Beautiful slide-show of the origin and development
of this GSS project story:

___________________________________

For Teachers/Educators:

http://www.epals.com/media/p/318385.aspx

and

http://www.epals.com/media/p/318357.aspx

All drawings have been created by 
Mrs. DANA KATTLER'S STUDENTS from GALATI / ROMANIA
Thank you very much dear Dana + students!



_______________________________

 Chapter 1 

USA   Palmer,MA   
OMP Elementary School

Grade 3  
Mr T. Kellaher 

Once upon a time ….... there were four children who were all from different places in the United States of America.  Madison, Selena, Justin, and Joey were all nine years old and had no idea that they would soon meet and become friends.   
The children had just moved to New York City where their parents had enrolled them in a special school.  Each new student had a special talent that they were trying to learn more about.  They wanted to be known as the very best at these different jobs.  
Madison came from a small town in Massachusetts named Palmer.  She was a student at Old Mill Pond School, but there was no one in this small village who could teach her all about gymnastics. Madison’s parents thought that New York would be the best place for her to learn and all of the best trainers were in the biggest city, New York City.  

Selena was from the state of Hawaii and she was studying to be the best hula dancer in the world. When her teacher moved to New York City, Selana's parents moved there also so that
she could keep learning dance from the same teacher. 

Justin had the most dangerous hobby that he hoped would someday be his job.  Justin lived in a house on the beach in Florida.  Justin’s dad was a professional shark tagger and he was teaching Justin everything about putting tags on great white sharks.  A terrible accident happened and he could not teach Justin anymore, so his father sent him to New York City to continue learning how to be a shark tagger from a good friend who was well known as the best tagger in the world.

 Joey’s home was the most famous home in the United States.  He lived in

Washington, D.C. in the White House.  Joey was the son of the President of the United States.  Joey wanted to be away from the capital because every time he went outside people would always be taking pictures of him.  He thought that if he could get away then people might not know who he was and they would leave him alone.  

The four children met on the first day of school and became very good friends. 

During class one day the teacher starte talking about the “Legend of the Golden Nugget.”  According to the legend, there was a gold nugget somewhere in the world which was so big that it would be worth enough money to buy food for everyone in the world.  The problem was that the only one who knew where this giant golden nugget was located was a mutant monster that lived deep in the subway system of the city.  No one believed the legend, but it was fun to talk about it and the four friends laughed about it as they rode the subway train to their homes.  

All of the sudden, the lights in the subway train went off and when they came back on Madison, Selena, Justin, and Joey were all alone on the train.  They didn’t know what to do so they got out of the train and stawon’t come out where you thought you would.  Follow the first sign you see and it will lead you to the next clue.” rted walking through the tunnels trying to find their way out.  They didn’t know where they were going and they just followed a light that was way up ahead of them.  They thought that they were almost out when they came face to face with a giant poisonous frog. 
 

“This is the mutant monster from the legend,” said Joey.

 “We can find out where the golden nugget is,” said Selena. 

Justin was used to danger so he spoke to the monster first and asked where the golden nugget was.  The frog told them a story of how an evil scientist turned him into a monster and would not change him back until the nugget was found.  The monster didn’t want the evil scientist to find the nugget so he hid in the subway, but now that he was found he would only give the four friends a clue and they would have to figure it out to find the gold. 

He said, “You will go into a tunnel and start to fly and you

 

Just then the lights came back on and the friends found themselves walking up the stairway to the street.  As soon as they were on the street they saw the Statue of Liberty coming toward them.  As it got closer they could see that an evil looking person was controlling it from inside. 

They began to run away and Madison said, “Let’s go into the Holland Tunnel.  We can come out and find a way to get to Washington D.C.  Joey’s dad will help us.  He is the President.”  

 

The evil man in the Statue of Liberty was getting closer, but magically their school backpacks turned into jet packs and they flew into the tunnel.  The Statue of Liberty was too large to get in so they were safe.  When they came to the end of the tunnel they realized that what the monster said was true.  They weren’t in the United States any more, and the first sign they saw said…

 Drive through the Holland-Tunnel in New York City:

Chapter 2

Australia   Adelaide Area  
  Prospect Primary School Grade 5  
Mrs Jenny Rossiter

COOBER PEDY, AUSTRALIA, HOME OF THE OPAL.

“Coober Pedy, Australia? How on earth did we end up here?” complained Madison. The group of friends looked around and all they saw were mounds of red-brown dirt as far as the eye could see. There were doors on the sides of the mounds, and broken down shacks, which all looked very odd. 

 

 “Didn’t that mutant frog tell us the sign would be a clue? The only clue we got was that we’re stranded in the middle of nowhere.” Justin grumbled.

“Come on, guys! Maybe we have to use our brains to find the clue. Let’s look around, maybe find someone to help us.” Joey suggested.

 They all agreed and started walking aimlessly around. As the kids walked they talked about their lives’ and how they all got to move in to New York.

Suddenly Madison cried out “Look out!” The kids’ heads turned to the direction where Madison was pointing, “What is it? I can’t see anything.” exclaimed Selena.

“No! Over there!” Madison called and took a few steps backwards. The children saw a huge ‘Whirly-Whirly’ coming their way. 

 

“Is that a tornado?” Joey yelled over the wind.

“Who cares if it’s a tornado? Just RUN!” Justin yelled. The four children ran away from the wind storm and headed towards a big door of an old broken down shack.

“In here.” Joey told the others.

Selena yelled “But that might be somebody’s home! We’d be interfering with someone’s life.”

“What about our lives’!? We can apologize later.” Justin yelled as he pushed the other three inside. 

 

A steep staircase inside the shack led into an underground room. The room appeared to be a bedroom with a small timber wardrobe and equally small timber framed bed. The children collapsed on the bed breathing heavily. As they were catching their breath a mysterious old man appeared at the doorway. He was wearing a dirty pair of torn up jeans and an old leather jacket with a tear in the left sleeve. He was unshaven and looked as though he hadn’t bathed for years, on top of this he smelt of sweat and baked beans.

“Aren’t I lucky? I seem to have visitors. Please, come into the kitchen and I’ll fix you a snack,” the strange man invited with a deep, rough voice.

Once in the kitchen, all the children sat and ate a slice of vegemite on toast. The man started to talk and asked them what brought them to Coober Pedy. The children told them their story from when they moved to New York to when they were chased by the storm. The man chuckled, “That was no storm! It was only a whirly-whirly. It’s just a harmless gust of wind going around and around in a tornado type shape. You’re completely safe,” the man told the children, “but about that clue…” he said seriously, 

 

“Do you know anything that could help us?” inquired Justin.

The old man turned away and started clearing his table and then after moments of silence the man told them a story from when he was child.

“I will tell you an Aboriginal Dreamtime story, I don’t know whether it will help you or not but it is the only thing I know that could possibly help you on your journey.” The man started a mystical story about long ago in a land where an  Opal Serpent was guarding a mysterious tunnel. The tunnel was west of this strange land guarded by the dreaded Opal Serpent. The man finished off with a warning “Now this opal serpent.” He whispered to the children. “…is no ordinary serpent. His scales are made of the finest opal the world has seen, is teeth are razor sharp and he has superb eye-sight. He cannot smell or hear very well but can see you miles away; in fact, he may even be able to see this very shack we’re sitting in.”

The children thanked the man for his company and generosity then left. 

Joey pulled out a compass and started walking west.

“What are you doing!? The Serpent might be living in Coober Pedy! I mean, think, in the story there was red dirt, boiling sun, and no trees or people to be seen. I’m sure it lives here!” Madison exclaimed.

“Yeah! What if we fall into its trap?” Selena agreed. Justin sighed and trudged on after Joey, not wanting to be left behind.

Quite a while later the kids neared the end of the land and saw a dog sitting on a rock just in front of them. It had golden-yellow fur and the children believed it was lost.

“Aw, how cute, are you lost little puppy dog? Do you need help?” Selena cooed. Madison walked up to the dog but it got startled and ran off.

The boys laughed, “It’s not a dog, silly! It’s a dingo! You don’t know anything about Australian wildlife, do you?” Joey jeered. The girls stormed ahead making the boys run to catch up to them. They found a little creature later on, with big feet and large ears. It had a pocket on its stomach with a baby inside it.

“Look! It’s a joey!” Joey called.

“Ha-ha. Naming an animal after you? How desperate for attention are you?” asked Madison.

“No, he’s right. A baby kangaroo is called a ‘joey’. My dad told me so,” Selena told her. They continued on and found a cliff face, “this is definitely the end of the land!” remarked Joey as he and the others peered over the edge.

“Let’s split up and find that tunnel before the Opal Serpent comes,” said Justin to the others. They nodded wearily and spread out into different directions.

A while later, Madison called out “I think it’s over here, but the entrance has caved in!”

They all rushed over and started trying to pull out the rocks, but it was no use. It was caved in and whatever the children did the rocks didn’t budge.

“Maybe this is where the serpent lives?” Selena asked.

“Opal Serpent? Why do guys keep going on about it? It’s a myth!” yelled Joey.

“No it’s not! Why would that man lie to us?” asked Selena.

“Well he wouldn’t but….”

“Exactly! Let’s keep trying anyway, it’s getting really warm out here, I’d do anything to get out of the heat. Including battling an opal serpent,” Selena reasoned. Suddenly the ground moved violently underneath them. They children ducked for cover thinking it was an earthquake. Madison peeked out from behind the rock she hid from and screamed, “SERPENT!” 

 

Justin came out of hiding, holding a large stick in his hand. He swung it around his head making himself look much bigger and stronger. Even his friends were too fraid to go up to him. The kids started yelling at the serpent to scare it away and that seemed to work for a few moments. 

“JUSTIN!” Joey yelled out over the noise, “TRY TO BRING THE SERPENT OVER HERE!”

Justin nodded as he heard this and stopped swinging and then he began to call out as loud as he could and teased the monster, “OVER HERE YOU SILLY SERPENT!” he yelled as he waved his hands above his head. The Serpent moved forward threateningly, but Justin thought of it as a Great White Shark challenge and tried not to be scared.

 “Start trying to get through the tunnel, this might not work,” he called out to his friends and immediately turned his attention back towards the huge Serpent.

Meanwhile the other kids were trying to dig through the rocks and were working frantically. Madison found a beautiful brightly coloured [Am. - color] gem stone

“This must be an opal”, she thought and put it in her pocket.  Justin dodged and lunged and dodged again, he had begun to tire and knew that he couldn’t keep it up for much longer. Luckily at that exact moment Madison, Joey and Selena had made a hole big enough to crawl through. They called out to Justin

“Come quickly!” Selena said and then quickly crawled through the hole into the tunnel, the others followed. Justin made one last attempt to distract the Serpent andthen ran as fast as he could towards the tunnel. The Serpent followed him, right on his heels. Justin made it and crawled quickly through the small hole into the tunnel.

“Come on, gang. Let’s go.” Selena added. 

