1. Lauryn Klopf<br />final<br />Mahe and the Giraffe<br />It all started one day, when Mahe, the creator of the world was making animals in South Africa. He had made creatures all over the world, and South Africa was the last place. In forests he had creepy critters’; in the Arctic he made penguins and polar bears. In the oceans there were fishes, sharks, starfish, coral and turtles. He wanted different animals for South Africa; it was his favorite place so he wanted to have special animals. Mahe wanted ferocious cats, so he made lions. He wanted a fast cat, so he made cheetahs. Next, Mahe wanted an animal that was strong to live on both land and in water. This animal had to have a strong jaw, strong body; he called this animal a hippopotamus. He noticed that the hippopotamus’s liked to stay more in the water rather than roam the land like he had wanted them too. So Mahe created a rhinoceros. This animal had a horn on the top of his nose. The rhinoceros was muscular, strong and was feared by other animals. Mahe was happy with the rhinoceros. Mahe next created small animals, but they were important to the region. He made antelopes, desert foxes, muskrats and more. Mahe had a good reason to create these animals, they were large enough that the more dominate animals could hunt them. He knew that if he had not created these smaller animals then the larger ones would over populate and start to die.<br />Mahe felt like he was missing something. He wanted a kind, gentle animal, an animal that would stand out from all the others. So Mahe made a giraffe. The giraffe had long legs and a short body, so they were clumsy. Mahe made them orange with brownish spots. He noticed that the giraffes did not eat each other animals, but they also could not reach the leaves on trees. He started to notice that the giraffes could not just eat the grass and that they needed to be able to reach the leaves on the trees. Mahe thought and thought about what he could do to fix the giraffes to help them. Then one day he finally got it! He decided to extend their necks. Now the giraffes had long legs and a long neck. Mahe realized that the giraffe looked right; they did not look awkward or clumsy. He could tell this is how they were supposed to be. Mahe finally had all the animals in the world made.<br />