The Map Was a Mistake

Captain Salt found the map in a bottle. It was a very official-looking bottle. The map said:

Treasure! Big! Dragon! Watch out!!

There was a wobbly drawing of an island and a wobbly X in the middle. Captain Salt squinted at it. It looked like the island was shaped like a kitchen table.

Captain Salt sailed for the X. It took him three days to realise he was sailing in a circle. It took him two more days to realise the island was, in fact, a kitchen table.

He sailed all the way up to the kitchen, very dignified, with his hat at a serious angle, and stepped onto the linoleum.

A small girl was sitting under the table. Her name was Lula. She was five years old.

"Did you find my message?" said Lula.

Captain Salt stood very straight. "I did."

"There's treasure under the table. It's really good treasure. There's a dragon though. The dragon is Pancake. Pancake is fierce."

A small dog with one ear up and one ear down came round the leg of a chair. Pancake looked at Captain Salt. Captain Salt looked at Pancake.

"Pancake," said Captain Salt, with absolute seriousness, "I am here on official pirate business. May I pass?"

Pancake wagged.

Captain Salt knelt under the table.

The treasure was a shoebox of leaves, three smooth pebbles, a feather, and a yellow plastic ring from a cereal box.

"Is this the whole treasure?" asked Captain Salt, very carefully.

"That's it," said Lula."That's all of it."

Captain Salt thought. He thought about how, for a five-year-old, those things were treasure. The leaves were probably from a special tree. The pebbles were probably from a special place. The plastic ring was probably from a moment that mattered.

"Lula," he said, "this is excellent treasure. May I see it?"

Lula nodded, very solemn.

He held each piece. He admired it. He gave it back.

"Captain," said Lula, "do you want one?"

Captain Salt accepted one yellow leaf. He kept it for the rest of his life, in a small pouch in his coat. People asked him why. He always said, "Because it was real treasure, and I had been entrusted with it."