1

He leads an idyllic life as a shepherd on a distant prairie. Everyone who knows him must have heard of his heroic deed of killing a five-meter-long crocodile. However, nobody believes it. On sunny days when the breeze softly blows, he will look up to the sky and whisper to the wind, as if asking: “Have you seen her?”

An alligator was in the lake, under the water, but nobody knew where it was. “It must be there.” they said. Maybe it was under the rock, or mixed up with fallen leaves, ready to open its mouth and drag the careless prey into the water.

That big alligator, with its glittering skin and patterns on its back like chains of sierra, was a gift from a Brazilian to Earl Edwards. It didn’t matter who Earl Edwards was, only to mention that he owned thousands of acres of land and this immense lake was his private fishing place.

This was where the story began.

Last week the alligator killed a man, Port, who had been in charge of feeding it. This was an unusual accident, but it didn’t surprise anyone. After all, it was a huge alligator more than four meters long. The news spread through the manor but soon vanished — it was the territory of Earl Edwards, if he didn’t care, nobody would care.

Perhaps the only person who felt sorry for the dead man was Emily. Port was her childhood sweetheart. They were sold together to the manor when they were only seven years old. It wasn’t hard to understand why they kept such a close relationship. Port had once proposed to Emily. But due to their contracts with the landlord, they could not get married or they would both be exiled from the manor. Emily refused Port with great pain.

“Would have gotten married to him had I known this would happen.” Emily thought with endless regret, now she’s doing her weaving job and cursing that alligator in the lake, that devil who stole Port’s life.

2

It wasn’t long before Emily took actions.

She gathered some tools for catching the alligator: rope, knife, fish spear and a chicken laved with poison. She had certainly no experience of fighting with an alligator, but grief gave her enough courage.

She followed the directions to the lake where the alligator lived. The creature lay languidly, with its stomach inflated like a balloon. “Inside that ugly stomach lies Port’s dead body.” Emily couldn’t help thinking. She climbed up to the tree, tied one side of the rope to a tree trunk and the other side to the limp neck of the chicken. She dangled the chicken above the alligator’s head and waggled it to tempt the alligator. Suddenly, the alligator jumped out of the water and took a bite on the chicken. Under great pressure, the rope broke and the chicken fell right into the alligator’s mouth.

“Go to hell! You bloody devil!” she cursed with great abhorrence.

As expected, the alligator became furious after a while and began rolling and twitching, and it was two hours before it finally stopped. Emily cautiously climbed down the tree and touched the alligator with her fish spear to make sure it was dead. “I’m late… Sorry Port… I’m too late.” she finally began weeping and insanely cut out the alligator’s stomach with her knife. She dragged out everything that was left in that stinking stomach trying to find Port’s body but only found some rotten trout inside it. The alligator didn’t eat Port.

Just then, Emily heard a rustling sound from the woods.

“What are you doing, darling?”

“Port?” Emily stood up puzzled and found Port standing on the bank, staring at her with great surprise.

Port didn’t die. He was intending to pick some wild flowers to send to Emily but got lost in the wood. His ragged cloth was picked up by a passerby, and, seeing the alligator had just finished eating, he mistakenly reported that Port was eaten by the alligator.

Port looked at the alligator’s body under Emily’s feet. Petrified, he asked: “Why, why did you kill it?” Emily told him everything and Port was both surprised and deeply touched. He immediately held Emily in his arms and said: “I wanted to pick some flowers to propose to you again, but now I don’t need them anymore. I’ve recognized your courage and more importantly how much you love me. You and I, we shall love each other till the ends of our lives.”

Emily cried again, and repeated while choking: “I love you till the end of my life.”

Some moments passed before they could cool off from the ecstasy of reunion. Looking at the dead body of the alligator, Emily said: “If Earl Edwards knows that the alligator has been killed, he will not go easy on me.” Port frowned and thought for a while. “We can first clear the alligator’s stomach. I will then go into the stomach and play the alligator whenever Earl Edwards comes by.

It seemed like the only possible solution, so Emily agreed.

“I hope it will succeed. Nothing can set us apart now.”

“Right, nothing.” agreed Port.

3

A few days later, Earl Edwards finally remembered that alligator. He went to the lake with his servants, including Emily. “I heard that it ate a man a few days earlier.” he asked with great curiosity.

“Yes, the man was Port who was in charge of feeding it.”

“What a dedicated boy! He knew my alligator was hungry…” Earl Edwards said scornfully with a sense of irony.

“Yes, yes! Hahahaha…” the servants laughed along.

“Who wants to feed this alligator now?” Earl Edwards suddenly asked. Everyone knew someone should stand out at this moment, but who would like to risk their life for an alligator? Right at the moment, Emily stood out.

“Honorable Earl Edwards, I’m the weaver of this manor and I would like to take charge of feeding the alligator.”

“What? You?” Earl Edwards couldn’t believe such a young girl.

“She’s the lover of the dead man Port. Maybe she does this job to memorialize Port.” a servant explained.

“On yes, she was with Port every day. I bet she knows everything about that alligator.”

“Yes, yes…”

Emily remained expressionless and waited patiently, despite her worry that if she kept waiting and led others take care of the alligator, Port would soon be found out.

