Suzu is a snake. He’s a slithery-withery snake. Suzu has a special forked tongue, but he doesn’t use it to taste things. He flicks it around to help him smell properly (because snakes can’t taste or smell like other animals.) Suzu speaks by making a hissing sound – HISSSSSSSS!

Suzu is also a very sensible snake so his friends often ask him for advice. They know that whatever he says will be to try and help them.

One morning, Suzu is slithering around with his friends. They live on the coast near the sea and they like snaking their way through the sand and rocks. They create curly trails with their long, bendy bodies. The patterns look incredible, until they are washed away by the sea water.

As Suzu slithers along, he catches sight of a group of albatrosses nesting a little way away on the rocks. Among them is Aki, one of his friends. He hasn’t seen her for a year or two.

“Back again ssssso ssssssoon!” Suzu hisses over to her, jokingly.

“Hey Suzu! Yes, it’s been a while. We’ve had more chicks. So we’ll be here until they can fly on their own.”

Suzu and his friends curl their bodies into extraordinary shapes. And they flick their tongues up and down and speak to each other with a HISSSSSSSS. Aki and the other albatrosses bounce their legs and necks up and down and whistle. It looks and sounds as though they’re all at some kind of animal disco!

In the middle of a long HISSSSSSSSS, Suzu suddenly feels a very powerful vibration through his body. The earth beneath him seems to be moving. And then it happens again. Suzu and his friends freeze. They look at each other.

“Did you feel that?” Suzu hisses at one of his friends.

“Yeeessssssssssss!” they all reply in unison. “What wassssssss it?”

“It felt like the ground was moving. I think it might be the start of an earthquake. That could cause a tsunami here at sea level. We need to move to higher ground.”

“Let’ssssss go,” agree Suzu’s friends. They know Suzu is sensible. So they listen to his advice and slither their way up through the sand and rocks. They head for the wooded area on the mountainside above.

Suzu looks over towards Aki and the albatrosses on top of their nests. They’re still bouncing up and down and whistling. Albatrosses don’t feel the earth’s vibrations like snakes do. There are a lot of albatrosses and chicks. The huge waves from a tsunami could wash them and their babies right away.

“Hey!” Suzu hisses to his friends as they slither uphill, “we have to help the albatrosses. I need you to hiss with me so they can hear us!”

His friends hiss back, “Abssssssssolutely!”

Together the snakes all hiss as loudly as their voices will let them, “There’s a tsssssssssunami coming! You need to get yourself and your chicksssssss to higher ground. Fassssssssst!”

Aki and the albatrosses hear Suzu and the snakes. They stop still for a moment. And then they start to panic. They’re scared for their chicks. They make loud whining calls to each other. They flap their wings at each other with fear. Suzu can see they don’t know where to go.

“Grab your chicks and follow ussssss!” Suzu hisses over at Aki. “We’ll go right the way up the mountainside.”

Suzu and his friends slither up through the rocks and on to the mountainside. Aki and the albatrosses follow them carefully with their eyes. The snakes stop for a few seconds looking back over the sea. In the distance they can see an enormous wave forming.

It reaches high into the sky. It’s headed straight for the area where the albatrosses are nesting!

“Ssssssoar! Sssssoar into the ssssssky!” Suzu hisses at the top of his voice. “There’s no time to lossssssssse.”

Some of the albatrosses turn around to look behind them. They see the size of the wave coming towards them. They need to save their chicks! They begin to lift up their little chicks with their beaks. Some of the baby birds are so tiny they fit right inside their mums’ mouths. The mother birds then take off from their nests. They soar upwards. They use the wind coming in from the sea to give them the energy to cover the large distance up to the mountainside in just a few flaps of their wings.

One by one, Aki and the albatrosses land in amongst the trees on the mountainside. As the final few birds fly up and away from the sea, the huge wave finally arrives. It crashes over their nesting area, onto the shore and even part of the way up the mountainside. It covers everything in a surge of seawater. It is so powerful that nothing it envelops stands a chance of survival.

The albatrosses start to deposit their babies on the mountainside. Every single one of them is safe.

Suzu and his friends are relieved.

“Thank you so much!” Aki calls over to Suzu. “You’ve saved us!” The other albatrosses whistle to show their appreciation.

“I’m sssssssso happy we could help you all,” hisses Suzu. “Tssssunamis are ssssserious. Let’s all ssssstay here up here for now until it’s ssssssafe to return to the sssea,” replies Aki.

“That could be a while,” admits Aki.

“I know,” agrees Suku, as he curls his body into a big coil. He starts to flick his tongue in and out and hiss. The other snakes follow suit.

The albatrosses then start to bounce up and down and whistle in response. The animal disco suddenly starts back up.

Suzu laughs at the sight. His laugh sounds just like the way he speaks, HISSSSSSSSSSS! “We can use the time we’re up here to teach those little chickssssss of yours how to ssssing and dance!”

Questions for discussion

What causes a tsunami?

Why is it important to get away from the coastline before the waves from a tsunami hit?

Who would you help, and how, if you felt the ground move underneath you suddenly where you live?