Siena wrote this story last night and this morning for a school project. I thought it was worth sharing - a good read! -rich
A Trip to Nightingale Isle
By Siena
Chapter One: New Beginnings
It was an innocent beginning, and it lead to my newest adventure. I was reading an article in the newest issue in my favorite magazine. It told about a fisherman and his crew who had spotted an uncharted or possibly newly formed island off the coast of the Philippines. It read that the sailors had decided to name it Nightingale Isle because they heard various squawking sounds off to the east of the island. It also told that one of the crewmembers had witnessed their captain being captured by raging birds and perhaps many forms of torture followed. “Poor Guy!” I gasped. “He’ll at least be remembered for having discovered an island!” I decided to wait until anyone had decided if he had been killed, but after three weeks no news was heard. I then decided that I would travel to the island myself. “I can’t deny it anymore! I have to go there myself and find out what happened! Aww! How am I gonna even get there?” I sighed, and decided that the fisherman would have to stay where he was until I figured something out.
Chapter 2: A risky plan
School dragged on the next day, but I was not paying attention. I was fishing for answers to this perplexing question, and I was so far not getting any ideas. “I wish I could think of something, just something!” I muttered, feeling very puzzled and frustrated with the situation put in front of me. “What do you need to think of?” Asked my friend Kyla, who was always willing to help out. “Well, it might sound crazy, but did you hear about Nightingale Isle?” I asked, wondering if I should tell at all. “Well, I need to get there!” The whole table burst out laughing. “Well, I told you it would sound crazy!” I said, about ready to cry, stormed over to the water fountain gloomily. Since water helps me think, an idea suddenly struck me.
Chapter three: On the boat
I hadn’t told my father exactly where I wanted to go. I just told him that I wanted to go to a tropical island somewhere in the Philippines. “Can we go to the tropical island in the Philippines?” I asked him. “There’s a few,” he said, “But I know what you’ll like.” “What’s that?” I asked him eagerly, knowing his answer. “Do you know about Nightingale Isle-“Yes!” I interrupted loudly. “I really want to go there!” Dad said he had gone sailing before, and he would see if he could get hold of one. The next day was Saturday, and Dad and I left on the boat to Nightingale Isle. We had just boarded the boat when I noticed a sea lion hanging on the back. I rushed over, worried about it. “Gronk!” moaned the sea lion, and it occurred to me that it was hurt.
Chapter 4: Saving a sea lion
We had been sailing for about a day, and I was still tending to the sea lion’s paw. “No luck yet,” called dad from the steering wheel. “None much here either,” I said, getting tired of tending to the paw and not helping steer. “Wait-I found something!” shouted dad from the front of the boat. The boat rocked wildly. “Wait! We hit a sandbar! We’re on land!” I shouted warniningly, half happily. The sea lion squirmed. “What’s wrong? Did I do it?” I asked. The sea lion jumped into the water and swam in circles. A broad grin spread across my face. “I guess that’s a yes!” I said happily, and I jumped in there with him.
Chapter five: Nightingale Isle
“Come on, Dad!” I coaxed him. “It’s gotta be safer on the sandbar! Bring some food and shelter, ‘cause I think I’ll be long!” l had decided to name the sea lion Happy, ‘cause he sure was happy now! I hugged my dad and Happy and I set off for the deep jungles of Nightingale Isle. We swam for about an hour until we reached the beach. “Wow, It’s hot here!” I exclaimed, wiping the sweat off my brow. “Wark!” barked Happy, apparently agreeing with me. “Shhh. From now on we have to be quiet.” “Wrrk.” Said Happy, quieting down. “You’d best stay on the shore, so you won’t be seen.” I said. Happy looked hurt. “What?” I asked. “You’re huge! Aww, don’t give me that face. You can come! Happy brightened up immediately.
Chapter six: The tree frog
Happy and I had only been walking for five minutes when we almost walked into a quite angry looking tree frog. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Shouted the tree frog. Who knew someone so small could have such a big voice? “Well? What are you doing here?! Asked the frog impatiently. “Well,” I began, I-“You’re looking for the king.” He said knowingly. “None sees the king without an order by the court.” “So I guess I’ll just kill you on the spot with my poison. Any last words?” “Yes. Who is your king?” “Who is the king?” gasped the tree frog; he fainted on the spot, for this was an offence. “Boork?” gasped Happy, startled. “I don’t know either, Happy.”