So the four friends walked on into the dark tunnel and saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel and together they walked out. “Well we didn’t find any gold, but I did find this precious opal”, said Madison, “I wonder if we will need it …“Hey, look at this!” Madison called out to her new friends. They saw a new sign saying…

Travel Video: Coober Pedy, Australia 

 

   Chapter 3

Romania   Galati   

 Naraafterschool

Mrs Dana Kattler

Romania. The Danube Delta.

“The Danube Delta? 

  I didn’t know that the Danube has a delta,” Selena said. “It’s  beautiful, but strange too.”

They looked around and saw tall trees, water channels, swamps, sand, and green grass.

“Look!” exclaimed Madison, “over there! There are lots of storks, sea gulls, cormorants, swans, and pelicans. There are white water-lilies, too. It is nice here. It seems the perfect place for a holiday.”

“Yeah! In a desert place: no hotels, no civilisation [Am. civilization]! Nothing!” said Justin.

“But that makes this place beautiful,” Selena replied.

“Hey, stop it!” said Joey. “I wonder why we are all here...”

The group of friends began to walk in the direction of an old lighthouse. Near a channel, they saw a stranger who was fishing. He had a long, silver-white beard, dark blue eyes, and his clothes were very dirty and worn. He was also wearing big leather boots. He was smiling and didn’t seem very surprised when he saw the group of

friends.

“Hello, kids!” he began, “I’m glad you are finally here...”

“Do you know us?” Joey asked.

“Yes, I have had a dream and... I have just known you were going to be here. I was waiting for you,” said the old man.

“Really? Why?” Selena asked, surprised.“Because, I have a mission. I have to tell you that it would be very dangerous for you to be here, to walk through these forests and swamps,” the man informed the kids.

“For us? This place seems to be perfect! It’s like Heaven!” said Joey.

“Yes, it is, but in these swamps and channels there is a big fish, like a monster. It is not an ordinary fish. It is a silver Huck and it is said that a lot of people have disappeared here,” the old man told the kids.

“Where does it live?” asked Madison, worried.

“Look over there, in those channels and swamps, near that forest! That forest is called ‘Letea’ and there are stone trees, lianas, and wild horses, but the silver Huck can be everywhere...”

“Yes, but you seem to be OK... Hey!! Where are you? Where is that old fisherman?” Madison exclaimed. “He has disappeared!”

“It is a really strange thing! Let’s go to the lighthouse and see if there is someone,” Joey suggested.

They started to run in the direction of the lighthouse, but suddenly the water in a channel seemed to boil and a giant silver Huck appeared. Its dark blue eyes had a familiar look.

“The HUCK!” the kids cried out. “Run! Just run!”

“Where do you think you’re going? I want your opal! Give it to me! NOW!” ordered the silver Huck. “Hey, Madison,” Selena shouted, “throw that opal and keep on running! Don’t stop!” Madison threw the opal and didn’t look back. She was so sure that big fish are strong as long as they are in the water, but, yes, this fish was not an ordinary fish! All they heard was a big splash and then....silence.

“Oh, here we are, finally in the lighthouse! That Huck wanted our opal, but why? It knew we had it.” Selena said.

“It was the fisherman. Let’s go upstairs and see if we are safe,” Joey said.

But suddenly, there was a bright light and they saw a new sign saying...

The Danube Delta:

 

Chapter 4

Greece   Halkidiki  

 Village of Doumbia

 Mrs Melahrini Papardelli

“What is this place?” Selena asked.

“Look there is a sign over there!” Justin said.

The children walked to the sign. On the sign, written in big black letters, was:

“WELCOME TO HALKIDIKI”

The Children looked around realized that they were on a very beautiful beach with golden sand and crystal blue water! 

“Let’s stay here please,” suggested Madison to the other.  “This place is like a dream place!” Madison suggest to the others.  

“No, we have to find the way to return home!” said Joey.

Suddenly an old man appeared and walked to the kids. He talked to Selena in a very strange language and Selena didn’t understand a word.

Justin answered him in the same language.

 When the old man left, Justin said to his friends, “I know where we are! We are in Greece”!

“Do you speak Greek?”  Joey asked. 

“My uncle taught me a few words. He is a professor of ancient Greek language at the university,” answered Justin.

The children started to explore the place and they saw many trees next to the beach. It was a forest of pine trees. Suddenly, as they were walking close to the pine trees, they heard a very strange noise which sounded something like a horse step.  The children walked very carefully and were a little bit scared to see what it was. They saw a creature that they couldn’t believe to see.

“What is this creature?” Madison whispered.

 “Don’t ask just RUN!!!!!”  Selena screamed.

“Wait, don’t be afraid of me.  I‘m here to help you,” the creature shouted at them.

“What kind of creature are you and how can we trust you”? Justin asked the creature.

“I’m a Centaur,” the creature answered.

 “What’s a centaur?” Selena asked.

“A Centaur is a mythical creature from the ancient Greece.  I’m half man and half horse,” he said.

“WOW!!” The children said, all together.

“You said that you want to help us. Do you know who we are?” Joey said to the Centaur.

“Of course I know you. Pythia the priestess of the ancient Greek god Apollo informed me about you and told me that I have to help you with your problem. I was expecting you to come.”

 “Who is Apollo?” Selena asked.

“Apollo is the god of light and music,” Centaur said.

“What can you do for?” Joey asked.

“Ride on my back and I’ll take you to a place where you will find the answer to your problem,” said Centaur.

The children rode on his back and Centaur started running very fast. The children traveled through very beautiful, thick, green forests and bushes.  Suddenly, as they were running, Centaur stopped and the four children fell down. They were dizzy and covered with dust. They stood up and they looked for Centaur to ask him where they were, but he was nowhere. He had disappeared.

“Where did he go?” Madison wondered.

“Mythical creatures are disappearing by themselves” Justin said.

As they looked around they saw only fields and nothing else. Suddenly, they heard Joey shouting.

“Look at the sign over there”!

“Okay, Justin, you know Greek. Go and read what the sign,” Selena said. ”What’s this Kalindia that is written on the sign mean?”

“Well, I’m not so sure but I think that my uncle once said that an archeologist found

a new ancient town which was very important in ancient Greece. I think that Kalindia was the name of this town,” said Justin.  
 

“Wow!!! Do you mean that we are standing in front of a famous ancient Greek town?” Madison asked.

“Yes, but what about our problem?  Which way will we go now?” Joey asked.

“There is a hill on the right, maybe we could go there and find our way,” Selena suggested.

The children started walking to the hill and as they walked they realized that this hill wasn’t exactly a hill, but … but it was an ancient tomb.

“Guys … I’m a little bit scared; I think we shouldn’t go there,” Joey said to the others.

“Nonsense! I heard my uncle saying that the archeologist usually found treasures in the tombs. Maybe we can find one and solve our problem,” said Justin.

“Okay, we will all go together and walk very carefully,” Madison said.

As they were walking they saw four steps. They started to come down the steps and they saw a very big room. They couldn’t see very clearly because it was dark, but they saw very beautiful paintings on the walls and some marble on the floor. Some Greek words were written on them but they couldn’t understand what they said. Suddenly a bright light shone and then….

Greek Peninsula Halkidiki : 

 

 Chapter 5

Austria  Oberndorf 
  Hauptschule-Oberndorf/Melk

Mrs Susanne Klug

….Suddenly there was a bright light and then they saw only snow - white snow.

“Where are we?” Madison asked.

“I can’t see anything!” screamed Joey.

Justin said, “We’re in Germany on the Zugspitze, which is the highest mountain in Germany.”

“We have already learned about mountains in Europe silly, we’re in Austria!” Selena answered.   

Selena tried to climb the mountain.  “Look! There’s an old man dressed in traditional Austrian clothes.”

“He’s wearing a hat with a traditional ornament called a Gamsbart on it,” Madison said.

The children went over to him and Joey asked, “Hello, do you know where we are?”

“Yes, of course; you’re in Austria,” the man answered. “You must be hungry,” he said.

Yes, we’re very hungry. What kind of food is the best here?” the children asked.

“Viennese cutlet or roast pork with sauerkraut are wonderful,” he answered.

The four children tasted a delicious traditional Austrian food.

Selena  loved the food! “It’s very good! I want some more!” she exclaimed. 
 

“Delicious!” Joey adored. “I want some more!”   

“We don’t have a lot of time. We must go,” Justin said.

The man said goodbye to the kids. Then the kids left to continue their journey.

“Hey, there’s a cave!” Justin screamed. Just then he lost his balance and fell into a gorge.

“Oh no! Justin, are you okay? We’re going to get help!” the girls said in a worried voice.

The girls ran back to the man they were speaking with earlier.

“Hello! Where are you? Please, help us! Our friend has fallen into a gorge! What can we do?” Madison asked. 
 

“Wait a minute. I am going to call the mountain rescue,” the man explained.

They waited for three minutes. But they couldn’t wait any longer, because Justin was there in the cave - alone – and they didn’t know whether he was hurt or not. 

Worriedly they ran back to Justin. Suddenly, they smelled something funny. Selena, Joey, and Madison cried as they saw a monster coming toward them.

“What kind of ugly animal is that?” screamed Selena.

Madison said “Don’t look into the monster’s eyes! I think this is the Basilisk.”

“Oh, the story of the Basilisk! My mom told me about it a long time ago,” Joey said.

“Can you tell us the story?” Selena asked.

 “Let me try,” Joey answered, “but first we must hide from it! Quickly, come with me and I will tell you what my mom told me.” 

 

The children found a hiding space and Joey began, “Once upon a time a creature lived in a well in Vienna. It was a type of rooster with scales. One day, a woman went to the well to get some water. She smelled a horrible stench.  A baker with a rope slid into the well. He screamed and they had to bring him back up. Once he was out of the well, he told the people that he had seen an ugly creature down in there. He said that it looked like a rooster with scales all over the body, glowing eyes and a little crown on its head.  

Another man reported, ‘That’s the Basilisk! Its breath is poisonous. You can only combat it with a mirror. When it sees its own body, the Basilisk will explode.’ Once the Viennese people did this, the creature yelled loudly and then stopped frightening the population. Finally, the people threw stones and earth into the well and the Basilisk was never seen nor heard from again. Since then, a marble-Basilisk has been standing there.” Joey told his friends.

“Oh God! The creature is alive again!” a frightened Selena cried. The creature came closer and closer. “What can we do?” She asked.

“Let’s make snowballs and throw them at the Basilisk!” Madison suggested.

No sooner said than done, they made big snowballs and threw it at the creature’s head. The Basilisk was flying around, but that was not enough for the children, so 

Madison took a little mirror out of her 

pocket and held it in front of the creature’s head. The Basilisk became very angry and, in a short time, it exploded.

When they happily turned around and went over to the gorge, the children saw the mountain rescue workers near Justin. The boy was able to climb out of his prison with the help of those men. When Justin saw his friends ….

