Pirate Childrens Story

Some called him a pirate, some called him a scoundrel, and some said he was the devil himself! His name was Jack and he had been a sailor and an adventurer for a long, long time.

His body carried the scars of a hundred sword fights, a map of the marvelous travels he had, a constant reminder of the things he had done. His schooner had sailed the seven seas and was beginning to show signs of old age, just like her master. Her sails were tattered, and she too had scars, from cannonballs and chain shots.

Jack's lone companion was a outspoken parrot named Polly, who was always perched on one of his shoulders. Now the three were setting off on one last voyage, one last chance for fame and fortune. They had sailed so many times before, only to find that their dreams of treasure and booty were only rumors. But this time would be different, this time they would find it. This time they had a map!

Jack had seized the map from the ship he last raided. It wasn't much of a map, the parchment was old and yellowed and the compass directions were hard to make out. There were two tall mountains and some forests drawn on the paper, but most importantly, there was an X. The old man had seen maps like this before, and had never found anything near the marked spot. But this map had something about it that made him believe it was the real thing.

And so with fair skies and following winds they sailed south, further south than they had ever been before. They sailed for seven days and seven nights, and on the morning of the eighth day, at the break of dawn, they saw land. It wasn't much, a small strip of land, but with two tall mountains and some trees, Jack knew it was the place. As the ship drew nearer, he began to see the island better, and he could see the beach. The sand was smooth, and white. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen in all of his years. Jack could see now that there were more than a few trees here. There was a thick tropical forest stretching from one mountain to the other. And the mountains were sending up small wisps of smoke. As the ship drew nearer, it hit him. Those weren't mountains, they were volcanoes!

Jack anchored his ship and tossed a dinghy over the side. Map in hand, he jumped onto his raft and began to row towards shore, eager in anticipation of what he would find. All of a sudden, Jack heard a loud sound. The rumbling was getting louder as he got closer, and when he finally pulled the dinghy onto the sand, the rumble had turned into a steady roar. He had never seen a volcano before, and he stood before the mass formation in awe of it. Beautiful as it was, he knew that an island with a rumbling volcano was not a place he wanted to be for very long! He decided to go about finding his treasure right away.

There seemed to be an opening in the trees that lined the beach, so Jack ventured towards it, carefully following the map. In it, he found a narrow path which lead him deeper into the woods, closer to the supposed treasure. The volcanoes didn't seem to be as noisy now, the roar had lessened and Jack was thankful for that. As he moved deeper into the woods, there was a new sound. Jack thought his old ears must have been mistaken for it sounded like a melody being played on a harp. He decided it had only been the wind whistling through the tall trees, and he kept walking.

He had just looked at his map again when the path ended, the forest stopped, and there, in a clearing before him, was the most extraordinary sight he had ever seen! A creatures wings which captured nothing less than every color of the rainbow, and as they moved they made the sound of a thousand harps playing. A beautiful, but very intimidating dragon. The chest below it was spilling over with gold, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, their preciousness gleaming in the sunlight.

The dragon had seen Jack, and was watching him keenly, yet made no threatening motions. It seemed to float effortlessly above the chest, making no sound but for the wonderful music of it's wings. The chest was huge, almost half as tall as Jack and quite wide. The old pirate didn't know how he would be able to get such a prize back to the ship, providing the great dragon ever let him get close enough to try! In his thoughts, he struggled to gain ideas of how to get rid of this giant dragon blocking him from his much desired treasure. Yet the idea of killing it made him shiver, for it was so beautiful. Then something happened that made him forget about the treasure. From