“I can see your sincerity, but how can you prove your ability of doing this job?” Earl asked with a smile.

“I’ll do it now!” Emily took a deep breath, jumped into the lake and swam straight towards the alligator.

“She’s crazy! She’s risking her life!” people shouted and prayed. Earl Edwards closed his eyes.

Suddenly, someone cried: “Look, she didn’t die!” Earl Edwards opened his eyes and was shocked by the scene: Emily was swimming, even playing with the alligator. That monstrous head of the alligator now lay like a baby in her arms. Emily was like an angel.

“You are the chosen one, my girl.” said Earl Edwards, “From now on you no longer need to weave. You can concentrate on taking care of my alligator.

4

From then on, Emily’s legend became well-known throughout the manor. In fact, her prestige even spread outside the manor.

Several months later, Earl Reed from a nearby manor heard about the story of Emily and her alligator. He was keeping a crocodile from East Africa in his manor and he decided to issue his challenge to Earl Edwards for a battle between the alligator and the crocodile.

The news was spread throughout the manor. Earl Edwards would certainly not refuse such a blunt challenge. However, Emily was much worried about Port. How could a man fight with a crocodile under water? She even thought about running away from the manor alone. But Port didn’t agree. “If you can kill an alligator for me, how can I let you exile yourself! I’m bond to find a way to kill that crocodile.”

On the day of the battle, all people in the manor gathered around the lake. Earl Reed pulled out an iron cage from the wagon. No sooner had the servants opened the cage than that huge monster rushed out of the cage. It was a Nile crocodile, with a huge body more than five meters long--- way bigger than the alligator which was lying on the small island at the center of the lake.

The crocodile swam slowly towards the alligator, watching its position. If the alligator got scared, he would give it the fatal attack. Meanwhile, the alligator remained motionless.

The crocodile finally took a bite on the alligator’s neck and began his “death rolling”. People at the bank led out desperate sighs: obviously the alligator was no match with the crocodile. Yet just as this was happening, the crocodile writhed painfully. Blood began seeping out from its mouth. The battle was so intense that all the people were very much surprised. Two ancient monsters kept rolling in the water, with blood and water splashing into the sky.

The battle lasted for an hour. When everything came to an end, the crocodile floated like a wood with its belly up. The alligator was also severely wounded and slowly crawled into the forest.

The alligator had won! People from Earl Edwards’ manor began cheering. No one paid attention to the losing Earl Reed, who left the manor angrily.

Tears filled Emily’s eyes. She didn’t care how Port managed to kill the crocodile. The only thing she cared about was whether he was alright.

Late in the evening, a victory banquet was about to be held at the garden. Emily secretly ran to the wood and called Port’s name. An alligator appeared from the darkness. Port took off the ragged skin. Fortunately, he wasn’t much injured, except that he was looking a little tired.

“Thank God you are alright!” Emily couldn’t be happier.

“You should thank God indeed.” Port agreed with a smile, “I’ve come up with a brilliant idea this afternoon. You tell Earl Edwards that the alligator was severely injured from that battle and died soon afterwards. The Earl will surely be emotional, and you can take the chance to tell Earl your wish to leave the manor. Then you and I can run away from the manor safely and we’ll raise a family and live a peaceful life.”

Emily nodded confirmedly.

5

The next day, Emily dressed herself in black, put a lily flower on her head and went to see Earl Edwards. Edwards asked why she dressed like this and Emily answered sorrowfully: “Sir, your alligator suffered from a severe injury from yesterday’s battle and died last evening. I dressed like this to lament his death.”

“Oh, really.” The Earl seemed relatively unaffected. It was very understandable — everyone saw its severe injury from the battle.

“I’m feeling much sadder than you my earl, because I can never accompany him anymore. Thinking of the days we spent together, I feel more anguished than ever. Therefore, I plead Earl to approve my application to leave the manor and go back to my hometown, weave, and forget about the sad experience.”

“Alright Emily, I support you. You’ve done a great job here. And I shall let you do whatever you want. I will give you a sum of money and you will never do the job of a weaver for the rest of your life.” Earl said generously.

That night was probably the happiest night of Emily’s life. She and Port buried the corpse of the alligator in the wood and promised to leave the manor the next morning, go to a distant prairie, use the money from the Earl to buy some sheep and live a pastoral life.

“Tomorrow at six o’ clock I’ll wait you in the wood.” after their farewell, Port kissed Emily with his deepest love. The kiss lasted so long that Emily kept savoring it on her way.

6

On the road to her room, Emily met a hunched man in black who seemed to be waiting of her.

“I’m the servant of Earl Reed.” he said, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Well, why are you looking for me?” asked Emily.

“To congratulate you for wining the game, and consulate you for the death of your beloved alligator, Earl Reed has prepared you a present. It’s right in your house.” 

What will it be? Emily thought.

After saying goodbye to Earl Reed’s servant, Emily walked happily to her room. Because of her conversation with him, she wasted some time and it was already dark. She opened the door of her room and searched for the fire-stone to light up the oil lamp. Suddenly, she heard a faint sound from the floor.

Was it a rat?

She knocked the fire-stones in the darkness and a reflection of light beside her feet caught her attention. She lowered her head slowly.

Right next to her feet was a huge alligator, with its glittering skin and patterns on its back like chains of sierra.