The rainwater, instead of feeding the springs, now ran swiftly away. The clear, steady rivers turned to muddy floods during the rainy season. They swept through the valleys, washing away houses and crops. In the summer they dried up so that the fish died.
When these people at last discovered their mistake, they strove by hard labor to repair the damage which they had done through years of ignorance and greed. This was such slow, difficult work that the land still remains a dreary place in which to live. It is known as the Land of the Poor People.
CHAPTER SIX
WHAT THE MUDDY RIVULET HAS TO SAY
Would you like to know something about what I am doing? Would you like to know why my waters are yellow with mud? I am accused of being a noisy, roistering fellow, of robbing people of their wealth and of doing all sorts of wicked deeds. But, worst of all, I am accused of carrying away the tiny particles of soil in which the plants find their food and of dropping them in the depths of the sea.
H. W. Fairbanks
Because some farmer was careless, a rivulet has nearly destroyed this rich valley.