Why you definitely should visit Austria:  

Chapter 6

Russia   Smolenskoye  
Smolenskoye School No 1

Mrs Svetlana Rovenskikh

When Justin saw his friends, he said, “I know where to go! I saw a sign on the wall of the cave ‘A mammoth will help you to find the golden nugget’.”

The children ran into the cave and a bright flash of the light made them wink… They found themselves in the forest covered with snow.

“Look!” Selena pointed at the sign hanging on a large pine tree.

Mammoth Park Siberia Russia

“How is it possible?” Madison asked. ”The mammoths are extinct animals; they died a million years ago. They looked like elephants, wearing fur coats.”

“I don’t know anything about mammoths,” Selena said, “but I wouldn’t refuse to have a warm coat on. Only mammoths can live in such a severe frost!”

The children looked around and saw a little fire nearby. They rushed to the fire and saw an old man with a white beard in a torn coat and a dirty cap.

 “I have been waiting for you so long, my friends,” said the man. “You should put on warm clothes otherwise you can fall ill. Take these warm jackets, caps, and high boots. Don’t forget about mittens!” The children were glad to put these warm clothes on and to warm themselves near the fire.

“Thank you!” Justin turned to the man, 

 but they didn’t see him anywhere. Just then a huge mammoth was coming to the fire.

“Let’s run away! This mammoth could be dangerous!” Joey shouted, but the mammoth said in a human voice, “Don’t be scared of me. I am not dangerous.  What are you doing here?”

The children told him the story of the golden nugget and about the sign on the cave’s wall.

 “I don’t know how I can help you. I have never heard about the golden nugget. I know that the bear keeps some treasure in his den. He is watching it carefully and doesn’t allow anyone to trespass on his territory.”

“But bears usually sleep in winter,” Justin said.

“Right,” said the mammoth, “this bear is sleeping, as well. But if you are brave enough you can try not to wake him up. Get on my back and I will take you to the bear’s den.”

 The children got on the mammoth’s back and on their way mammoth told the story how biologists had cloned mammoths.  

“All the animals had been happy to live in their park until an evil professor came and ordered the biologists to cage all the animals. Our mammoth escaped as he didn’t like to sit in a cage and now he is walking around the forest, eating branches, winter berries, and dry grass.”

“Ouch!” Joey shouted suddenly, “Look! The squirrels are throwing fir cones!” The children protected themselves from the attack. The boys caught the cones and threw them back at the squirrels.

Madison also caught a fir cone and started examining it when the mammoth stopped.

“We are at the place,” said the mammoth. The children thanked him and went to the bear’s den, but there was no hill or any house around, only a white snow field.

“Where’s the entrance?” asked Selena, and at that moment the children fell down into a hole. They were lucky to find themselves on something warm and soft… but all of a sudden, that “something” started to move and roar.

The children jumped to the wall of the den, scared to death. Madison stepped to the bear and threw a fir cone into his mouth. The bear started to cough and move his head from side to side. He pushed the wall of the den and a big shining hole appeared on it.

 ”Let’s run!” Madison shouted, and the children got into the hole. A bright light flashed and the children found themselves in a strange place with a sign….
 

A journey through Siberia: 

Chapter 7

Poland   Katowice 
  Gimnazjum Nr. 4

Mrs Beata Kadlubowski

...... saying

Tatra National Park

“The Tatras, the Tatras. It can’t be true,” Joey said looking at the sign.

“The Tatras, you repeat it like a mantra but where is it? Where are we?” Selena asked

“I’m here I’ m really here.” Joey kept saying it, looking completely astonished.

“Here, meaning where? In the middle of some forest? How amazing!” Justin exclaimed.

It was a bit sarcastic but absolutely true. They were standing on a trail and could see nothing but big, green trees. Their colour [color – Am.] was amazing so vivid and fresh. So was the air. Their nostrils were filled with its crystal freshness.

Madison came towards Joey, who was still standing in front of the sign like being hypnotized. She looked straight into his eyes and said with a calm voice:

“Joey, we need your help. Where are we?”

“The T-a-t-r-a-s” Joey said slowly.

“Oh, no. Not again,” Justin felt irritated.

“The Tatras … are the highest mountains in Poland,” Joey continued. ”We are in the centre [center Am.] of Europe now. I have never thought I would ever visit this country.”

''Why is that so?'' asked Justin

''You know, my granddad was Polish, he told me a lot about Poland and its difficult history,'' Joey explained and tears came to his eyes.

''Oh, Joey,'' Madison hugged him.

''I'm also happy that we are where we are all together'', Selena hugged him too.

''Guys!” called Justin. Sorry to interrupt that “cute scene” but we’ve got a task to do, remember?”

“Justin is right,” said Joe. “We must keep going to find the next clue.''

They started walking along the path, hoping to find something that could help them to find the Golden Nugget. They were walking and walking and almost lost hope when suddenly they felt a gust of wind, and…

“What’s that? Can you hear it?” asked Selena. The sound was louder and louder but they couldn’t see anything.

“It sounds like… like flapping?” said Joey.

The friends looked up to the sky and saw it. Over their heads an enormous bird was flying.

“I think it is an eagle,” Madison said.

“You mean a mutant eagle!” shouted Justin.

The eagle made one more swooping circle and landed gracefully in front of the four friends. The eagle was all white, with a curved beak, powerful talons, and strong wings. It was really huge but it wasn’t its size that made the children astonished. It was something completely different.

At the top of the eagle’s head was a golden crown, shining in the sun. That sun, made this bird so … noble.

The four friends were not scared of it. They felt that this extraordinary bird was there to help them. It was watching them for a while and then it soared into the sky, waving its wings.

“Let’s follow him,” Joe suggested

They started to walk and the eagle was guiding them. They went out of the forest and saw an amazing view. They were standing on a hill surrounded by a high mountain range and below them was a green valley covered with white flowers.

“Wow! So these are the Tatra Mountains. They are really awesome!” yelled Justin.

“There must be some houses down there,” said Selena.

“Can you see that little dot over there?” said Madison “It must be some sort of hut.”

They were walking down the hill towards that ‘dot’, and Madison was right, it was a

wooden house in the middle of the meadow. However, the white flowers they saw

from the hill, happened  to be a herd of white sheep.

There were hundreds of sheep eating the grass and giving the baa sound all the time. That sound reminded Madison of that old rhyme her grandma taught her when she was a little girl. The rhyme went like that [this]: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. Have you any wool?  Yes sir, yes sir. Three bags full. One for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

In a moment all four of them were saying the rhyme while going through the herd of sheep, and burst out laughing after a few steps.

Finally, they got to the hut and knocked on the door. They heard: “Please do come in.”

Inside they saw a man sitting on the chair and stirring something in a big tub. He was wearing a white shirt and a vest made from animals’ skin. He seemed to be friendly.

“How did you manage to get here?” asked the shepherd. “It’s a long way from the nearest village.”

“The eagle helped us,” Madison replied. And at that moment the friends realized that they didn’t notice when the eagle had disappeared.

“The eagle you say,” the man said.

“Yes, a white big eagle with a crown on its head.” explained Selena.

“Oh children, children, you must have really big imaginations said the man. “Such an eagle doesn’t exist. There’s only a legend saying that the white eagle helped the Polish duke, Lech to find a new home. When he and his troops saw a white eagle flying over their heads he thought it was a splendid sight.  ‘Here is where we will stay.’ declared Lech. "Here is our new home, and we will call this place GNIEZNO ... (the eagle's nest).These are the beginnings of our country and the white eagle is our emblem but the eagle is only symbolic.”

“Come on you must be hungry, let’s try this,” he gave them some cheese.

“It’s called oscypek - a smoked kind of cheese from salted sheep’s milk.”

While eating oscypek and other delicious meals the shepherd told them about the mountain people who lived in this region, called Górale, about their customs, tradition, music and a special dialect. It was very interesting but the children felt so tired that they all fell asleep.

When the girls woke up the next day the man was gone, the hut was gone, even the boys had gone. Selena and Madison were in a completely different place. It was a big Market Square with a monument of a man in the middle of it. In front of them there was something like a Town Hall with a high tower. The square was surrounded by restaurants and cafes with lots of people.

“What’s this place? How did we get here? Where are the boys? Where is the eagle?” Selena kept asking Madison.

“I don’t know where we are or how we got here. I have absolutely no idea where the boys are and the only birds I can see are those pigeons,” replied Madison.

She was right, there were a lot of pigeons at the market. They were being fed by the women selling flower. 
 

“We simply have to ask somebody where we are,” Madison suggested.

Then among these crowds of people they saw a group of young girls wearing very colourful [colorful Am.] clothes. Their blouses were white with broad sleeves and collars decorated with lace. They also had colorful vests with sequins and flowery skirts in bold patterns. There were strings of coral beads around their necks and wreaths of flowers on their heads with multi-colored ribbons. The girls liked them at once.

Selena came closer and asked,“ Could you tell us what this placed is called?”

The girls smiled and said,“ You are in the city of Cracow and we are a folk dance group. These are our traditional costumes when we are here at the folk festival,” they explained.

“A dance group!” exclaimed Selena.“ I’m a dancer too.” She was really excited.

“Great, would you like to learn a dance called Krakowiak?” asked one of the dancers.

“With a pleasure,” answered Selena, who grabbed Madison’s hand and they both started to watch the steps the dancers made in their red boots. Selena and Madison were learning very fast and soon they were stamping, turning, jumping, and rotating really fast. The whole market Square was rotating too and they felt wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

“You were fantastic,” said one of the folk dancers when they finally stopped. “And here is a small reward for you,” she said, putting a wreath of flowers on Selena’s and Madison’s head.

“Thank you,” they answered happily.

They didn’t have any gift for them but Selena came up with an idea. She whispered something to Madison and then … they stood in the middle of the Market Square and started their show. Selena was dancing her hula dance with a wreath of flowers on her head. Suddenly Madison took one of the ribbons out of her wreath and showed one of her routines which was a combination of ballet and gymnastics.

Soon they were surrounded not only by the folk dancers, but other people who wanted to see these two crazy girls, dancing at the Square Market in Cracow. People were clapping their hands and the girls felt like stars, like real stars. 
While bending for their audience Selena said, “I wish Justin and Joey were here.”

“I hope they are having a great time too,” replied Madison.

In the meantime .…

When Justin opened his eyes he saw the blue sky and smelled the most lovely smell in the world, the smell of the sea. He was lying on the beach and touching the soft sand. When he got up, he saw Joey jumping over the waves.

“Joey! Joey!” he yelled. “Where are we?”

Hearing his friend, Joey ran towards Justin and said enthusiastically, “You woke up

at last, I thought you would be lying there all day and we have got so many things to do.”

“What things, what are you talking about?” asked Justin completely astonished.

“To start with, we are on the north coast now, in a city called Gdańsk. This beautiful sea you can see in front of your eyes is the Baltic Sea. Please, don’t ask me how we got here from the south in just one day. In the afternoon we are going to take part in a big event called ‘Save the Sharks’ where you will make a speech,” explained Joey.