Chapter seven: The troubling toucans
Happy and I had just revived from the recent occurrence and started walking again when we nearly walked straight into a pair of toucans. “Do you want to explain yourselves or do you want to be pecked to death?” Squawked one, and I realized we had been seen. “Well, I guess you want to be pecked to death,” said the other suddenly. They were taking a breath when I stopped them. “Wait!” I shouted. “I was just wondering… who is your king?” I slapped my mouth shut. I realized I had said the wrong thing. “The king…” Sighed the first one, “He cast us out many years ago,” “So you mean you used to be royalty?” “Yes, we did,” answered the second. “You see, the royalty here is all birds, and the king, he decided we weren’t pretty enough. So he cast us out, and he used the mountain to filter the island, so the birds go on one side, and the animals like us are considered commoners, and so you need an appointment scheduled with the gatekeeper, and the king still needs to approve of this anyway, so it’s almost impossible to see him, especially for commoners like us. The second one explained. “Well, I was looking to capture the king’s new prisoner, so maybe we could help you guys out,” I told them. “Okay, good. But if you want to get by, you must give us a banana. They don’t grow on this island, and we hear they’re quite succulent,” said the first one smoothly. “Mmmhmm,” agreed the second, smacking his lips across his beak. “I had packed a banana for a snack, but you can have it,” I said, handing them the banana out of my pack. “Have a pricklenut, then, to show our gratitude,” said one, tossing me what looked like a spiny lemon. “I’ll pass,” I said, tossing it back and trying to avoid the prickles. As I left, I could see them fighting over the banana with their beaks, ripping it apart. As I was leaving, I caught barely a glance of a hostile looking jaguar questioning them on where they had got the banana.
Chapter eight: the mountain, the river, and the angry jaguar
Happy and I started walking, and admired the lush greenery of the isle at the same time. “Broork!” squealed Happy suddenly. “Are you hungry?” I asked him, giggling. Happy shuffled his flippers guiltily. I laughed. “It’s okay, Happy,” I explained. “Everyone gets hungry sometimes.” Happy still looked glum. I suddenly realized what Happy was trying to tell me. “Ohh, sweetie, are you homesick?” I asked, putting on a sympathetic tone. “You can jump in the water and swim away home right now if it suits your needs!” Suddenly there was a loud rumble. “Brrrk! Brrrk!” I burst out laughing, along with Happy. The noise was my stomach!
I got out a snack of trail mix, apples, and a half melted chocolate bar, and…No fish! “Grrak!” gasped Happy, startled. “No fish, huh?” I asked. “Well, from what the toucans said, we’re almost to the river, and we can fish there.” I said between bites of apple. “We’d better pick up our scraps as not to arouse suspicion.” Just then we heard a low growl coming up from just ahead. We looked up and saw a menacing looking jaguar right in front of us!
Chapter nine: at wit’s end
“So you’re the little brats who have brought me to my and the sheriff to wit’s end! I wasn’t appointed deputy for nothing you know!” Stormed the jaguar, in a fit of rage. “Well you’re going to have a heart attack and drop dead right here, or I’m going to do it for you! Afterwards, you might make a good main course for a dinner conference with the king so we can talk about promotions! Really, did you expect not to be sniffed out after the banana episode and the tree frog fainted! Well, yes sir-ee, were you wrong!” shrieked the deputy, in hysterics. “GROONK!” screamed Happy suddenly. “Owww! My ears!” Shouted the deputy in agony, closing his eyes as not to see the blood dripping out of his ears. Quick thinking saved us. I threw a rock in the ocean. “Oh, trying to escape by swimming, huh? Not on my watch!” He was so busy running that he did not hear us escape. He swam into the ocean never to be seen again.
