The Adventures of Lumi the White DolphinThe Adventures of Lumi the White Dolphin

Long, long ago, there was a small fishing village on the banks of the Mekong River. The houses stood on wooden stilts in a long row beside the river. The villagers lived by catching fish from small wooden boats.

One evening, the sun was slowly setting over the river. The water sparkled like gold. At that very moment, deep in the river, a baby dolphin was born.

The mother dolphin gently pushed her baby up to the surface with her nose. The baby dolphin took her very first breath. "Pfoo!" A tiny spray of water shot up into the sky.

The mother dolphin was amazed. The baby dolphin's body was as white as snow. On the left side of her forehead, there was a small sky-blue mark shaped like a crescent moon. When the setting sun touched her white body, the baby dolphin glowed like a little lantern.

"Your name is Lumi," the mother dolphin said softly. "It means white as snow and bright as light."

The river creatures gathered one by one. A school of silver fish danced in a circle. Little shrimp jumped out of the water. A kingfisher sat on a branch by the river and sang a clear song. Everyone celebrated Lumi's birth.

Among them was an old grey dolphin. It was Grandpa Mek, who had an old scar on his dorsal fin. Grandpa Mek looked at Lumi for a long time, and then he smiled.

"It has been a very long time since a white dolphin was born in this river. One day, this child will bring the river and people together."

Lumi did not understand what those words meant yet. But Lumi loved swimming beside her mother. Lumi loved the soft current wrapping around her body, too.

That night, the sky was full of stars. The starlight shone on the water, and the river looked like a road of flowing stars. Lumi fell asleep, snuggled close to her mother. It was the night a new light was born on the Mekong.

Time passed, and Lumi grew a little bigger. Now Lumi could leave her mother's side and swim alone. One morning, bright laughter came from the riverbank. Lumi was curious, so she quietly swam toward the bank.

Two children were standing on a wooden pier. The boy with short brown hair was Rian. Rian was skipping flat stones across the water. The girl with her long hair in a single braid was Nari. Nari had a white flower tucked behind her ear.

"One, two, three! Did you see that? It skipped three times!" Rian shouted.

At that moment, a white head popped up right where the stone had landed. It was Lumi.

"Aaah! Something white came out of the river!" Rian fell backward onto his bottom. But Nari was not scared. Nari slowly crouched down and held out her hand. "Hello! You're a dolphin, aren't you? You're so beautiful."

Lumi gently touched Nari's hand with her forehead. Then Lumi nodded. Rian's eyes went wide. "Nari, I think this dolphin understands what we say!"

From that day on, the three friends met every day. The children told Lumi stories about the village. Lumi whistled happily, as if she were telling them stories about life underwater. They did not speak the same language, but their hearts understood each other.

One morning, Rian overslept. Rian grabbed his bag and ran to the pier. But the boat to the floating school was already far away. The floating school is a small school that floats on the river.

"What do I do? Today is our spelling test..." Rian's face crumpled.

Just then, Lumi swam up in front of Rian and offered her back. "You'll give me a ride?" Rian carefully climbed onto Lumi's back. Lumi swam powerfully through the water.

Rian arrived at school even before the boat. The teacher and the other children could not believe their eyes. Rian stroked Lumi's forehead and said, "Thank you, Lumi. You're my most amazing friend!"

That summer, the village had a worry. The fishers threw their nets all day long, but they caught no fish. Uncle Somchai, Rian's father, sighed as he held up an empty net.

"Where have all the fish gone? If this goes on, the villagers will have nothing to eat."

Rian and Nari ran to the riverbank and called Lumi. "Lumi, do you know where the fish are?" Lumi nodded and disappeared into the deep water.

Lumi swam close to the riverbed and listened carefully. Dolphins can see underwater with sound. When Lumi made a "click-click" sound, the sound bounced off the fish and came back. Soon, Lumi found a huge school of fish gathered in the shadow of a rock.

Lumi came up to the surface and slapped the water twice with her tail. "Splash! Splash!" "Dad, Lumi wants us to follow her!" Rian shouted.

Uncle Somchai and the fishers rowed their boats after Lumi. Lumi swam around behind the school of fish and herded them toward the nets. When the fishers pulled up their nets, silver fish were flipping and flapping inside.