“What?! Have you lost your mind?! Me, making a speech, very funny. And since when there are sharks in Poland?”

“You’re right there aren’t, but this event is a part of a campaign of protecting sharks across Europe,” said Joey. So about what ‘your speech’ will be?” asked Joey.

“Speech? I can’t, Joey. It sounds crazy, absolutely crazy.”

“Think about those endangered shark species remaining completely unprotected,” added Joey. ”

“Ok, I will think about them,” said Justin

“Great!” exclaimed Joe, “I haven’t said yes, I’m just saying I will take part in it, but …. but you have to help me with this speech. I …, I have never made a speech before, but don’t tell Selena and Madison about it.

“ I won’t, I promise,” said Joe. “They are not here, anyway,” Joey added sadly.

“What do you mean they are not here?” Justin sounded really surprised.

“I don’t know,” said Joe. “I just don’t know.”

They were standing silently for a while looking at the waves but they both felt that wherever the girls were they were okay.

Later they started to prepare the speech. Justin had a lot of knowledge about sharks and Joe a lot of experience in making speeches; he was the son of the President though.

In the evening they came to a pier where the sharks supporters organized the “Save the Sharks” event. There were shark classes, colouring [coloring Am.] competitions for children, shark demonstrations, and lectures. During such a lecture one of the speakers said: ”Now ladies and gentlemen please welcome our special guest from America – Justin, the shark tagger. “

Justin came to the stage and with a trembling voice started talking. At the beginning he was really nervous but word after word he felt better. He was talking about his experience with tagging sharks, how important it is to protect them and the environment they live in.

“To finish my speech I would like to say a big thank you to my father, who taught me everything and my friend, Joey who is here with me,” said Justin.

“Is he a shark tagger too?” asked somebody from the audience.

“No he’s not. He is somebody really important, he is …..”

“Joey, just Joey,” Joey finished the sentence for his friend. He stood up and added

“I’m really glad that I’m here.” He knew what Justin wanted to say – ’Joe the son of

the President of the United States,’ but he felt so happy that nobody knew who he was, nobody took pictures of him, and nobody asked him so many questions. Well, maybe except the last thing about the questions, his friends asked them a lot, but it was different, these questions he liked.
 Justin’s speech was a total success, everybody was congratulating him and they promised to keep in touch. 
 

Suddenly, the firework display started and the sky was shining in different colours [colors Am.]. The boys closed their eyes for a moment and when they opened them the pier was gone and they saw Selena and Madison looking at them.

“Justin, Joe,” they yelled and hugged the boys strongly.

“Stop it,” said Justin.

“We can’t breathe,” added Joe

“Sorry,” said the girls at the same time and let the boys from their embrace.

“We are just so happy to see you again,” Selena said.

“It’s hard to admit but we are glad to see you too,” said Justin. “We’ve got so much to tell-”

“Us too, but the fact that we met again here must mean something,” said Madison

“Here, meaning where?” asked Justin

They looked around and saw a big room beautifully decorated in an old style. There were paintings of kings hanging on the ornamented walls and a big throne in the middle of the room.

I think it might be Wawel!'' said Joey and not waiting for another question added, “A Royal Castle in Cracow.”

“I see,” said Selena. “Do you think we will find something about the Golden Nugget in one of its chambers?” she inquired.

“I’m not sure,” answered Justin. “If the clue about the Golden Nugget was here, I’m sure that one those kings would have found it a long time ago,” he said pointing to the figures on the pictures.

“I think you might be wrong,” said Madison as she pointed her shaking finger at one of the kings’ heads, ''Look at this,” she muttered.

The figure from the painting opened his eyes and looked at the children. Then, it started speaking in the language they didn’t understand. Joe felt angry that his granddad didn’t manage to teach him any Polish. It could be useful now.

When the head finished its speech, it closed the eyes and became silent. Suddenly the friends saw a flash of white light near the throne.

''Is that …?'', asked Selena

''It can't be...'' said Justin.

They saw something they had never seen in their lives. It was a really huge Golden Nugget shining like a star and making the whole chamber so bright.

The four friends had tears in their eyes. They came closer to the throne and wanted to grab the Golden Nugget but … it suddenly disappeared.

“It wasn’t real,” said Joey. “It was only the clue. It means we have to keep searching,” he said.

When the four friends looked at the throne again, they saw the big white eagle sitting on it. This noble bird, with a golden crown on its head, seemed to be smiling to them. Then its crown flashed with a light and Madison, Selena, Justin and Joey found themselves in a strange place …

Polska – Poland – Polonia – Polen – Pologne-

Chapter 8

 Spain  

  Mieres/Asturias

Mrs Montse Valdés Martinez

The children were in the middle of a street. They looked around and saw a lot of people looking out of the windows and balconies. Some other people were on both sides of the street behind wooden fences. They were all wearing white shirts and trousers and red scarves round their necks. They were looking at them with their eyes wide open. The crowd started to shout:

“Run!”

 “What are you doing there? Go behind the fences. They’re coming.”

“What’s happening?” Joey asked.

Suddenly the children felt the road shake under their feet. Then a lot of people appeared around the corner, they were running away from…

“What’s that black thing moving in the middle of them?” Madison wanted to know.

“It is not a bull, is it?” Justin said looking at them in disbelief.

“Never mind, the only thing that matters is that we have to get out of here, quickly!” said Selena.

So they started to run as the group of men and bulls were getting nearer and nearer. Then some policemen grabbed them behind the fences and they saw the people running down the street. Among them a lot of bulls were trying to get away out of the narrow street. Some runners fell on the road and took the risk of being near the bull´s horns. 
 

One of the policemen shouted angrily at them, “What were you doing in the middle of the road when the bulls were coming? Don’t you know you just can’t be there? It’s dangerous. You could have died!”

“Where are your parents?” another policeman asked.

Before they could give an answer, a woman approached and said: “Don’t worry! I’ll take care of them. I know who they are.” She was tall and thin with beautiful fair hair and blue eyes.

”Wow!” exclaimed Justin and Joey at the same time impressed by her beauty.

 “They are staying in Alma-Pamplona Hotel, they came here to see The Sanfermines,” added the woman.

“OK, you may go, but next time, be careful,” said the policeman.

The woman took the children to a park nearby and explained all about herself.

“I´m the daughter of that evil scientist in New York.”

“Oh yes! I remember. The frog told us about him,” said Madison.

“I was expecting you and I have a clue for your search.”

“I don´t understand. Why are you here in Spain and your father is in New York?” Madison wasn´t sure about this woman.

“How can we know that you aren’t evil like your father?” Selena was also a bit suspicious.
“Well, it is a long story. My parents divorced and my mother decided to move to Pamplona where we have some relatives. Anyway, that´s not important now. If you don’t trust me, you won’t find the golden nugget!” She exclaimed.

In the end they decided to trust her. She told them the story of the mysterious bottle of cider which is hidden in a cave in Covadonga, Asturias. She mentioned that there was a trasgu, a sort of Asturian dwarf, protecting the bottle (or so the local people said). “And if you give the frog, which knows where the golden nugget is, some cider from that bottle, it will turn into a human again.”

“It’s incredible,” Madison said. “It’s like a fairy tale.”

“But, how can we go to Asturias?” Selena asked.

“I work at a train station; I have four tickets to Asturias on the 4:00 p.m. train,” she answered.

“Look! What time is it?” shouted Justin.

“It is about half past three,” she said. “Lets go! The station isn’t far from here but if you don’t hurry you´ll miss the train.”.

Luckily, they arrived in time to get the train to Asturias. It was a long trip. 
Soon they fell asleep. They were so tired after all the excitement in the past events. Finally they were in Asturias but they were lost and they didn’t know what to do next. A man walked up to them.

“Are you the group from the USA?” he asked.

“Yes, we are,” Joey confirmed.

“My colleague told me that you need to go to Covadonga. Is that right?” he asked.

 “It is,” answered Madison.

“Okay, follow me.” He turned and walked away.

The four friends went out of the station with the man and all got into an old car. He drove them through very long winding roads while explaining all about the different places they were going through. They saw Cangas de Onís with its Roman Bridge and the amazing landscapes of the Peaks of Europe. Then, they reached a very steep road, which took them to the mountains surrounding Covadonga. Once there, they got out and saw a huge Basilica.

“Okay, this is it! Here you are in Covadonga. This place is called that because there is the Virgin of Covadonga in a cave up there. Can you see the waterfall? At the top of the road there is a tunnel that takes you to the cave. There is a chapel at the very end; the virgin is there, in the rock. Go and have a look! Or if you aren´t very tired you can use the steps up the hill, which lead straight to the opening of the rock. Now I must go back to work. I can´t help you anymore. Good luck!”

They ran up the stairs looking down at the pond at the bottom. They could see a lot of coins in the water. 
 

“Surely the people who come to worship the virgin throw the coins and wish for things,” said Madison.

“You are right. Maybe we could do the same and wish for the golden nugget. Who´s got a coin?” asked Selena.

 Justin took one out of his pocket. They all closed their eyes very tightly and Justin threw the coin. They opened their eyes and watched it sink in the water. Then, looking up they saw the virgin and continued their way up. Once in the cave they could see an altar, some pews for the people to sit down and pray, and the strangest man they had ever seen. He had very long pointed ears, his legs were extremely thin and long, too. He was wearing a red blouse and a red peaked cap. He was sweeping the floor.  

“What strange creature. He looks like a dwarf,” whispered Madison.

“This must be the trasgu who´s protecting the magic bottle,” said Selena.

The man stared at the children for a few seconds and asked, “What are you doing here?  “What do you want from me?”

“We were told that there is a bottle of cider in this place, a very special bottle of cider,” Justin said.

“A bottle of cider?” said the trasgu. “Just look around. Do you think this is the proper place to have cider? You must be joking!”

“Don´t try to fool us. Where is it?” Justin insisted.

 “OK. Here is a challenge for you. You make me laugh and I promise I´ll give you the bottle,” said the trasgu.

Well, trasgus happen to be very mischievous creatures and spend their time playing tricks on people. So that was a hard task. The children moved away from the trasgu, near the iron railing and started to talk about their possibilities. Dancing or doing gymnastics were out of the question, the girls were far too good to make anybody laugh. The children were at a loss. Then Justin, leaning upon the railing too much, suddenly lost balance and fell over to the other side and just in time to cling to the bars of the railing with both hands. Selena, Madison, and Joey tried to pull Justin up with all their strength.

“Justin, hold tight, please! We´ll get you up. You are going to be okay,” shouted Joey in despair. 
 

Finally, they were able to get him back on the cave floor. Justin was pale in the face. He lay down breathing heavily. Madison, Selena, and Joey were very sweaty from the big effort they had made. The trasgu was there in front of them. He suddenly burst into tears. He was laughing out loud so much that Joey shouted at him, “That´s not funny!”

