Quest For The Golden Bird

• Philip Hojgaard-Olsen, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2009

Jack had planned his quest for three months and he had already finished packing. He was on his way; he had waited a long time to go.
He hacked his way through the jungle of lost souls thinking of where he might find the map. When suddenly he stopped at a river. It was dark and murky and he wasn’t sure if there were crocodiles. Suddenly a vine hanging from a tree caught his eye. He climbed up the tree, then jumped holding onto the vine as hard as he could.
He had made it to the other side safely just then the ground started shaking, but Jack thought it was just his belly grumbling. After that the ground just opened up beneath him, he fell in and then the hole closed up after him. One hour later he woke up and his head was bleeding like crazy, he knew it was infected so he put some cream on it which would help it to heal, then he put a huge bandage on it.
After he had finished cleaning his head he got up again and headed towards the exit. After about half an hour he found his way to the exit. He knew that it would soon become dark so he had to hurry if he wanted to find the map, so that he could find the golden bird, which he really wanted. When he had walked two hours, he knew he needed to set up camp so he could get some rest.
The next morning he started the day with some bacon, eggs and hash browns before starting the long journey again. When he had walked for some time, he then reached a long bridge. Jack was really afraid of heights so it took him fifteen minutes to walk the forty meter long bridge. When he reached another cave, he entered it silently because he had read about a cave where there were bears. After ten minutes of walking he heard a growl, but he just thought that it was his tummy growling like yesterday. Suddenly he bumped into a bear it growled furiously, Jack yelled and ran through its legs. Then ran towards the exit with the bear close on his tail, Jack was more afraid of bears than heights.
When he reached the exit he knew the bear had lost him. So far this had been the craziest adventure he had ever had. The next place he got to was a huge tree, when suddenly he got hit on the head by an acorn. “Ouch” yelled Jack “That hit me on my bandage” said Jack feeling a bit silly talking to a bunch of nutty squirrels. Just then he saw a million more squirrels appear “Oh great not more” said Jack and ran away. When suddenly he tripped over something it was a wooden box. He had found the map. This was only just the beginning of the adventure!