"This isn't a dream, is it? A dolphin is helping us!" the fishers cheered.

That evening, the villagers gathered by the river. Uncle Somchai said, "Lumi helped us. Now let's make a promise and keep it."

The fishers made three promises. First, they would share some of their catch with Lumi. Second, they would put very small fish back into the river. Third, they would never set nets where the dolphins rest.

After that, the fishers called Lumi by knocking their oars against the sides of their boats. "Tok, tok!" Then Lumi would come and show them where the fish were. A village where people and a dolphin fish together: that became the village's new pride.

When the dry season began, the grass on the riverbank dried up and turned yellow. But on a small island in the middle of the river, the grass was still thick and green.

A big water buffalo stood on the riverbank. The buffalo wore a red rope and a small bell around his neck. His name was Tongtong. Tongtong looked at the grass on the island, and his tummy rumbled. "Grrrumble." But he could not take even one step into the water.

"Tongtong, why don't you cross?" Nari asked. Tongtong lowered his head. Tongtong's owner, an old grandmother, answered for him. "When Tongtong was a baby, he fell into the water. Ever since then, he has been afraid of water."

Rian laughed and said, "A water buffalo who's afraid of water? But he's so big!" Nari held Rian's arm tightly. "Rian, being scared has nothing to do with being big. You get scared when you go to the toilet at night, too." Rian's face turned red. "That's true... I'm sorry, Tongtong."

The children made a plan with Lumi. Rian chose the shallow places and walked in front. Nari sang songs beside Tongtong. Lumi swam next to Tongtong and blocked the current.

Trembling, Tongtong put one foot into the water. Then another. When the water came up to his belly, Tongtong stopped. Just then, Lumi leaned her body gently against Tongtong's leg. "It's okay. I'm right here." Lumi's feelings reached Tongtong's heart.

At last, Tongtong reached the island! Tongtong ate a big mouthful of green grass and gave a long, happy "Moooo!"

From that day on, Tongtong slowly made friends with the water. Whenever the children came to the river, he came stomping over to greet them. Now Lumi did not only have friends in the water. Lumi had a strong friend on land, too.

Nari said, "Courage doesn't mean you're not scared. Courage means taking one step even when you are scared."

The rainy season came. The rain did not stop for one day, two days, three days. The river rose higher and higher and turned muddy. The water climbed up the wooden stilts of the houses and reached the stairs.

On the fourth night, Nari was carrying a basket of rice to a higher place. But her foot slipped on the wet stairs. "Ah!" Nari was swept away by the rushing water.

"Help!" Nari's voice was lost in the sound of the rain. But Lumi heard her. Lumi swam against the current as fast as an arrow.

Nari was barely holding on to a floating branch. Lumi dove under Nari and lifted her up on her back. "Lumi!" Nari held on tightly to Lumi's dorsal fin. Lumi carried Nari to the hill behind the village. On top of that hill was a temple that the water had not reached.

When they reached the hill, Nari gasped for breath and said, "Lumi, there are still people in the village. Grandmothers and babies, too!"

Lumi swam back to the village. Uncle Somchai and the fishers were rescuing people in their boats. But it was a pitch-dark night, and it was hard to find the way. Lumi swam in front of the boats with her white body. Even in the dark, Lumi's white body was easy to see. The fishers followed Lumi and steered their boats along a safe path.

In the shallow rice fields, Tongtong was a hero. Tongtong carried old people and children on his back. Stomp, stomp, he walked them to the hill. Tongtong, who had once been afraid of water, was now protecting everyone.

As the sun came up, the last boat reached the hill. Every single villager was safe. People hugged each other, crying and laughing.

A few days later, the rain stopped. The river went down again, and the villagers fixed their houses together. Rian said, "Lumi lit the way, Tongtong carried people, and Dad steered the boat. We are all heroes!"

The next year, the opposite happened. Almost no rain fell. For months, the hot sun beat down on the river. The water level dropped, and sandbanks appeared here and there. As the water grew shallow, the fish gasped for air.

The dolphins were struggling, too. In shallow water, the water heated up quickly, and there was not enough food. Even Lumi's mother looked tired and weak.