“Okay, okay, calm down!” said the funny little man. “After all, you´ve won! Here is the bottle. Take it and don´t come back.” The children took the bottle and looked at it carefully. At first sight it looked like an ordinary bottle of cider, but if you moved it a bit, you could see some glowing bubbles inside. The children looked around but the trasgu had vanished into thin air.

“So, what comes next?” asked Selena.

“We´ve got the bottle. Let´s get out of here,” said Madison.

They walked through the tunnel which was poorly lit. Justin was exhausted. He put his right hand on the wall to rest a little and touched what looked like a lever. He pushed it and suddenly the wall opened and he discovered a passage.

“Oh no! No more excitement for today, please!” exclaimed Joey. “Come on! Let´s have a look. We have nothing to lose!” said Justin. 
 

They went inside and saw an enormous sort of metallic ring at the end.

“Hey! I know what this is. It´s a stargate. If we walk through it, we can go home. The machine will transport us,” said Joey enthusiastically.“ I have heard my dad talk about them, but I never believed it could be true.” The children crossed the ring holding hands, there was a blinding flash of light and 

Pamplona / SPAIN - Running of the Bulls

Chapter 9

Germany   Berlin  
Gustav-Dreyer-Schule

Mrs Claudia Eder

…. and they found themselves in a large room. Rubbing their eyes they took a look around.

 “What’s this?” exclaimed Selena. 
 

Next to them was a giant foot. “Bones! A skeleton, oh my god!”

The children looked up: bones – more bones, ribs and a long, long neck with a head full of frightening teeth.  Madison, Justin, and Selena turned to run, but Joey stopped them.

“Wait! I know, this must be the skeleton of a brachiosaurus; it is 150 million years old, my dad told me about it,” said Joey. “We must be in the Museum for Natural History in Berlin! How interesting!” 
 

He started to explore the bones and the information boards, as well as some buttons.

“Joey! We don’t have time to study…” exclaimed Selena.

Joey pushed a button and suddenly the brachiosaurus started to come alive, swinging its long neck, stared down at the children, and opening its enourmous [enormous – Am.] mouth. The children screamed and in despair looked for a hiding place.

“Easy, guys!” Joey said trying to calm them, “a brachiosaurus only eats plants, not meat!” 

  Then they heard a hoarse voice. “I won’t hurt you, I was waiting for you! You have to hurry; the evil warden is guarding me. Take the tiny bone of my left little toe and hurry over to the Berlin Zoo. In the shark basin you will see a box…”

 Just then a group of people came into the room led by an old man with a white beard who was explaining something about the exhibition. The dinosaur stopped talking and became just a skeleton again, but the guide had caught a glimpse of the transformation and started to rush towards the children.

“Now I’m going to get you! You won’t find the nugget!” He tried to push them towards a huge staircase.  Everybody in the room screamed.

“Joey! Grab that bone! Quickly!!!!” Madison shouted above the turmoil. 
Joey dove towards the skeleton, grabbed the bone and dashed after his friends. He fled down the staircase, past a lot of very exciting exhibits, and out of the doors onto the street.

 “Let’s jump onto that bus!”  shouted Joey. 
 

The bus doors closed in front of the angry face of the guide.

“That was that evil professor,” Justin muttered, “but we tricked him again!”

 The four friends were happy to sit down and the bus went on its tour passing many famous sights. Joey had been to Berlin once with his dad who visited the capital, so he could give his friends some explanations. They passed the Brandenburger Gate, the famous Reichstag and the Siegessäule.

“I’m so hungry! And I’m dog-tired!” Selena groaned.

“Yes, me, too!” cried Justin. Suddenly they heard the announcement for the zoo. He exclaimed, “That’s where we are supposed to go. We have to get off!” They just made it in the last moment and hopped off the bus. 
 

 Standing on the pavement they could smell a delicious scent.

“OH yes- let’s get something to eat!” exclaimed Selena.

They followed the smell and came to a snack bar. Everybody in the line ordered “doner” or “currywurst”. “What is “currywurst?” the children wondered. “Let’s try some,” Madison suggested.

They ordered and got a kind of bratwurst with ketchup and curry spices.

“Mmh, it’s quite delicious, I was starving!” said Justin. His favourite [favorite – Am.] was doner, but he took a second helping of currywurst for the way and they went straight into the aquarium in the zoo to find the sharks.  Following the signs they soon stood in front of the big shark tank.

“Can you see a box anywhere?” asked Selena.

Hidden behind a big rock they saw something wooden.

”How can we possibly get to it? That’s impossible! We will never get home and we

will never find that nugget!” said Joey.

A zookeeper was coming out of a small door next to the giant tank.

“I think I know a way to get in!” whispered Justin.

“You‘re not planning to dive into that tank, are you?!” Joey asked in horror.

“We have to get our next clue- and I want to be a shark tagger, don’t you remember? Joey, give me that bone, maybe I’ll need it,” Justin stated and went through the door.

Horror-stricken the friends stared into the basin, and seconds later they saw Justin diving into the water. The sharks immediately swam in his direction because they were curious about their visitor. It wasn’t feeding time, was it? Justin threw his currywurst to them and at once they started quarrelling about it. Due to his training, he was used to holding his breath for a long time. He dove down to the box wanting to grab it when all of a sudden a giant moray shot out of a cave in the rock and was about to close its razor sharp teeth around his arm. Justin threw the dinosaur bone into its open mouth. The moray choked and disappeared back into its cave. Justin took hold of the small box and with his last breath came back to the surface again. He put on his dry clothes again and went back to his friends, who gave him a big hug full of relief.

“Open the box! What’s in it?” asked Selena

 It was a kind of box you can buy for souvenirs. They opened it and in it was no clue, but only a toy tower. Everybody was disappointed.

”I told you, we’ll never get home,” Madison moaned.

Joey remembered, “It’s the TV Tower! We have to get there, maybe the nugget is hidden on its top!”

They went out and jumped onto the next tour bus that took them to the Alexanderplatz where the TV Tower was. It was nearly closing time so there was no line in front. In the hall a speaker voice told some details about the tower: it is 365 metres [meters – Am.] high and the express lifts [elevators – Am.] take you to the observation platform in 203 metres [meters – Am.].

There was no one around, so they went and stepped into the lift [elevator – Am.].

“I’m completely beat,” Madison complained, “I just want to sleep!”

 The lift [elevator – Am.] took off and the children were pressed to the floor because of its rapid acceleration. It moved up and up and up and suddenly……

!!! You MUST visit BERLIN !!!

 Chapter 10

Turkey  Sultanhisa 
 Gazi Mustafa Kemal Primary

Mrs Gülhan Kucuk

..... the four friends found themselves in the middle of rapid cascading waterfalls. 
 

Acting fast, Justin quickly clung to a branch. Selena, Madison, and Joey tried to hold on to Justin, but the four of them quickly fell into the water with Justin who was holding onto Madison’s hand. Fortunately, the waterfalls were formed from the sand base and the children didn’t get hurt. All of them were wet and tried to eliminate the shock of the cold water. 

All of them were trying to figure out where they were. Then Madison realized there was a cave behind the waterfall. She called her friend, “Look at over here!” Selena, Justin, Joey, and Madison walked towards the cave behind the waterfall. The cave was in the twilight and nobody could see anything. There was only the sunlight filtering in through the waterfall.

Joey removed a flashlight from his pocket and it lit the twilight. There were articles and pictures on the walls as well as scary looking pendant stalactites on the walls. Madison’s attention was drawn to a picture. There was a flashing squamate snake that was half human and half animal. Madison called Joey to show him a better view of the picture. The mystery of the picture appeared by the light.

“Şahmaran,” said Joey as he read to friends the text under the picture. The writing was showy.

Justin exclaimed, ‘‘This may be a clue!’’

Joey desperately called out to his friends, ''We need a stone to wake her!"

Selena did not pay attention to them, but instead she began to walk in order to explore the cave.

Joey continued to talk saying, ‘’Madison don’t you know? The person who takes the stone must become a victim so Şahmaran can fully come to life.’’ Selena continued her crawly discovery. Suddenly she recognized the Golden Nugget. She tried to pull it out. In the end the stone was removed from its place, awakening Şamaran and the ground began to rumble with loud booming noises.

Madison shouted, ‘’Selena!’’

“I only removed stone from there,” said Selena atremble. 

There was fear on the faces of all as Şahmaran was coming towards Selena.

Joey suddenly remembered the legend of Şahmaran. Fortunately, Joey shouted, ‘’Selena keep the stone pointed towards Sahmaran!’’

Selena was holding the nugget tightly because of her fear. Şahmaran hit Selena with her tail while as she was keeping the golden nugget pointed towards it. Then, poor Selena banged against the wall and fainted. Şahmaran was crawling towards her. At that moment, Joey tried to surprise Şahmaran by waving the flashlight in his hand. Madison embraced Selena and then the Golden Nugget in Selena’s hands began to shine. They squinted their eyes because of the strong light. Suddenly, they found themselves in hot water. Everywhere around them was snow as white as cotton. 

Joey and Justin thought and walked towards Selena who was still unconscious. Madison put her hand in some hot water and soaked Selena’s head to awaken her. Selena slowly opened her eyes and asked, “Where are we?’’ What are we doing here?” They recognized that they didn’t know where they were now.

A strange girl was walking in the hot water with rolled out the pants trotters above her knees. 
 

“Okay, let’s asked her,” said Joey, and pointed to the unknown girl.

Madison went to her and said, ‘’Excuse me.’’

The girl, in a sweet voice said, ‘’How can I help you?’’

Madison asked her, ‘’Could you tell us where we are? ’’

The girl replied, ‘’You are in Pamukkale Traventines in Turkey.’’

Madison thanked the girl and rejoined her friends. She told her friends what the girl said and all of them saw the bubbling travertines. At that moment, all of them heard a roar that shook the ground, booming everywhere. A large, red-eyed, giant snake appeared in travertines. The Sahmaran’s scary face was horrifying. The snake had grown three heads. The snake roared with a horrible voice when its cold skin touched the boiling water and lifted her head toward the kids.

They opened their eyes in what appeared to be fluffy pillows. Interestingly, the pillows were flying in the sky. The view from the sky was not clear. They saw just a blue line in the green fields. Selena looked at her friends anxiously and wondered, “Was this a dream?” The children were smiling happily and looking at the ground. She checked the Golden Nugget quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there. The big snake must have taken it back. She felt sad. Why couldn’t she keep it in her hands? During this thought she regained her consciousness when she heard Madison screaming. Madison was showing them the Bosphorus, Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia, and Galata Tower. 

 

She shouted to them, “Look! We are in İstanbul!” She looked at the view. Istanbul was lying on seven hills with minarets. They were getting closer to the ground. The Palace was covered with a lot of seasonal flowers, including the huge patches of tulips growing in early April. They landed over the red tulips which were the symbol of İstanbul. They felt very relaxed.

Suddenly a magical light engulfed them. They could hardly recognize the old man with the white beard and long white clothes. He was holding some red tulips.

