The Silver Below the Dam
Every June, the pearl mullets of Lake Van rush up the stream, but they get stuck below the stone dam the village children built. Ellie has three days: if the fish can't find a way through before the warden comes back, the dam will be torn down. Will she save the pond, the migration, or both?
Free story — no account needed to read it.
8 Minutes
4 Endings
9-10
auto_stories Similar Stories
About This Story
“The Silver Below the Dam” is an interactive nature story for children aged 9-10, about 8 minutes long. The reader decides how it goes at 5 choice points, and there are 4 different endings. It is free to read on Kitapz, with no account needed.
- Age range
- 9-10 years
- Reading time
- about 8 minutes
- Genre
- Nature
- Format
- Interactive · 5 choice points · 4 endings
- Language
- English, Turkish
- Access
- Free, no account needed
- Characters
- Rosie, Ellie, Max, Gulls and Cormorants, Uncle Harry, Warden Ken, Pearl Mullets
- Values
- Curiosity, Teamwork, Caring for nature
- Collections
- Nature stories, Stories for ages 9-10
- Reading support
- dyslexia-friendly font, bionic reading, color-blindness filters
An Excerpt from the Story
The tractor coughed and sputtered to a stop at the end of the bridge. Ellie had come from Ankara to spend her summer holiday in the village. Uncle Harry had picked her up in Erciş, and the whole way he hadn't taken his eyes off the clouds.
Ellie hopped down, leaned over the bridge railing and froze in amazement. The shallow stream was wriggling from end to end, with thousands of backs glittering in the sun.
Ellie:
“Uncle, are those fish? They're all swimming the same way!”
Uncle Harry:
“Those are pearl mullets, sweetheart. They leave the lake and swim upstream to lay their eggs.”
Uncle Harry:
“I'm heading back to the hay. I need to get it in before the rain comes. The kids built a stone pond up there, so why don't you go and see it?”
The tractor rumbled off in a cloud of dust. Ellie looked down at the water again.
Ellie (thinking):
I wonder where they're rushing off to. I'm going to follow them and find out.
“The Silver Below the Dam” · Ages 9-10 · kitapz.com
school For Parents and Teachers
In this story, children help Ellie work out why pearl mullets heading upstream from Lake Van can't get over a knee-high stone dam. They watch the water closely, spot small differences and ask why when an idea fails, all while weighing the feelings of Max, who built the dam himself. Readers' choices decide which way Ellie tries.
What will children learn from this story?
- Learns that pearl mullets leave Lake Van every year and swim up the streams that flow into it to lay their eggs.
- Practices patient observation, noticing small differences such as thin and thick flowing water, and changing an idea and trying again when it doesn't work.
- Learns that even a low, human-made barrier can block the way for migrating fish.
- Thinks about how to find a shared solution while respecting someone else's hard work and listening to their worries.
Curriculum links: Science, Environmental education, Social studies
Fact Box
Where does the pearl mullet live?
The pearl mullet is found nowhere else in the world: it is endemic to the Lake Van basin in eastern Turkey. It thrives in the lake's salty, alkaline water, which other freshwater and sea fish cannot live in.
Source: Wikipedia
Why do pearl mullets swim up streams?
They cannot lay their eggs in Lake Van's salty, soda-rich water, so from early April to the end of July large shoals move into the freshwater streams that flow into the lake. Once the stream water warms to about 13 °C, they swim upstream, lay their eggs on gravelly, sandy stretches where the current slows, and return to the lake. The young start heading down to the lake within one to two weeks of hatching.
Source: Van Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry
Can people catch pearl mullets during the migration?
No. To protect the spawning fish, catching, keeping, selling or transporting pearl mullets is banned every year from 15 April to 15 July. People who break the ban are fined.
Source: Van Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry
Reading Comprehension Questions (5W1H)
The questions cover the opening that every reader sees, whatever they choose. Tap a question to see the answer.
-
Who? Who built the stone dam?
Answer: Max, Rosie's big brother, built it.
-
What? What does Ellie see when she leans over the bridge railing?
Answer: Thousands of pearl mullets, all swimming the same way, with their backs glittering in the sun.
-
Where? Where do Ellie and Rosie wait to watch the fish?
Answer: At the end of the dam by the bank, standing in shallow water that doesn't even reach their knees.
-
When? When does Warden Ken say he will come back?
Answer: In three days, and if the fish still can't get through, he'll take the dam down.
-
Why? Why does Ellie think the fish can't get over most of the dam?
Answer: The water flowing over it there is too thin for them to hold on.
-
How? How does one fish finally make it over the dam?
Answer: It leaps up beside a mossy stone that has tipped onto its side, where the water pours out like a thick tongue.
Questions to Talk About After Reading
- At the first choice, did you have Ellie open a gap in Max's dam, or leave the dam alone and dig a side channel along the bank? Why did you pick that path?
- Max doesn't want anyone to touch his dam because he built it with his own hands. How would you feel if someone wanted to change something you had worked hard on? How would they need to ask for you to agree?
- Before trying anything, Ellie sits and watches the water for a long time to understand why the fish can't get through. What do you do when you want to find out why something isn't working?
- The children's swimming pond matters, and so does the fishes' journey. When what people need clashes with what animals need, what can be done to find a solution that is fair to everyone?
Word List
- cormorant
- A large, dark water bird with a long neck that dives underwater to catch fish.
- warden
- A person whose job is to look after a place, like the streams in this story, and make sure the rules are followed.
- trough
- A long, narrow, open container or channel that holds or carries water.
- irrigation
- Bringing water to fields through ditches, pipes or troughs so that crops can grow.
- sulky
- Quietly grumpy and upset, showing you are cross without saying much.
- bale
- A big, tightly packed and tied bundle of hay or straw.
Activity Idea
Line up a low wall of small stones across the middle of a deep tray, then pour water slowly from a cup and watch how it flows over the wall; next, tip one stone onto its side so more water pours through one spot. Drop a leaf or a cork into the water to find where the current is strongest, and draw what you see.
Completion Rewards
What you'll earn when you finish this story: