Coloso Champi Coloso heard the screams. He felt the trembling of the earth. And he stopped feeling sad.
Another day, he tried to play hide-and-seek with the raccoons. He waddled behind a giant boulder, but his glowing gills gave him away instantly. The raccoons didn't even bother to look. "We see you, Coloso!" they giggled. "Too glow-y!"
The old rabbit, the one whose burrow he had accidentally smashed, hopped forward. "Coloso Champi Coloso," she said, loud and clear. "You are not too strong. You are strong enough ." coloso champi coloso
The flood hit him with the force of a mountain. Water crashed against his golden cap, split in two, and roared harmlessly past on either side. He shuddered. His roots strained. But he held firm.
When the sun finally broke through the clouds, the animals emerged. They looked at the devastation—the broken trees, the washed-out paths—and then they looked at Coloso. His cap was scratched. His glow was dim. He was exhausted and listing to one side. Coloso Champi Coloso heard the screams
The ladybug just blinked and flew away.
Coloso plunged his root-legs deep into the mud at the narrowest part of the gorge. He braced his thick stem against the current. Then he tilted his enormous cap forward, forming a perfect, glowing shield. Another day, he tried to play hide-and-seek with
From that day on, no one whispered his name. They sang it. And every evening, when Coloso’s gills pulsed their soft, sleepy light, the animals of the valley would gather beneath his cap. They didn't hide from his glow. They read stories by it, told jokes, and fell asleep to the gentle plomp, plomp, plomp of his heartbeat.