Story Contest: Animal in a Funny Place - Mia L. - 08/21/09

Contest: Winners

Story Contest: Animal in a Funny Place

Submitted by: Mia L., age 14, New Hampton, NH

On Easter Island
Captain James Cook arrived on Easter Island in the Pacific in A.D. 1774. There he found a tropical island, with lush palm jungles, extinct volcanoes, and massive statues of heads propped up around the coastline.

These statues mystified him: gazing blankly at the sky, some seemed to sparkle with odd bits of seashell and rock crystals.

When Cook’s crew found a large chunk of slate, with native Polynesian petroglyphs all over it, Cook eagerly sent it back to London for deciphering. It was translated and published in a journal. Titled “On Easter Island,” here is an excerpt:

“--New Moon After Summer Equinox.
Koto our chief ran home from hunting this evening. Gigantic monsters chased him from the jungle. They were winged, like huge dragonflies, with a long snout--and fangs--under bulbous eyes. They each stood as tall as a man. Koto said they came from inside Volcano Poike and had eaten his entire hunting team.

We tried to scare away the beasts, called Kree after their shrill calling, with flaming spears. But the Kree were curious about fire, and they grabbed Koto’s seashell pendant and several clean plates. We think they are fascinated by shiny things.

--Waxing Crescent After Summer Equinox.
The Kree return daily. We’ve pacified them with gifts of seashells, corals, and crystals . . . but we don’t have many left. When the Kree see their gifts, they spin around them in glee and fly them away into the volcano. We’re building reef ships to escape in, as fast as we can.

--First Quarter After Summer Equinox.
Koto has an idea to start building huge statues and glue the shiny objects into the eyes. Then the Kree would never get tired of watching the jewels sparkling, but not be able to carry them off. If it works--”

The rest of the petroglyphs had broken off. But to this day, not a single trace of the Kree has been found. However, Volcano Poike seems to have exploded a few hundred years ago--thus putting an end to the mysterious Kree creatures and their hoard of shiny treasures taken from the Polynesian tribe.


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