for the residents of Animal Land. This spring was starting off
very wet.
Deep in her den, Eva, Ilza's mother, rested after a long night.
She had spent many of the last five hours in the midst of a very
difficult delivery. Now, as the morning sun rose over the trees
outside, she looked over her new pups.
"One, two, three . . . " she counted, then sighed. There had
been four puppies born, but one was just not strong enough, and
didn't live through the night. "At least I have three beautiful
children," Eva whispered to the whimpering puppies.
During the days that followed, Eva watched over her new litter. Some of the other wolves would come in to check on her, but were never allowed to stay long. A mother's den is just that-a mother's den.
The rain outside continued to fall. The den was built higher up on the hillside, so that a good vantage point could be obtained, but still
as the skies continued to open up, the water began to flow down the hills and mountains, flooding everything in their paths.
As the den began to flood, Eva grabbed two of the three puppies in her mouth at one time. She tried to pick up the third, but couldn't. She hurried out of the den, and searched for a safer place to put her new babies.
"Eva, over here!" another wolf yelled, directing her to a nearby cave.
Eva ran over to the cave and dropped the puppies to the dry floor inside. She turned, and was just about to run back to the den, when her eyes caught a sight she would never forget.
As she watched, the entire side of the hill fell away in a muddy flood of water.