Wanderer, the little breeze, was the best storyteller in the world. Every day, he would return from his travels and settle on the windowsill in Mary and Sammy’s little room. He would whisper to them stories of places so far away, it made their heads spin.
“Today, I was where the sun shines so brightly that the sand turns into a golden sea,” rustled the Breeze, sounding like dry leaves. “There were huge hills of sand everywhere, they call them dunes. And an animal with two big humps on its back was walking across them. They say it doesn’t need to drink water for several days.”
“Wow, that’s a camel!” exclaimed Sammy. “And where is that, Wanderer? Show us on the map!”
The Breeze swirled in place and whispered sheepishly: “Oh… um… I don’t know. It was very, very hot there. But where exactly… I didn’t remember.”
Mary thought for a moment. She took a large piece of paper and some crayons from the table. “That’s all right, Wanderer. We’ll help you. We’ll create a map diary! You’ll tell us a story, and we’ll draw a map of the place where it happened.”
It was a brilliant idea. Wanderer enthusiastically agreed.
They drew the first map all in yellow and brown. It showed endless sand dunes and a small camel with two humps. Beneath it, they wrote: A PLACE WHERE IT IS VERY HOT AND CAMELS LIVE.
The next day, Wanderer flew in, freezing cold. He shivered so much he tinkled against the windowpane. “Brrr, today I was in a place of only snow and ice. White and blue everywhere! I saw funny birds there that can’t fly, but they swim in the icy water like fish. They looked like they were wearing black coats and had white bellies.”
“Penguins!” Mary cheered. She immediately grabbed another piece of paper and drew huge white ice floes floating in a blue sea. On one floe, she placed a family of cheerful penguins. Under the map, they wrote: A PLACE OF SNOW AND ICE WHERE PENGUINS LIVE.
On the third day, Wanderer smelled of flowers and damp earth. “Today, I was racing through a rainforest,” he recounted with excitement. “The trees were so tall I couldn’t see their tops. Long green vines hung from the branches, and birds with feathers as colorful as the rainbow flew everywhere. And the sounds! Everything there sang, whistled, and buzzed.”
Sammy got to work right away. He drew a map full of rich green color. It had towering trees, colorful parrots, and even a little monkey swinging on a vine. Under the map, they wrote: A PLACE WITH TALL TREES AND COLORFUL BIRDS.
Their map diary was filling up beautifully. They now had three wonderful maps and were very proud of them. They placed them on the table so they could always see them.
But that night, something unexpected happened. A strong storm broke out outside. The window in the children's room was not closed properly. Wanderer's older brother, the strong and unruly Gale the Wind, burst in. He blew so powerfully that everything in the room went flying. The papers lifted into the air, performed a wild dance, and fell to the floor, one on top of the other. They got mixed up with the stories the children had written on little slips of paper to go with the maps.
When Mary and Sammy woke up in the morning, they found a complete mess on the floor. “Oh no! Our maps!” cried Mary sadly. All three maps lay in a heap, and next to them were the scattered slips of paper with the descriptions.
“How will we know which story belongs to which map now?” asked Sammy, looking at the disaster. Just then, Wanderer the Breeze flew in. When he saw what had happened, he let his invisible shoulders slump. “This is my fault. If I had remembered the names of those places, we would know right away.”
But Mary didn’t give up. “Wait! We’ll figure it out! We’re detectives, after all!” She picked up the first slip of paper. “This one says: An animal that has a hump and walks on hot sand.”
“That’s the camel!” said Sammy. “And a camel needs heat.” “Exactly!” agreed Mary. “Which of our maps looks like a hot place?”
The children spread the maps out on the rug. One was white, the second was green, and the third was yellow. “The yellow one, of course! It’s all sand!” Sammy pointed. “Correct!” praised Wanderer. “And that place is called the Sahara. It’s the largest desert in the world.” The children immediately placed the slip about the camel next to the yellow map, and Mary carefully wrote on it in big letters: SAHARA.
“Excellent, one mystery solved!” Sammy rejoiced and picked up the next slip. “This one says: Birds in black little coats that slide on the ice into cold water.” “Those are our friends, the penguins,” smiled Wanderer. “And they like it very cold.” “So they must belong to the map with all the snow and ice,” said Mary, and without hesitation, she pointed to the white map with the blue sea. “This must be it.” “Exactly! And it’s called Antarctica. It’s the coldest continent on Earth,” added Wanderer. Sammy proudly wrote on the white map: ANTARCTICA.
They were left with just one last map and one last slip of paper. “This one talks about tall trees, vines, and colorful parrots,” read Mary. She looked at the green map. “That fits! It’s all drawn here.” “That’s the Amazon Rainforest,” whispered Wanderer. “A place where it rains almost every day and more plants grow there than you can imagine.” The children placed the last slip of paper by the green map and wrote on it: AMAZON RAINFOREST.
All three maps were correctly sorted again. Mary and Sammy carefully glued them onto a large piece of cardboard and hung it on the wall. Their map diary was complete and even more beautiful than before.
“Thank you, my friends,” said Wanderer, twirling cheerfully around the lamp. “Not only did you help me sort out the stories, but you taught me that even when things get mixed up, they can be fixed. You just have to think hard and work together.”
Mary and Sammy smiled. Now they knew that the Sahara is a hot desert, Antarctica is icy, and the Amazon Rainforest is full of life. And best of all, they knew that the next day, Wanderer would bring them a new story and a new map puzzle.
“And what about you, children?” whispered Wanderer in your direction. “Try to find these three places on a real map or a globe. You’ll see how big and diverse our world is. And maybe, you’ll feel a gentle breeze. That will be me, Wanderer the Breeze, flying to you with a new adventure.”