Once upon a time, beyond the mighty Andes, amidst the Bolivian mountain ranges, lived Kalmi the little llama, peacefully on the edge of a small mountain village, in the courtyard of a nice, tidy cottage, with her loving owners, Uncle Pippo and Aunt Amada. Calmy's owners were very old, so their only pet was certainly hanging around the streets a lot to pass the time.
What are llamas like? You've probably seen them at the zoo. You know: camel-like, herbivorous, friendly animals with long necks and legs and funny toes. All llamas are great beasts of burden.
Of course, this doesn't mean they can accompany you to the toy shop and carry home all the toys you get, but in the South American pampas these clever and strong animals are used to carry loads. The llamas are so smart that they recognise how much weight they can carry. If you try to put too much and heavy stuff on a llama, it won't start. It will simply lie down or just stand still.
This is how all lamas behave in reality. Not so Kalmi, who could never say no to children. Calmi was friends with all the little children in the neighbourhood, so she always let them pack their school bags and walked them home through narrow paths, girbe-gurba streets and steep hills.
And so it went for years, as the little llama grew into a young adult who continued to carry the children's bags with great gusto. Sometimes the bags were accompanied by heavier shopping baskets, carpets, and all the other objects that the older villagers could not carry home.
Kálmi helped everyone with great enthusiasm, happily absorbing the knowledge she had heard from the school children. As he carried their bags, he repeated the stories, poems and songs he had heard from them. He was very happy with his life.
So the years went by. Calmy grew bigger and bigger, carrying more and more bags on his back, much to the delight of the children, who were happy to carry their school equipment with the young lama. However, as Kalmi grew, the weight to carry increased, and Kalmi often felt tired.
So our poor llama rested more and more, and there was a time when she didn't want to come out of her cottage for a whole week. The children looked for him, searched and shouted for him in the streets of the village, but he was nowhere to be found. They searched for her not only because they had no one to carry their bags, but also because they loved her so much.
So they went to the house of the elderly couple and asked them to let them in to see the lama, because they wanted to visit him. Pippo and Amada needed no more than that, and they nicely escorted the children back to the resting animal.
- Calmy, Calmy. Where have you gone? Why didn't you come to school? I missed you so much! - the children embraced the resting lama, who crawled out of her reclining position with a heart full of happiness from the sudden outpouring of love.
- Kalmi, what happened? Why did you disappear? - the children asked the lama kindly.
- "I didn't want to tell you, but I'm a bit tired from carrying all the luggage and bags," Kalmi told the children.
The stunned kids loved Calmy so much that they immediately put their heads together to see what they could do to help their good friend, apart from putting less stuff on him. They were racking their brains, when Pablo had a great idea: what if, in gratitude for all the help she had given us, he and Aunt Lucia could have a fancy blanket made for Kalmi?
- Tomorrow, bring your favourite scarf and we'll ask Aunt Lucia to make a wonderful blanket for our luminary.
And so it was. The next day, the children went to Aunt Lucia's house, where they handed her the materials one by one, and she made a fabulous blanket for Kálmi. The llama was delighted with the colourful gift, especially when she discovered that Aunt Lucia had added a soft lining to make it even more comfortable to wear.
This is how Kalmi got a colourful blanket, and the children got their favourite llama back, who they didn't burden too much from then on, as they realised that their friend's health was more important than their own comfort, and they could carry their own bags.
If you want a for a luminous small plate, check out the Story Plate page!