Selena asked, “Is red tulip the symbol of Istanbul?”

The old man with the white beard nodded his head and said to her confidently, “According to the legend, the lightning struck one drop of dew on the leaf, so the dew and the leaf fired [the word ‘fired’ doesn’t seem to be right, but I don’t know how it should be described].Then they froze and became the ‘red tulip’. The clue is hidden in this legend to find the Golden Nugget.” Then, he gave the shining red tulips to Selena, Madison, Justin, and Joey. They were very surprised and very curious as to how he knew their story. 

As soon as each of them got the shining red tulips, they couldn’t see anything except the strong light. The strong light was coming closer, coming closer, and then came the closest ……

Welcome to Istanbul !

  
Chapter 11

 Australia   Gerogery / NSW

Gerogery Public School    
Mr Stephen Broomfield

… to the front of a rocket ship that was in the middle of a playground, Joey said, “We must follow it.”

They went inside to rest. As they entered the model spaceship the area within seemed far larger than it looked from the outside. Justin spotted what looked like a handle with a button attached. He immediately pressed the button.

Madison yelled out,  “NO!”

It was too late! The ground underneath them began to shake, the walls shone, the roof opened and they were off. Where were they headed? The journey seemed like years, then CRASH! They were all catapulted out through the roof and they landed on a mattress and then bounced into a wall. They looked up and saw a sign that read ‘Try Before You Buy.’

As they hadn’t eaten all day they were starving, so Selena suggested, “Let’s look around and see what we can find to eat.”

Madison opened an oven and spotted some bread. She broke the loaf apart and shared it amongst the four of them. 
 

An old man, with a grey beard, shouted, “Oi Ya thieves, stop! Help. Police!”

The children turned to run but they ran smack bang into more policemen, they were trapped. The police arrested them and placed manacles around their feet and dragged them off to gaol [jail Am.]. The next morning they were taken upstairs into a dock and they found out they were in the Old Bailey where the magistrate sentenced them to seven years transportation to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania – Australia).

 

They were transported down to the London Docks by horse and cart and then marched aboard a ship along with 238 other convicts. The ship was called the ‘Augusta Jessie’. They saw a paperboy selling papers on the corner. Justin noticed that the date on the paper was August 12th, 1838. He had studied the convicts in History and he remembered that the trip would take 3 months to complete, if they were lucky.

 

Along the way many convicts became ill. Madison, Selena, Joey and Justin all shared the same hammock; there was filth, rats and bedbugs everywhere. Next to them was a freaky lady who had lost most of her teeth. What teeth she did have were badly decayed and her breath stunk  like rotten fish. She said, “Where are you from and what was ya crime?”

Selena answered, “We are from New York.”

The old cranky old lady had never heard of such a place, “What are you talking about? You must have been arrested for telling lies.”

 Days then weeks, and finally months passed by. People were sick each day, some developed scurvy. The hygiene became worse as they were only allowed up on deck, in the open air, once a week for 30 minutes. The smell made them  sicker than ever. 
 

 

Suddenly the boat veered to the left and all the people were tossed about.

“What is happening?” asked Selena.  

A guard said, “We have just reached the south of Australia. This area is known as the Great Australian Bight and these seas and winds are called ‘The Roaring Forties.”

“All hands on Deck,” came the cry.” Man the sails. Drag them down. All prisoners get up onto the poop deck.”

Waves were crashing over the bow and we were holding on for our lives. I saw a lady and child swept overboard, “now they were shark bait!” thought Justin.

 

The weather continued to rage on for three days, the ship took a hammering and then it became too hard to manoeuvre, so the captain made the decision to head with the wind towards the Penal Colony of Port Arthur instead of Sydney.  The ship limped into the harbour and the 4 children were greeted by a cry of “Land Ahoy”, they had arrived at a place that looked green and fresh, but boy were they wrong. All the convicts were unloaded and sent inside a large stone building.

“What is this place?” said Madison.

Justin said, “I think I’ve read about this place.”

A guard jabbed a bayonet into Selena and told her that all girls were to come with him.” You are going to The ‘Cascades,’ a prison for girls.” They were going to be separated again. The 2 boys went towards a line. They were headed to another prison. This one was the notorious Port Arthur Prison.

  They were pushed into crowded cells, where there were 42 prisoners. And boy was there a stench! It was disgusting and the boys felt faint. They walked in a line into another room. Here they were handed a set of linen rags that turned out to be clothes. They were told they had to share a hammock (a bed that swings between 2 poles ).

 

That evening they were marched into a third room where they were given something to eat. ‘Something’ is the correct word. This so called food was plain and boring, a kind of porridge and a piece of mouldy [moldy Am.] stale bread to clean the bowl with. They were told to keep the bowl and if they lost it then they would not be getting any meals.  They were locked up with no light.  After what seemed ages they fell asleep.  

Next thing a loud banging woke them up.

“What time is it?” Said Justin.

“Who knows, we don’t even know what year it is. My watch says 5 am,” answered Joey.

“Out of bed!” came the cry. “It is time for work.” It was pitch black outside and the air was cold and wet. They had to line up in rows of 5, because it was easy to count. They were marched outside with no shoes and handed a sledgehammer and told to break all the rocks in their pile before they could eat or drink.

  “This is exhausting and we have to do this for 7 years; we have to escape!” Said Joey.

“How is it possible when the water is full of sharks and the land crossing was very narrow? There are guards with fierce dingos everywhere. We need a plan,” said Justin.

“I know,” said Joey, I have heard that this place is full of Tasmanian Devils, a wild animal, native to Tasmania, which is known to have the strongest jaws amongst all animals. We could take some food and smear it on the fence and when the Tassie Devils come they will bite through the fence, and then we can escape. Set our alarms for 1am. The guards should be well and truly asleep by then.”

 

At 1am the boys crept silently out of their cells by picking the lock. Justin’s father had a part time job as locksmith and Justin had often watched him work. They placed the rotting food on the fence and within 20 minutes a pack of Tassie Devils began ripping at the fence until a hole appeared. The boys waited until the hole was big enough for them to crawl through. In their plan they had also stolen 2 guards’ uniforms, by volunteering for laundry duty as an extra chore. They put the guard’s uniforms on and placed their convict clothes in a hole that they had dug. They needed to pass through Eaglehawk Neck, which was a narrow strip of land that was only 30 metres [meters – Am.] wide.

“Stop or I’ll shoot,” said the guard.

Joey, in a deep voice said, “Don’t shoot we are guards heading home after our shift at the prison.”

The guards shone naked torches at the boys so they could get a good look. The boys held their heads low as the guards studied them. “Sorry,” said the man with the rifle, “you may pass. We can’t take any chances as no one has ever managed to escape.” 
 

The boys slowly walked on until they were out of sight and then ran as fast as they could. The boys now had to hatch a plan to save the girls. They arrived at The Cascade Prison for Women and Girls overlooking the settlement of Hobart. On their journey, by ship, from London to Port Arthur the children had agreed on a secret call if they ever got separated again.

Justin began to make the secret sound of a kookaburra. ‘kooookkaaaaakakkkkkkaaaaa.’ Then from the dark of night came the girl’s reply. They squawked like the galah, a pink and grey parrot that is native to Australia. The girls  had tied all the linen strips together that they had gathered over the past months. They used this to climb out the second floor window and then lowering themselves onto the ground below. They then moved towards the kookaburra call.

 

They met at the fence, where Justin spotted what looked like a large tunnel. “What is that? I think it has been dug by a very large wombat. They say they are enormous here in Tasmania!“ he exclaimed.

The girls both just managed to squeeze themselves through the hole because they had lost a fair amount of weight, as they would not eat that mouldy [moldy – Am.], stale bread.  They searched for the road that led to the beach. They hoped that they would be able to sail to a town that had only free settlers. In the distance they could see a very faint flickering light. Madison decided that they should head towards it.

 

After an hour they arrived at a jetty. There was a small sail boat moored at the end. Justin dived [dove – Am.] into the water and dragged himself along the beams that were holding the jetty up. He climbed up the side and scrambled up onto the landing. He peered around to see where the light was coming from. Two men were sleeping with their heads against the wall. They had a flickering flame of a candle to their right. Justin signalled to the others to slowly creep behind the two guards.  As they were about to go behind the men, one of them awoke startled. The children ducked behind a large crate that had been between the men and the candle. The guard looked around but saw nothing so he settled back down again. The children waited another 5 minutes before continuing toward the end where Justin and the boat were. They lowered themselves into the boat. They searched for the motor but there was none. There were only 2 oars. So Madison and Joey grabbed them. They would row first. After 30 minutes they noticed a fin cutting the surface of the water. 

 

Justin had another bright idea. He had found a hook, in the boat while Madison and Joey were rowing, which was connected to a large rope. “I could hook the shark and he would then drag us faster away from here.”

The others were a bit hesitant at first, but figured they had nothing to lose, so they agreed to give it a go. Justin leaned over the bow with Selena  carefully holding his legs.  He was trying to work out how to hook the shark. He had realised [realized – Am.] that it was a Great White Shark, one of the deadliest. As it surfaced he swung the rope, with the hook on the end, in the air and aimed it at the shark. It landed in front of it and as he yanked back it attached itself to the shark’s dorsal fin. Luckily  Justin had tied the other end of the rope to the boat, thought Selena. As the rope became taut the boat took off at great speed, heading out of the harbour [harbor – Am.] and then veering southeast. The ride continued until the sun began to rise in the east. The shark was heading back toward land. The children thought their luck had finally changed and they were going to be rewarded for their persistency.

Then Joey recognised [recognized – Am.] the buildings that lay ahead.  “Oh no!” he exclaimed, “That’s Port Arthur Prison. We’ve done a full circle. What will we do?”

Madison suggested that they try to cut the rope. They searched the boat but there was nothing sharp enough for them to cut the rope. All of a sudden a bullet whizzed right in front of their faces.

“Hit the deck,” screamed Selena.

When Joey raised his head to see what was going on, he saw three guards with their rifles cocked and aiming at them.

At the same time Selena cried,  “They must have hit the rope because we are free at last.”

Joey and Madison grabbed the oars and rowed in the opposite direction towards an island. They knew that no one at Port Arthur could swim, and if they did then the sharks would certainly eat them. This gave them several minutes to make good their escape. They were hoping that they would be safe until they could come up with yet another plan.

 

As their boat rammed into the shore they could see a path heading towards the centre [center – Am.] of the island. They dragged the boat up onto the shore and covered it with branches.  They then headed inland.  The forest was very dense, so they had to use branches to knock the bushes down. This allowed them to form a passage for them to follow. When they reached the middle of the island they were confronted with hundreds of stones that were standing upright.  As they moved closer they could see that there was writing etched into most of the rocks, some were blank. One read ‘Here lies Coby B...’

Joey said, “I think I know where we are.”

“Where?”  asked Madison.

“I think this is what the prisoners called ‘The Isle of The Dead,’ where they buried the convicts that had died while incarcerated at Port Arthur,” replied Joey.

