Young Storykeeper Volume III

232 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE ELEVEN | 233
RYAN ON ROCKABILL
It was a beautiful day, the sun was up high
and Ryan was out and about.
“Ryan, come back! It’s too dangerous
there!” shouted his mother.
“Okay, Ma!” he responded, retreating
carefully from the cliff.
Ryan and his parents lived in the
cottage beside Rockabill Lighthouse. His
father Michael was a lighthouse keeper. He
was teaching Ryan how to become one as
well. Ryan didn’t want to be a lighthouse
keeper like his dad. He wanted to explore
the world and find treasure. He was always
digging around and wandering by the deadly
rocks and cliffs. Ryan knew that there was
treasure on the little island where Rockabill
Lighthouse was located but he wasn’t
allowed to go on the cliffs like his older
siblings.
Ryan was all grown up now and was
a lighthouse keeper like his dad – but this
was about to change. He was passing by
his garden and saw a shimmering light. He
thought it was the water that had splashed
earlier, which is why he was checking on
his garden, but there was something about
where the light was coming from.
The water had splashed from the east
and the light was coming from the west.
As he got closer, Ryan saw that it was a
bottle. He rushed to the bottle
and opened it to take out a piece
of paper that was intact, but very old.
Carefully Ryan placed the paper on the
dining table and examined it.
It was a map. “This is impossible!” he
shouted in excitement. “It’s a treasure map!”
Ryan had waited his whole life for this
moment. But the map didn’t show him
where the treasure was – the piece of paper
had a riddle written on it. The riddle said:
A hard material, a body part of a bird,
where it is most dangerous
– that’s where you have to go.
Just as he thought. There was treasure on
Rockabill Island. Ryan thought about where
the most dangerous place on Rockabill was.
“The cliffs!” he shouted to himself.
Ryan stepped slowly on the cliffs and
saw a chest and a door looking down. He
climbed down steadily and found himself
under the cliff. Ryan opened the chest and
found a key.
“I think I have to use the key for the
door because there is no treasure here,” he
whispered, trying not to scare any animals
nearby.
When he opened the door, all he saw
was gold. Gold! Gold! And more gold!
Sayuri Kajnak
Co. Dublin
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF
DISAPPEARANCE
Long ago in a country that is not heard of
today, a small population of people called
Actorians spent their whole lives protecting
their island’s treasure, a lighthouse. It might
seem stupid but there’s a reason why…
One day a group of young Actorians
went out to get some food when they came
across a giant lighthouse. They were very
puzzled because even though it was so big,
they had never seen it before. One of the
Actorians, whose name was Garrius, walked
up to it with a stone in his hand.
“I wonder what will happen if I throw
this?” he asked smugly. Without waiting for
an answer, he threw it. As soon as the stone
hit the lighthouse, it disappeared.
Garrius was angry. Instead of picking
up another stone and doing the same thing,
he just touched it. The last they heard of
Garrius was a scream.
All the other Actorians ran back to
the village. Warning the Head Officials,
the Actorians followed the children to the
lighthouse. The Actorians all knew as soon
as they saw it, that it was sacred to their
island.
For the next hundred years the
Actorians kept the lighthouse safe and only
using its disappearing powers if they really
needed to. Until one day…
One night a great hurricane happened.
All the Actorians were safe and when the
morning came they thought it would stay
that way. Throughout the day, their island
would shake and the more it shook, the
longer it shook. By sundown, the Actorians
knew their island would sink along with them
and their lighthouse.
One Actorian girl had an idea. “Why
don’t we all just touch the lighthouse!?”
The Head Officials had a discussion
and came up with the verdict, but as soon
as they turned around, their people were
gone. Knowing where they went, the Head
Officials ran to the lighthouse.
Counting down from three, all the
Actorians put their hands on the lighthouse.
They were lucky because only a few hours
after that, their island collapsed only leaving
the lighthouse as a remembrance to the
Actorians and their efforts to keep their
island and lighthouse safe.
Ship captains and crew often say that
they can see a lighthouse in the middle
of the ocean shining its light to guide
the ships from something under the
water - the Actorians’ island!
Do you think it’s The
Lighthouse of Disappearance
they see or is it just a trick of the
eye? I guess we’ll never know!
Charlotte Coffey
Co Kildare