The rain had not stopped for three days.
The river near the small village grew bigger and bigger. Then it broke its banks.
Water rushed into the streets fast and cold. People ran to higher ground.
Most animals ran too. But not Lena.
Lena was a brown dog. She was not very big.
But she had six tiny puppies hidden under an old wooden porch.
The puppies were only two weeks old. They could not walk.
They could not swim.
The water rose higher. It reached the porch.
Lena looked at her babies and then at the water.
She made a choice.
Lena picked up the first puppy gently in her mouth. She held it high so its belly would not touch the water.
She waded through the flood. The water was up to her chest.
She did not stop.
She carried that puppy to a dry hill nearby. She put it down softly on the grass.
Then she turned around and walked back into the water.
People on the hill watched with wide eyes. A young boy named Tomas pointed and said, “She is going back!”
Lena reached the porch again. She picked up the second puppy.
Then she walked through the flood one more time.
The water was rising. Each trip was harder than the last.
Her legs were shaking. She was tired and wet and cold.
But she kept going.
Third puppy. Fourth puppy.
Fifth puppy.
By now, many people on the hill were watching. Some were crying.
Some were cheering for her.
Old Maria, who lived in the village all her life, held her hands together. “Come on, girl,” she whispered.
“One more.”
Lena went back into the water for the sixth and last time. The flood was deeper now.
It reached her neck.
She had to stretch her head up high to keep the last puppy out of the water. Her paws worked hard against the current.
She stumbled once. People gasped.
But she stood back up.
Step by step, she made it to the hill. She put the last puppy down next to its brothers and sisters.
Then Lena lay down beside all six of them. She licked each one slowly.
The crowd was silent for a moment. Then Tomas started to clap.
Everyone joined in.
People brought dry blankets and warm food for Lena. She ate a little, then put her head down over her puppies.
She was not going to move from that spot.
The flood took many things from the village that day. But it did not take Lena’s family.
She made sure of that, one puppy at a time.