Young Storykeeper Volume III

138 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TEN | 139
DRIFT
One day in icy Antarctica, a baby polar
bear and his mother were looking for food.
Suddenly something caught the baby polar
bear’s eye – a butterfly. Of course he didn’t
know what that was, so he called it coloured
flying thing. He began to follow it and then
he realised he couldn’t see his mom anymore
because the snow had covered her tracks.
With her white fur, she was invisible…
Oh no, they were separated!
The baby polar bear stumbled onto an
iceberg, he heard a cracking sound and the
iceberg began to drift. He was stranded.
He couldn’t swim… he called for his mom
loudly…after calling for over an hour he
realised she couldn’t hear him. He began to
yawn. Lying down on the cold ice, he fell into
a deep sleep.
The soft sand under his feet woke him
up. He found himself on an island. Lost and
alone, he saw a white building that looked
like an igloo to him but it was actually a
lighthouse that had been abandoned many
years before by its keepers. The baby polar
bear stumbled in to keep warm and out of the
wind. As he was only a baby, he fell asleep
again. In the middle of the night he heard a
strange noise and was awake immediately.
He peered out the window to see strange
creatures at the bottom of the tower.
“What are they?” he said to himself. They
had big scary red eyes and horns and long
scary claws, long necks and big ears. He
had never seen anything like them. He was
terrified.
He stumbled back in fear and stepped
on a switch, the big ray illuminated the sky
and the scary creatures below. But wait,
he saw a big brown bear, just like his mom
but not white. He tore down the stairs and
jumped into the bear’s arms…
The big bear dropped him in fright. He
had never seen a white bear before. He
bent down and sniffed the baby polar bear
and said, “You are just like me. I’ll call you
Moonlight.”
The animals told Moonlight about their
adventures, when they were in a traveling
circus and how they had been to Rome, Paris
and New York. But one fateful night, while
on their way to their biggest show yet, the
seas were stormy and the animals were on
the top deck. They were washed overboard.
They woke up on an island full of palm trees
and coconuts with fish in the river. It was
great, they would have enough food to keep
them going till their owners came for them.
But after months of waiting, they knew they
weren’t coming, so they made this island
their home.
Moonlight was on the island for many
years. He learned how to use the lighthouse
and all its features. He and the animals had
many exciting adventures in their lighthouse
home. In the back of his mind though, he
always hoped one day to return home to his
mummy.
Robyn O Hanlon
Co Dublin
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF
ALEXANDRIA
The great lighthouse beamed on us as our
ramshackle merchant’s boat sailed into the
bustling port of Alexandria. We were all
bewildered by the great structure lighting up
the night sea.
“That sure is one hell of a structure,”
commented one of the guards on board,
Aegeus.
I was just as amazed as the rest, but I
was looking forward to a different structure,
the library of Alexandria. All the knowledge
a man could find in one space! Philosophers
like me and Adonis, one of my companions,
longed for this.
Alesandro, the last on our boat, was
brandishing his sword and glancing at the
great lighthouse.
We arrived in minutes and I was greeted
by the thronged pier. Aegeus stopped to buy
supplies from a local tradesman and came
back to us with his hands full of these…
round brown things.
“What are they?” asked Alesandro.
“They look like wood carvings!”
“I think they are called coconuts,” said
Adonis confidently. We believed him. He
said it was a fruit, but unlike any we had ever
seen.
We arrived at an overgrown villa. A
woman was waiting for us past the garden.
She approached us and introduced herself:
“I am Gaia. I will show you around the house.
Follow me.” She led us to our rooms and
commented that it was very close to the
unique library. I slept well that night, knowing
I could visit the library the next day.
Aegeus woke me the next day and
whispered that Julius Caesar was visiting
the city that day and was going to stop at
the library. I was too excited to eat, so I went
straight to the library and entered. Inside, I
was surrounded by books and philosophers.
I wished I could stay all day, reading all the
books. I picked The Odyssey and started
reading, not paying attention to anything
around me. Not the city outside, not the
turning of pages and not heat coming from
the opposite side.
I looked up to see the Roman dictator,
Julius Caesar, and many others heading
for the doors. I put down the book and
investigated. I discovered a fire spreading
through the building. I stared at it for nearly a
minute processing that the knowledge of the
world was being reduced to ash. I ran out of
the double doors shouting desperately, “Fire
in the library!”
The lighthouse shone in the background
as the fire spread through the crumbling
library.
Adonis grabbed me by the shoulder and
ordered me to get my things, “The villa is
beginning to catch fire!” Alesandro, whose
face was black, told me to go directly to the
ship. “I have your belongings. Now go!”
The city grew louder as people
desperately tried to put out the fire.
We got on our splintered boat and
sailed back home to Athens.
As I looked back, the city faded. The
lighthouse’s beam of light dimmed behind
the mist-covered sea.
Torran Millar
Co Kerry
THE OLD LIGHTHOUSE
Once upon a time there was an old and
isolated lighthouse near a small and lively
town. Inside the lighthouse an old man
worked as a lighthouse keeper. He was tall
and wrinkly. He was also very sad and lonely.
Our story begins when the lighthouse keeper
was going to turn on the light for an incoming
ship. As he went upstairs, he began to
become frustrated with all the noise coming
from the town.
He became so annoyed with all
the noise coming from the town that he
suddenly slammed his hand onto the light of
the lighthouse. He slammed it with so much
strength that the light shattered into a million
pieces. As he looked outside the lighthouse,
he saw that the boat was getting closer and
closer to the rocks.
In a panic he quickly ran down the stairs
of the lighthouse. He slammed open the
door, only to see that all the town’s folk had
come to his rescue with thousands of bright
lights in their hands.
Ines Chabaane
Co Dublin