JARGAL’S STORY A Forest Adventure A collaborative three-nation story Part 1 by Jargal in South Africa Part 2 by Josh in Canada Part 3 by Sofi, Malena and Meli in Argentina

Part 1: The jungle

It was quiet, too quiet. That could only mean that... Jeff was in the furthest, deepest, most dangerous part of the jungle were the silent tigers lived. The silent tigers were the strangest and most terrifying creatures in all of Skiwan. They were silent deadly warriors of the jungle where they stayed quiet until you walked further than 20 feet away from them. Then... POW! As quick as lightning, they jump on you from behind and annihilate you within seconds. Jeff was an average-sized man who had always worked out in the field and knew most of the outer Skiwan jungle. He also had a strong body like an ox and helped out with whatever he could around the village.

Jeff knew he would have to be on his guard at all times if he was to survive the mighty Skiwan jungle, the deadliest jungle ever recorded! But he knew that he had to find the herb of life to save his sister from her deadly disease. It's been five days since he left Gwian the main village in Skiwan. Jeff was an explorer who knew all the correct herbs, roots, and plants to eat to survive.

Part 2: Attacked by a tiger

After five days of being in the jungle, Jeff was getting very aggravated about not being able to find the herb to save his sister. Jeff had something he had hoped would not have happen to him. A silent tiger had come out from behind him and pounced on Jeff. The weight of the tiger was much more than Jeff had anticipated, with it being way over 200 pounds. But then something happened. A giant bird came down upon the tiger taking it off Jeff and leaving with it in it's claws. It was then that Jeff remembered that not only the silent tiger lived in the jungle, but that  there was also the Taiko, a giant bird that ate anything smaller than it.

Jeff was lucky the Taiko had not picked him up as well. Thankful for the "rescue",  Jeff went on his way paying much closer attention to his surroundings. After his encounter with the great beasts, Jeff had noticed he had become hungry and climbed into a medium-sized tree to avoid any more encounters with the land beasts of the jungle. After eating Jeff again went off on his way to find the herb of life. Knowing that he was closer to the centre of the jungle where the herb would be, Jeff became dizzy and losing all caution of his surroundings  looked down at his arm. He found that the tiger had bitten him.

He remembered that a silent tiger bite does not draw blood but injects a poison that is harmless but will disorientate it's victim.  This was done in case the tiger was somehow diverted from its target and it was able to locate it afterwards. Jeff remembering his training, climbed into the closest tree and found a couple of sturdy branches. As he sat down he dropped his hunting knife which had luckily missed his leg by millimetres and then…. darkness.  

Part 3: An unusual rescue team

Hours had passed since Jeff became unconscious and he finally awoke to find that five Kanwas were at the bottom of the tree. Kanwas are gentle giant wolves that protect smaller creatures like humans and have minds that are like humans and eyes that are very observant. At first Jeff was startled until he noticed what they were, and as Jeff came down the tree the Kanwas turned in surprise at how quickly he had awoken from the venom, because most people are unconscious for days. Jeff's will to save his sister and survive kept him going.

The Kanwas took ore much more protection over Jeff than he had thought they would, making him wonder why would there be five Kanwas rather than the usual three? But then looking around, Jeff noticed there were more than just five. He was in the center of a pack of Kanwas! The more Jeff looked around the stranger things became, with Jeff noticing that there was some Taikos as well! But then remembering Taikos and Kanwas were friendly allies to each other with them being the same size, meant the Kanwas with their superior minds were able to convince any creature to protect or befriend any other being.

Now with Jeff knowing that he now had two giant allies he thought he could get past just about every obstacle in the jungle. Then Jeff saw something never seen by humans before, the Kanwa pups, and Taiko chicks! They are always in they're nests and dens in case of predators because they are only the size of human children until they are six weeks old and then they are the size of their parents. Jeff was so amazed he was seeing the babies that he reached in his survival pack, grabbed his camera and started taking photos…. until he remembered the reason why he was in the jungle.

The Taikos got scared and thought that Jeff was doing something to hurt the cubs, but Jeff knew all about animals and quickly dropped the camera and the survival pack. Instantly the animals lay around Jeff to inspect him. They thought he couldn't do any harm. 

  They set off to look for the herbs, the hundreds of animals went behind Jeff. They went in order, bumping into each other while a scary animal hunter crept from the bushes. To protect each other, the Taikos surrounded Jeff and the cubs making a circle. The hunter’s gun frightened the animals, but Jeff told the hunter why he was in the jungle and the hunter let them off. The only condition was that Jeff would have to give his gun away. This gun was very important for him because his father that had passed away had given it to him. Jeff accepted the condition, and feeling upset he handed over the gun.

The rest of the journey they were safe. Dodging the wild carnivore animals, they got through to the east end were they found, on top of the highest mountain the famous curing herbs. Jeff and the animals climbed day and night, to reach the top. On the peek of the mountain, they started to dig under the herbs tree to take herbs without cutting the plants. 

The return was long and tiring. Jeff wanted the animals to stay at his house, but then he remembered that his sister was ill and although she would be better, animals would make her worse. Jeff’s sister got better and Jeff went every week to visit his animal friends. And that is the end of our story! THE END