Lumi went to see Grandpa Mek. "Grandpa, the river is drying up. Where should we go?"

Grandpa Mek slowly closed his eyes and opened them again. "The river has a hidden room. A very deep pool. Even in a drought, the water there never dries up. I went there once when I was young. It is upstream, where three big black rocks stand."

Lumi set off right away. Lumi avoided the shallow sandbanks and swam upstream along narrow channels. The sun set twice and rose twice. And at last, Lumi saw three black rocks!

When Lumi dove down below the rocks, the water was cool and deep. Fish were gathered there, too. Lumi happily swam back downstream. Then Lumi led the dolphin families and the schools of fish to the deep pool.

Meanwhile, in the village, the fishers were thinking hard. "If all the fish are gathered in the deep pool, we could catch a lot of them there," one fisher said.

Then Nari stepped forward. "No! That place is the last home of the fish and the dolphins. If we catch them all there, the fish won't come back to the river, even when the rain returns."

Uncle Somchai nodded. "Nari is right. The deep pool is the heart of the river. Let's not fish there." All the villagers raised their hands for that promise.

A few months later, the rain finally came. As the river filled up again, the fish that had rested in the deep pool spread out all over the river. The river was full of life once more. The river gave back as much as the people had protected it.

Several years passed, and the village grew bigger. Traders' boats from faraway villages came and went often. But along with them, more and more trash began to appear in the river. Broken baskets, torn cloth, and old nets that people had thrown away floated on the water.

As the water grew cloudy, some of Lumi's dolphin friends left the river. "Lumi, it's too hard to live here now. We're going downstream." Lumi watched her friends swim away for a long, long time.

One afternoon, Lumi was chasing food when suddenly her body got caught on something. It was an old net that had sunk under the water. The more Lumi twisted to get free, the tighter the net wrapped around her.

Dolphins live in the water, but they must breathe air at the surface. Lumi was running out of breath. With all her strength, Lumi made a high, long whistle. "Wheeeee!"

Rian and Nari were playing by the river, and they heard the sound. "That's Lumi's voice! Something is wrong!" Nari shouted. Rian ran straight to his father.

Uncle Somchai rowed his boat toward the sound. Under the water, he saw a white body tangled in a net. He took a knife and jumped into the water. "Hold on a little longer, Lumi!" He carefully cut the net, one strand at a time, so that Lumi would not get hurt.

At last, Lumi was free, and she shot up to the surface. "Pfoo!" Lumi took a big breath. Rian and Nari cried and hugged Lumi.

That night, Nari spoke in front of the villagers. "The person who threw away that net probably didn't mean any harm. But a lost net becomes an invisible trap. We have to clean up the river."

The next day, the children started the Little River Guardians. Every week, the children went out in boats and pulled trash out of the river. The grown-ups joined them, too. The village made a new rule: "Do not throw old nets into the river. Bring them back to the village."

Little by little, the river became clear again. But sometimes Lumi looked downstream. Lumi missed the friends who had left.

Grandpa Mek was the oldest dolphin in the river. These days, Grandpa Mek swam slowly. Coming up to breathe looked hard for him. Lumi stayed by Grandpa Mek's side every day.

One bright moonlit night, Grandpa Mek called Lumi. "Lumi, will you listen to my stories?"

Grandpa Mek told her old stories. A story about crossing a great waterfall when he was young. A story about the days when the river was full of dolphins. And a story about the day he got the scar on his dorsal fin.

"Lumi, a river never stops flowing. Life is the same. We are born, we grow, and one day we leave. It is sad, but it is natural."

Then Grandpa Mek sang a low, long song. It was a song that echoed deep in the water. Lumi listened to it for a long, long time.

The next morning, Grandpa Mek was lying still at the bottom of the deep pool. No matter how many times Lumi called, Grandpa Mek did not open his eyes again. Grandpa Mek had passed away.

For several days, Lumi did not come to the riverbank. No matter how many times Rian and Nari called, Lumi did not answer. The children knew that Lumi was very sad.

Nari made a little flower boat out of white flowers. Rian sat by the river every day and waited for Lumi. On the seventh day, Lumi slowly came up to the surface.

