Amulet — A Vocabulary Story
Zofia and the Deep End
Zofia had a silver amulet shaped like a tiny owl. It had belonged to her mum when she was little, and Zofia wore it everywhere — even in the bath, which made it the shiniest owl in Kraków.
Amulet means a small object worn to protect against evil or bring good luck.
On Saturdays, Zofia went swimming with her brother Tomek. She could splash, float, and do a handstand that mostly worked. But the deep end? No, thank you. The deep end looked like it wanted to swallow her whole.
"The amulet will keep me brave," she whispered each week, squeezing the little owl. Each week, she still stayed in the shallow bit, where the water only reached her tummy.
Then one Saturday, disaster struck. Zofia reached for her neck at the pool and found nothing there. The amulet was sitting at home on the kitchen table, next to Tomek's half-eaten apple.
"I can't swim without it!" she said, gripping the pool ladder.
Tomek shrugged. "You've never actually swum in the deep end with it, so technically you're not missing anything."
Zofia opened her mouth to argue. Then she closed it again, because annoyingly, he was right.
She stared at the deep end. The deep end stared back. She took a breath, kicked off the wall, and swam — arms whirling like a very determined windmill — all the way across.
When she surfaced, Tomek was cheering.
That evening, Zofia hung the amulet on her bedpost. "You can have Saturdays off now," she told the owl kindly. "You've earned a rest."
Word Definition
amulet
meaning
a small object worn to protect against evil or bring good luck
synonyms
charm · talisman · fetish
antonyms
curse · hex
example sentence
She wore an amulet around her neck for protection.