 

Through the mist appeared a ghostly figure of an old man with a grey beard. “I’ve been waiting for you for hours. What took you so long?”

“We got arrested and transported to Australia just because we were hungry,” replied Joey. “We were made to break rocks with a heavy hammer. Then we had to escape from Port Arthur and Cascade Prison, creep past guards, steal a boat, hook a shark, dodge bullets and then arrive here.

“Follow me into the secret tomb that is located at the back of the cemetery,” said the old man.

Selena, Madison, Joey, and Justin followed the ghostly figure towards the hidden tomb. The old man told them to push the stone to the side and then enter through the tunnel. They looked back to ask the old man a question, but he was nowhere to be seen. He disappeared as fast as he had come.

 

As they reached the bottom of the stairs they quickly realised [realized – Am.] that they were again inside the Time Machine. Joey found the control panel and turned the dial to read 2012. He then pushed the green button which made the room spin around and around and at the same time bright lights and deafening noises started reverberating around the room. The machine went dark and then rocketed off and hurled through space until it crash landed right in the middle of …...

History of Australia (Part 1 of 7) 

VERY WORTHWATCHING !!

Chapter 12

Romania Ploiesti 
 Scola Nicolae Iorga

Mrs Cerassela Anghel

 ...... in the middle of a green and vast lawn.

“Hey, where are we?” Selena asked.

The kids didn’t realize at first, but they really were in the Carpathian Mountains, on the Bucegi tableland, a wonderful place in Romania. Everything was surrounded by a thick and scary mist. It was a mysterious place.

“Look over there! A strange stone is moving,” said Selena.

“It looks like a human face,” Justin replied.

 Suddenly, the stone started to talk:

“Hello, kids! What brings you here? I am the Sphinx. Have you ever heard about me?” he said in a mysterious and deep voice. “I know why you came here. I’ve been waiting for you. My mission is to help you find the Golden Nugget, but I can give you just a clue.”

 The kids yelled in one voice:

 “You can speak! Can you really help us?’’ Madison said sounding frightened.

“Yes, this is my mission. I’ll give you one clue, but it’s just a piece of it.”

The kids received a little panel made of rock and they read the things which were written there.

“Look, I spotted something! Here it says ‘BRAN’. What does it mean?” Joey added.

Suddenly, a bright light struck them. When they read the panel it worked as an incantation.

They found themselves in a medieval place called Bran.

“Wow, what’s this place? It’s so creepy,” Justin said. “I think it’s Bran Castle. Do you remember the incantation? This is the name and the clue that Sphinx told us about.“

“Hey, as I know our History class, the Bran Castle has a legend about Dracula,” said Joey.

“Look what I found! It looks like the missing piece of the Sphinx’s clue. I think the legend and the map of Bran are written here.”

Then, the big castle’s door opened. An old man with a red cap and long, sharp teeth appeared. The children were frightened and they wanted to run away but an unknown force stopped them.

“Wait kids, don’t run away from me! I don’t want to hurt you. I want to help you,“ Dracula said.

“How can we trust you? Who are you?” Selena asked.

The man began, “I am…”

“Hold on, you’re … Dracula, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s me! Welcome to my castle! Follow me!” he exclaimed.

Dracula guided them through his castle. While walking, the fear overwhelmed their souls and cold chills were haunting their bodies. They stepped shyly through a long hall which seemed to get tighter and tighter.

 While they were looking on the walls which seemed to suffocate them, they spotted some vague silhouettes that were following them since they got into the castle. The four friends were scared to death. At the end of the corridor, they were able to see a bright light.

“Come on children, come in!” the Earl told them.

“What’s this strange place?” Madison asked.

“We are in the Hidden Room, where my friend lives,” replied Dracula.

“Do you have any friends?” Selena asked, a little bit surprised and amused.

In that moment, Dracula opened the basement’s door. All of a sudden, a giant bat with red eyes flew from the underground room. As they saw the frightening creature they yelled in one voice and started running.

“Don’t be scared! My pet is harmless and friendly. It wants to help you and so do I.”

“But, can a bat help us?” Justin added.

“Yes. He will take you beyond the Carpathian Mountains in Moldavia, where you’ll stop at ‘Ancuta’s Inn’.”

“Where? What? How?” Madison asked puzzled by Dracula’s words.

“Ancuta’s Inn. She is a good friend of mine. A famous Romanian author, Mihail Sadoveanu, wrote about the relaxing atmosphere from there. Ancuta will help put you up for the night. Do you agree?”

“Yes, we do!” the kids replied happily.

“Then, hurry up and get on the bat. You’ll get off from the main tower. That tower was the place where my guards were looking after the castle,” said Dracula.

The four children followed the Earl through the castle to reach the tower. They couldn’t ignore the beautiful architecture and the amazing view which surrounded the building.

“Come on, kids, it’s time to go. The sun will set and it’s not good to fly by night ,” said Dracula

“Goodbye, Earl Dracula! We are glad that we met you and we’ll visit you soon ,” exclaimed Joey.

“See you soon, kids!” the Earl said.

And then the bat began to fly over the Carpathian Mountains. The view was impressive, everything was amazing. The whole range of mountains looked like a snake, which seemed like he tried to reach his tail.

They flew over Transfagarasan Road, ‘The Red Lake’, springs, and the most beautiful rivers: Mures and Olt. They also saw Stephan the Great’s monasteries and they watched the most beautiful sunset. The Sun was the sky’s king and it looked like a big fire ball.

“Whoaa!” The kids exclaimed excited.

After a long, long trip they finally arrived in Moldavia, at ‘Ancuta’s Inn’. The atmosphere from there was rustic and Ancuta was very hospitable.

“Come on in, children! Welcome!” said Ancuta.

“Good evening, Ancuta!” the four kids exclaimed as they introduced themselves.

The food’s scent excited them and they were amazed by the beautiful decorations.

“Let’s go, people, don’t be shy. I made you something special that will make you fall in love with Romania,” said Ancuta.

When Ancuta brought the plates, Joey said, “What’s this? It looks absolutely delicious.”

“Well, this is traditional Romanian food: sarmale, mamaliga, and cozonac for dessert, ”Ancuta answered politely.

After the meal, they visited other parts of the inn and they got to a place where they found a secret door. Inside there was a chest covered with dust.

“Let’s see what’s in it. Maybe it’s our next clue. Who dares to open it?” Justin added.

“I’ll go. I always liked challenges,” Joey said courageously.”

Joey opened the chest and ...the missing piece was in there.

“Madison, come quickly and give me the other half of the panel found at Bucegi,” Joey said.

“This is the moment of truth ,” Selena added.

When the kids fit the two pieces, they had a little déjà vu because a bright light struck them and then Joey, Selena, Madison, and Justin…

Smilebox: 

Dracula's castle in Bran/Romania visited by

THE STUDENTS Of 

NICOLAE IORGA SCHOOL

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d6a4d304e446b354e544a384d6a49334f4467354d6a593d0d0a&sb=1 

 
Chapter 13
 

Great Britain  London  

Redbridge Primary School  

Mrs Parminder Kambo

..... Joey, Selena, Madison and Justin rubbed their eyes and found themselves outside a magnificent palace.  Mesmerised, they stared at the grand Royal building.

“Where are we?” queried Justin, scratching his head.

“I think we are in England…..this must be Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II lives!” exclaimed Selena.

Walking towards the palace gates Joey slipped.  As he leaned forward to lift himself up he found a letter on the floor.  Strangely enough it was addressed to him!  His heart thumped rapidly.  Who could the letter be from?  Madison snatched the letter from him.

“Hey Joey, you’ve got an invitation to meet the Queen!”  she screamed.

“Someone must have found out that you live in the White House,” observed Selena.

“You’re so lucky, you’ll get to meet the Queen,” blurted Justin enviously.

Quick as a flash, Joey snatched the letter back and scanned it for details.  The event was planned to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and it would take place at a place called Valentine Mansions in Redbridge, the very next day.  Not only that, he could bring three other friends with him.  The four friends were ecstatic at the thought of meeting the Queen of United Kingdom.

Early next morning the four friends stood patiently amongst the crowd.  The Union Jacks were being waved by all the children from the local schools who lined the route in the hope of catching a glimpse of Her Majesty.  Some carried bouquets of flowers whilst others had lots of pictures of the Royal family.  Suddenly the crowd cheered as a regal black limousine travelled slowly past the well wishers.  Soon, the moment arrived for Joey to finally meet the Queen.  

As Her Majesty the Queen shook Joey’s hand she whispered, “It’s somewhere in London, use your eye, you will find a piece of the Golden Nugget deep inside number five!”  He walked away feeling puzzled and repeated the riddle to his friends.

“That must be a clue for the Golden Nugget!” pointed out Madison. Silently, they looked at each other.  Then suddenly, Justin jumped up. “I know where this is,”

“Just tell us what you mean Justin!”  roared Selena impatiently. “It’s the London Eye of course ... don’t you see?” explained Justin. 
A train journey later, the children found themselves standing in front of the immense structure called the London Eye.  It looked like the spool of a gigantic spinning wheel – spinning very slowly.  The children could not wait.  As if by magic, their tickets were for pod number 5.  The Golden Nugget had to be inside – but where?

As soon as the children boarded pod 5 and the pod rose up towards the London Skyline, they could not help but marvel at the beautiful city of London.  All the famous landmarks were visible on this clear day.  However, Joey could not forget the words that the Queen had whispered to him.  Finding the Golden Nugget would take them closer to their journey back to New York.  Without drawing too much attention to himself he glanced around the pod.  His eyes searched desperately.  But it was no use.  The pod was as bare as old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.  Disappointed, he slumped on the seats in the middle of the pod.  As he did so, he felt something hard on the seat.  Feeling cross, he brushed the seat to make it more comfortable.  But what was that?  Did he really see something with a golden shimmer?  He pushed his fingers through a hole in the fabric and grabbed the hard, cold object. 

Madison and the others had been searching too but came across nothing except a chocolate wrapper.   As the children came out of the pod, Joey could not contain the excitement any longer.

“Guess what Everyone?”

Madison, Selena and Justin gave Joey a quizzical look.  What was he talking about?

“Here it is!” whispered Joey as he unfolded his hand.  The nugget shimmered with a golden Mist around it.

“And this is what we found,” laughed Madison as she held open the chocolate wrapper.

“Hey, there’s something written on the inside of the wrapper, quick read it out,” commanded Justin.

Madison and Selena read the words together, “In the land of the kilts and the bagpipes , you will find the next piece deep inside.” 

In the blink of an eye, the children found themselves standing in front of the humbling Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain on the British Isles.  From somewhere nearby they could hear a sweet musical sound. 

“Let’s go and see where this sound is coming from,” encouraged Selena.

As they walked around the foot of the mountain, the sound got louder and louder.

“Bagpipes!” said Justin, “Just as I suspected!”

There before them stood a man dressed in a kind of a skirt, playing a most unusual looking instrument.