Nari placed the flower boat on the water and said, "Lumi, my grandmother told me something. As long as we remember someone, they live on in our hearts." Rian said, "All the things Grandpa Mek taught you are inside you now."

Lumi gently pushed the flower boat with her nose. The flower boat slowly drifted toward the deep pool.

That evening, the young dolphins asked Lumi, "Big sister Lumi, where should we go when a drought comes?" Lumi smiled. Then, just as Grandpa Mek had taught her, Lumi told them about the deep pool with the three black rocks. In Lumi's voice, Grandpa Mek's song was flowing again.

Every year, on the night when the full moon shone brightest, the village held a festival to thank the river. People made small lantern boats out of banana leaves and flowers. Then they lit candles and floated them on the water. "Thank you, river, for this year. Please take care of us in the years to come."

This year's festival was special. The story of Lumi and the Little River Guardians had spread far and wide, so people from faraway villages came to see the festival. Traders sold tasty food and colorful toys.

Rian and Nari showed people how to make lantern boats. "Make your lantern boat only from banana leaves and flowers. That way, it won't make the river dirty."

Just then, a boy from a faraway village tossed an empty snack bag into the river. Rian was about to get angry, but Nari took Rian's hand. Nari walked up to the boy and spoke gently.

"Hi, I'm Nari. Our friend Lumi lives in this river. If trash gets into the river, Lumi could get sick." The boy's face turned red. "I didn't know. I'm sorry." The boy took off his shoes, went down to the river, and picked the bag out of the water.

When the moon rose to the middle of the sky, people floated their lantern boats one by one. Hundreds, no, a thousand little lights drifted along the river. The river sparkled like the Milky Way in the sky.

Right then, something white leaped high between the lantern boats. It was Lumi! Lumi's white body sparkled in the moonlight and the lantern light.

"Wow! A white dolphin!" "She's really glowing!" The people from faraway villages had never seen anything like it, and they could not look away.

Uncle Somchai spoke loudly from his boat. "Everyone, that dolphin is Lumi, the friend of our river. Only when the river is clean can Lumi, the fish, and all of us live together." As each person floated a lantern boat, they made a promise in their hearts. "I will protect the river."

After the festival ended and everyone had gone home, Lumi looked downstream alone. Watching the last lantern boat drift far away, Lumi thought, 'Can the friends who left see these lights, too?'

The day after the festival, Lumi said to her mother, "Mom, I want to go downstream. I want to find the friends who left and tell them the river is clean again." Her mother stroked Lumi's forehead for a long time. "Be careful, and come back safely. My Lumi is all grown up now."

Lumi said goodbye to Rian and Nari, too. "I'll come back before the next full moon. I promise." Lumi's eyes were saying that. Nari untied one of her red ribbons and showed it to Lumi. "I'll tie this ribbon to the post on the pier. When you come back, let's meet here."

Lumi's journey began. Lumi passed through rocky places where the current was strong. Just as Grandpa Mek had told her, she swam along the edges where the current was gentle. Lumi passed villages she had never seen before. In one village, the children saw the white dolphin and waved.

A few days later, Lumi reached a place where the river became very wide. From far away came a familiar whistle. It was the dolphin friends who had left!

"Lumi! Is it really you?" Her friends crowded around Lumi. But their faces did not look happy. "There are too many boats here, and it's so noisy. There aren't many places to rest."

Lumi told her friends stories. The story of the Little River Guardians, the story of the fishers' promises, and the story of the promise to protect the deep pool. "Our river is clear again. The people promised to protect us. Let's go home together."

The friends looked at each other and nodded. Lumi and her friends swam back up the river together.

It was a night with a full moon. Rian and Nari were sitting beside the pier post with the red ribbon. "Will Lumi really come?" Rian asked. Instead of answering, Nari pointed at the river.

On the moonlit river, a white dolphin leaped up. Behind her, grey dolphins came up one, two, three... more than ten of them! "It's Lumi! Lumi brought her friends!" The children's cheers rang through the village.

That night, Lumi looked up at the full moon and made a wish. 'Please let every river in the world shine again, just like our river. Please let people and dolphins be friends forever.'

The Mekong River is still flowing today. If you ever visit a riverbank, look carefully at the water. Maybe a white dolphin will say hello to you.