Page 128 - Lavender-B-4

I trembled. I shook so hard that I could barely stand upright. Several tense

minutes passed and all I could do was stare. Finally, I took a deep breath and told
myself that I was older than my brother and so needed to deal with the situation.
I took Nurbu’s hand and whispered to him to be brave.

Both of us inched towards the snow leopard. Our parents had taught us what
to do in case we face a wild animal. The first thing we did was scream loudly.
Animals get startled by the noise. To protect ourselves, Nurbu and I picked loose

stones from the ground and hurled them in its direction to scare it away. I took a
stick and started beating the ground hard, making a ruckus.

Startled by the noise, the snow leopard dropped the goat and growled at us

menacingly. Both of us together made so much noise that it made it impossible
for the snow leopard to eat the goat in peace! So it moved away and climbed up

into the mountains to look down at us.
trembled: shook slightly because
Seeing our chance, we ran towards the goat to check if you are frightened
she was still alive. She was not. We were worried. We stand upright: stand with the
back straight
did not want to tell anyone in the village that there tense: causing feelings of worry
was a snow leopard in our valley. It was our first day as or nervousness
inched: moved very slowly
herders and we did not want to be held responsible for a startled: surprised and slightly
frightened
missing goat! hurled: threw something with a
lot of force, usually in an angry
or violent way
making a ruckus: causing a
great deal of noise or confusion
growled: made a low, rough
sound, usually in anger
menacingly: in a dangerous way
in peace: in a state of quiet and
calm

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