“Why is he wearing a skirt?” laughed Joey.

“That’s not a skirt, it’s a kilt that is worn by men in Scotland and it’s made of a special checked material called Tartan.” explained Selena.

“And it’s important to respect other people’s lifestyle, we don’t want to offend anyone,” requested Justin

“Sorry everyone, I didn’t mean to laugh,” apologised [apologized – Am.] Joey.

The man started walking away from them.  Enchanted by the sound of the bagpipes, the children followed him like the mice followed the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  The man wore a robe with a hood, which made it difficult for his face to be seen.  The children followed him into what seemed like the opening of a cave.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” they screamed as they fell through some passage onto a muddy floor.  

“Oh No!  We’re trapped!”  shouted Selena anxiously.

“There must be a way to get out of here,” said a determined Justine.

Joey looked up.  He saw a rope with an anchor at the other end whilst Madison spied a strange looking chest deeper in the cave.  Excitedly she called everyone.  Could the second piece of the Golden Nugget be inside the chest?  Where was the key to the chest?

“The man with the bagpipe of course,” exclaimed Justin.

“Let’s  find a way to climb out of here,” suggested Selena.

They threw the anchor and the rope to the top of the pit.  Luckily it got caught between two rocks.  Climbing up the rope was not easy but they managed to get to the top.  Suddenly, a honk replaced the musical sound of the bagpipes.  The man removed his mouth from the bagpipe and took a deep breath.  Then he blew.  Out popped a key...

Justin snatched the key and jumped back into the pit.

“COME ON!” called Justin.  They all jumped down.  Justin was already unlocking the chest.  He picked out the contents.  There was a piece of cloth in the chest.  As he unwrapped it, the golden glow was visible once more.

“Yay!” he exclaimed, “the second piece of the Golden Nugget!”

“Yes, but look,” said Madison, staying calm.  She picked up the cloth and held it for everyone to see.  It was the flag of Wales.  On the bottom, it said...NOGARD.  Joey studied it.

“I know,” he bursted, “Go to Wales where the dragon is because the opposite of NOGARD is DRAGON!”

No sooner than Joey had finished speaking, the children stood in front of the magnificent Cardiff Castle.  Gingerly, they took five paces forward and entered the castle through an old, narrow, wooden door.  It was very dark inside.  Suddenly, a white spark drifted in the air whilst a colossal creature stormed in.  It must have been the dragon, as shown on the flag of Wales!  The fearsome dragon roared out sheets of flames.  The children kept out of sight as they hatched a plan to recover the third piece of the Golden Nugget from the chamber guarded by the most dangerous dragon.

Once the dragon grew tired, Justin and Madison being quick on their feet, ran in front of the dragon to make the creature chase them.  Selena and Joey meanwhile, crept inside the deep dark chamber and grabbed the sparkling piece of the Golden Nugget.  Attached to the nugget was a piece of folded paper.  Selena opened the creased paper and read out the riddle:

“Go across the sea and go up North – to the land of The Giant’s Causeway!”

The children looked at the hexagonal rocks.  They were all thinking of the same thing.  Could a piece of the nugget be trapped between or underneath one of the rocks from The Giant’s Causeway?  They just had to find out.

“Look!” exclaimed Justin, “there’s a metal detector over there that we could probably use!”

“Brilliant! Let’s get it,” shouted Madison.

They all ran over to the metal detector and got to work.  Taking turns they swept the metal detector over the rocks and waited eagerly for the exciting sound. Then suddenly, they heard a startling beep. 

“We’ve found it, I knew we would!” shouted Justin feeling overjoyed.  Justin, Selena, Joey and Madison all grabbed an edge of the rock that had caused the metal detector to alarm.  The piece of rock seemed to be loose, consequently, it was easier to lift it.  Sure enough there was the fourth piece of the Golden Nugget shining like a star. 

As the children put the four pieces of the Golden Nugget together an explosive, blinding, white light appeared and suddenly the four pieces fused together.  With that, the children found themselves.....

Visit LONDON !

  

 

Chapter 14

- The End - 

   

Back again:

USA   Palmer,MA   

OMP Elementary School

Grade 3  

Mr Todd Kellaher 

After the flash of light, the four friends found themselves in a portal that led them to an elevator.

"What should we do?" asked Selena.

"Well," said Joey, "there's no place else to go, so get in."

The elevator took them downward for what seemed like a very long time and when the doors finally opened, they realized they were in the evil scientist's lair.  Luckily, the madman was nowhere in sight.

"The coast is clear. Let's get out of here before that mad scientist finds us!" exclaimed Justin.

"Wait a minute," said Madison, "I think that I've got an idea."

"Well, don't keep it a secret!" exclaimed Selena.

"Yes, tell us," pleaded Joey.

Madison started pointing at different things in the laboratory saying, "Just look at all of these potions and things.  I bet that we could make a fake golden nugget to fool the scientist."

"That's a great idea," replied Justin. "Maybe there's also something in here that can give him a big surprise."

"Okay, but we better hurry because there are cameras all over this place and that mad scientist could be watching us right now!" cried Joey.

Selena had read about something called 'Fool's Gold' that people tried to create a long time ago.  They failed in their experiments, but maybe it would fool the scientist just long enough for them to get away. The four friends started mixing ingredients and in a short time they created a nugget that looked so real it was hard to tell that it was a fake.   

Just as they were finishing, Justin found a jar marked 'DANGER, This potion could cause harm to anyone who holds it.'

 "Let's pour some of this in," said Justin. "It could be just the thing we are looking for to get rid of that evil man for good!"

When they were done, they placed the fake nugget into a special container and hurried to get out of the madman's lair.  

 As they went out the door they came face to face with the evil scientist.  It seems that Joey was right and the cameras had alerted him through a special alarm in his cell phone, so he had hurried back to his lab.

"Now I've got you," said the scientist with an evil tone. "Where is the golden nugget? I know that you have it!"

Madison acted scared and shouted, "You can have it. It has caused us nothing but trouble anyway!" As she said this she took the special container with the fake nugget and tossed it to the scientist. 

The evil man was extremely excited and without thinking he took it out of the container to inspect it.

"It's mine, it's mine!" he exclaimed.  "With this I will rule the world!"

The longer he held the nugget, the funnier he started to feel. It looked as if he were beginning to disappear and he immediately became upset.

"Did you put anything on this nugget?" he asked in horror.

"Just something in a jar labeled 'DANGER'," Justin replied.

"NOOOOOO," he shrieked, "that stuff will transport me into a parallel universe that I will never be able to return from!"

"At least you'll have your gold," laughed Selena.

"Right, Selena, Fools Gold!" Joey added just as the evil man was disappearing from sight forever.

Once it was clear that the evil scientist was gone forever, the four friends left quickly to find the poisonous mutant frog.

"We need to find the frog quickly," said Justin.

"Where do you think that we should look for him?" asked Selena.

"We found him in the subway the last time we were in New York City. Maybe he's still there," replied Joey. "Let's go."

The friends searched the subway tunnels, but found no one.  As they returned to the street level, Madison noticed something strange about the city.  The area where the Statue of Liberty used to be was destroyed.  The friends talked about what a shame it was that the evil scientist had ruined a whole section of the city as well as one of its most beloved landmarks. As they looked on sadly, they saw something moving about in the area.

"Look," shouted Joey, “it's the frog. It's down by Liberty Island."

"It said that the golden nugget was the only thing that could save it. Let's get  over there and see how we can help," added Selena.

They hurried down to where the frog was and called out, "Poisonous Frog, it's us and we are back with the golden nugget."

"You were right," said Justin to the frog, "we followed the signs and they led us right to it."

"Well," added Joey, "it wasn't quite that easy, but here it is," and he tossed the nugget to the frog. 

The frog caught the nugget and there was a blinding flash of light.  The four children closed their eyes and it felt as if a strong gust of wind blew over the entire area.  As they reopened their eyes they witnessed the most amazing sight.

The frog slowly began to change shape and the ruins of the city also seemed to be repairing itself.   

The wind around them was very strong and loud, but the children looked on with a growing excitement.   

As the winds and the noise died down, the children looked up and were surprised to hear someone singing a very popular song.  They looked at the frog , but it was no longer there.  Instead, what they saw and what they heard was a famous singer. It was Taylor Swift and she stopped singing long enough to thank the four friends for saving her life after the evil scientist had placed a wicked spell on her.

Taylor said, "Look everyone, here comes my band with our tour bus. Let's get in and we will take you anywhere you want to go."

"I think it might be a good idea if we went to see my dad at the White House in Washington, DC," Joey suggested.

"You're right, Joey," said Madison. "If we get this golden nugget to him, he could save a lot of people."

"That's right," said Selena, "the frog...oops, I'm sorry... Taylor told us that this nugget was worth enough money that we could end world hunger with it."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Justin, "Let's get this thing to your father."

They all climbed aboard the tour bus with Taylor and her band and headed towards Washington DC.  It was about a four hour drive, but the time flew by as everyone sang songs all the way to the President's house. When they arrived, they presented the nugget to Joey's father who was overjoyed that everyone was safely back from this scary adventure.

After welcoming Joey and his friends, as well as Taylor Swift, the President made phone calls to world leaders from Australia, Romania, Germany, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Spain, Austria, Greece, and The United Kingdom, as well as many other countries around the world. People from all over the world came to Washington DC to celebrate the efforts of everyone involved in the wonderful adventures of the four friends.

The celebration went on for days with famous foods from all over the world, refreshing drinks, tasty desserts, and even giant bags of candy for everyone.

Many awards were given to the children and all of the people who helped them on their journey.  The mayor of New York City presented each of the children a solid gold "Key to the City" as thanks for saving the city.  Taylor Swift invited many of her friends to the celebration and had a huge concert with stars like Carrie Underwood, Bruno Mars, 'lil Wayne, The Black Eyed Peas, Pit Bull, Jason Aldean, Nikki Minaj, Scotty McCreary, Eminem, and Sean Kingston all performing. 

The children and all of the people along the way who helped them were awarded Nobel Peace Prizes for their parts in bringing about an end to world hunger. The celebration closed with a huge parade with confetti flying through the air as marching bands played happily on their way through the streets of the capitol, finally ending in the evening with a fantastic display of fireworks that went on for hours.

When the party was over, people across the world were so happy that many wonderful things began to happen.  Countries that were rich shared their fortunes with those who were poor.  Countries that were fighting began to get along with each other.  The wish of millions of people around the world was coming true...world peace was becoming a reality.  People finally realized that 'it is a small world after all.'  

HOME, SWEET HOME: NYC !!!

Please also watch :

http://todd-kellahers-projects.blogspot.de/ 

and :
http://azizam212.blogspot.de/ 
and :
http://zeach.blogspot.de/2012/06/teachers-only.html
and : 

http://smilebox-links.blogspot.de/ 

From an American newspaper in Massachusetts / USA:

American newspaper in Massachusetts / USA:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/palmer_third-graders_create_gl.html