't know how to do so. Please help me.” The stone glowed for a second and turned blue again. “Now I guess I just have to wait.” she thought.

Just as she was pacing, her eyes fell upon a pair of odd - looking studded shoes. She picked them up. She flipped them in her hands and touched the studs. Her hand got stuck to them. With great effort she pulled her hand away. She concluded that these shoes were given to her by the magic stone. Now, she knew what to do. She put on the shoes and climbed the mountain effortlessly. The gummy stuff prevented her from slipping down the glass. After a while she reached the peak. She noticed that the peak had soil, not glass.

She saw a small brown thing at the other end of the land. She was thrilled. She understood that the small brown thing was a dog. But she wasn’t sure that it was the king’s dog. She went towards the dog and fed it with some biscuits she had got from the old lady’s house. She petted it and saw something written on its leash. ‘Smoothie - Royal Palace - King David’ This confirmed her doubt about the dog. It was the king’s lost dog. After it had finished eating she picked it up and climbed down the mountain.

She didn’t know the way back to her home in Hillwood. She used the magic stone again and found a map lying next to her feet. She took it and followed it to Hillwood. When she and the dog had reached they went to the king’s palace.

When the dog saw the king it ran to it and licked his whole face. The king was delighted to see it. He said, “Girl, Thank you very much for finding my dear dog Smoothie and returning him to me. As I promised, I will give you the reward.” He said to his servant, “ Servant! Bring this girl her reward of 10,000 gold coins.” The servant brought the reward and gave it to Mia. Mia humbly accepted her reward and said, “Thank very much you sir! May I go home now, sir?” King David said, “Yes, just wait a minute. I am willing to invite you and your family to come and live with me in the palace. Will you come?” Mia excitedly said, “Yes, yes sir! I would love to! I will tell my parents. Thank you sir! May I leave now?” “Yes you may.” Mia happily left the palace with her reward. Her parents were extremely happy to see her. She told them about her adventure, her reward and the king’s invitation. They were very happy and proud of Mia. The  next day they left for the king's palace and lived happily ever after.

- Namya Shetty