An Unexpected Kettle
The map was old and brown and very official. There was a big red X in the middle of an island, and the island had a name, and the name was *Skullbeard's Last Hideaway*, which sounded very promising.
Captain Vol and her crew sailed for three weeks to get there.
The X was on a small rocky beach with a perfectly ordinary palm tree. They dug. They dug everywhere. They dug for the whole afternoon. They found:
— a coconut
— another coconut
— half a flip-flop
— absolutely no gold
The crew were getting cross.
"Maybe the map is wrong," said First Mate Cob.
"Maps are not wrong," said Captain Vol, who had certain principles.
"Then maybe we are wrong."
That was an interesting thought. Captain Vol sat on the empty hole and thought about it.
While she was thinking, a small girl walked out from behind the palm tree. She had a copper kettle and a cup of tea on a tray. She looked about six years old.
"Hello," said the girl. "I'm Marsa. My grandfather was Skullbeard. He left a note for whoever found this map."
"A note?" said Captain Vol.
The girl handed her a piece of folded paper. It said:
*Dear digger,*
*You came a long way. There is no gold. There never was. The treasure my friends always remembered me for was the tea I made when they came home cold. So my granddaughter will make you tea, if you found this. The kettle is the treasure now. Take it with you — but only if you