Shang Sal and the Cloud

By Emily

Once, in the Malaysian rainforest there was a snake named Shang Sal and she lived in the deepest, darkest parts. She was considered evil and aggressive. This was because of the horrible way she swallowed her prey whole, down her narrow throat. One day Shang Sal came out of the darkness and into the city where she found the only thing that she thought was significant. A clear, pure, white, fluffy and magnificent, cloud. When she gazed at it she realised that she was in love and she needed the cloud or she would be heartbroken for the rest of her life. Shang Sal still had the feeling of serendipity in her body so she had to get a plan to go up to the sky and meet the cloud. At night, Shang Sal slithered up a small tree and tried to reach the cloud but it wasn’t there. So, with a little sigh Shang Sal slithered down from the tree and for a second she almost gave up, until she thought… Maybe the cloud wasn’t nocturnal like she sometimes was; maybe he only liked the day and disliked the dark of night. Afterwards, Shang Sal drifted off to sleep. When she woke, the brightness of daylight blinded her for a second. The moment that she awakened she travelled up the highest house that she could find and called out to the cloud, but it never answered her. She was giving up all hope as she wriggled down the roof of the house. She was lonely and distraught but she kept strong. Shang Sal was determined that she would woo the cloud. She dozed off into the deepest sleep she had ever had in her lifetime. When she roused, she climbed the highest cliff she could find and drew out her neck, but it went out too far and she fell down from a staggering height. As she fell she scraped her skin on a jagged rock. The blood contrasted with the colour of her skin. Shang Sal was feeling hurt and rejected. Her cut was infected and she didn't know what to do. The only thing that she could do was hope. Afterwards, she met a wise poison dart frog and he said to her to shed her scaly but smooth skin on a sharpish rock, because then the injury would disappear. Shang Sal didn't care what the frog said; she was feeling useless and unloved, crying out helplessly to the cloud. She was screaming “Why does the one I love avoid me?” Then a clap of thunder occurred and the cloud was producing rain. The rain soothed the cut on Shang Sal’s wound and it immediately closed up. It was like a miracle was happening in front of her eyes. Her one and only true love had responded to her desperate calls. That was all Shang Sal needed to know. Her one love, loved her. Love prevailed, and today some say the clouds rain for Shang Sal.