Chapter ten: the gatekeeper
We were well on our way by now to the king’s “castle” by now. Before too long, we came upon the borderline: the river. We stopped dead in our tracks when we heard an odd voice say: “Do you have an appointment?” We turned around to see a small owl standing on the other side of the river was the one questioning us. “Well? Hoo? Do you have an appointment?” Asked the owl expectantly. “Err, well no- “You must have an appointment with the king to cross. Might you want to make an appointment?” “Well, not really, but, I must ask, do you like being gatekeeper?” The bird looked startled. “Why, no, it’s frightfully boring, really. Nobody ever wants to see the king, anyway, and his guests are just awful. Once one tripped me on purpose and called me clumsy, and, they call me common ‘cause I’m not terribly rare. Some even advise the king to get a new gatekeeper!” “Well, if you let me in, I’ll help you perhaps I’ll help you get a better job! I’m seeing to it that his captive gets away,” I said persuasively. “Well, knock yourself out! Oh, and please call me Boris. I owe you a million!”
Chapter eleven: revenge
“Grlonk?” Gasped Happy as we stepped on to the other side of the river and saw the marvel that awaited us. Birds, birds, birds! Birds where everywhere! “Shush,” I quieted him. But even I yearned to shout with glee. It was a bird heaven! “Wow,” I whispered and stroked Happy’s back. Just then something caught my eye. It was a monkey with a badge that read: Sheriff. “Where’s the jail cell?” I asked Boris. “Over there, by that parrot over there. See him? He’s the king.” Boris pointed his wing to a beautiful parrot. It was by far the most beautiful parrot anyone had ever seen. If they elect a leader on this island by beauty, I could see why this guy was chosen. His gorgeous blue and red wings with soft and luxurious feathers were draped with a silk robe just silky enough to have been hand-woven out of silkworm silk. His tail feathers were dipping slightly into the water, adding to the effect. They had the same blue and red pattern, except with a pinch of purple. “You still there?” asked the familiar voice of Boris. “He’s not that pretty, you know. You wouldn’t believe how annoying he is compared to his looks. Well, let’s get a move on!” he said cheerfully.
Chapter twelve: a flaw in the plan
We had just about reached the cell when we were spotted-by the king himself! “Intruders! Daring to come to this side! Commoners! Squawk! Sheriff!” It had just dawned on the prisoner, however, that this was a rescue. He became desperate and began to knaw on the rope. “Here!” I shouted to him. “Take my pocket knife!” I called to him, throwing my pocketknife into the air as I spoke. In one swift movement, he jumped and barely caught the small knife with his teeth!
Chapter thirteen: barely a rescue
“GROOOOOOOOOOOONKKKKK!” Screeched Happy at the very, very top of his voice. “Awwwwgh!” Cries of pain could be heard from every corner and shore of Nightingale Isle, and even a few miles out to sea. Just about everyone was out cold. (That is, except for the ones who held their ears, or ear holes). I grinned. “Well, Happy”, “I congratulated him, you’ve gronked your loudest gronk! How do you feel?” “Groonk!” Happy announced proudly. We laughed. Then we turned around to the fisherman, who was halfway through. That was pretty good, considering he was cutting with his mouth. I finished it up for him. “Sooo…”He said, I guess I owe ya one, lassie,” he said, turning to me. (This is a Scottish fisherman). “I guess you do, but I don’t need anything,” I said. Then we turned back to the birds lying on the ground. “Well, first thing’s first,” I said, “I’ve made some promises, and let’s fulfill them!” I took some leftover rope, and tied it to the king’s foot. Then I tied the rope to a very heavy rock, which I could barely even lift, and went to put it where history called: the mountain. It took me about ten minutes to get there and back, but it was worth it. He made a nice statue for all of the free animals of Nightingale Isle. “Hey buddy!” I called to him, and he woke up instantly. “Wrrrak! Get her! Get her!” Screamed the very mad parrot, but nobody wanted to get her. You see, this was just when all of the island realized all the awful deeds he had done, separating it into two pieces, and just treating the animals like dirt. So, because of that one brave little girl, the entire island was free forever. Aftermath: So, Boris was promoted, and the toucans took their rightful places as kings. And, now, all the free animals of the isle can wander free to any side they wish. Anybody can visit any time, even humans! Some people even live there, but only a few. I don’t live there, but I visit often. After all, I want to see Boris as his new position as the one who guards that one prisoner, the once self-proclaimed king. And Happy comes very often too to the docks at the San Fransico bay. Or, I can gronk whenever I need him. I usually whistle, though.
THE END
