| | Words of Silver - by Sam Parker
John Silver loved stories.
He lived with his father in an inn by the sea which was always full of weird and wonderful strangers.
There were pirates, soldiers, knights, highwaymen, and they all had their own story to tell.
There were tales of dragons, warlocks, treasure, robbery, battles and kings. John's favourite stories were the ones with magic in; he wished he could catch the enchanted words in a box, so whenever he opened the box the words would say themselves to him and he could hear the stories again and again.
But what John wanted most of all was a book.
*
Then one ordinary day, a pirate walked into the inn.
He had a peg-leg which looked suspiciously like it had come from a table, a hook for his right hand and a rather overweight parrot perched on the top of his triangular hat. One eye had a patch over it and the other eye had a rather glazed expression. He half-ran, half-staggered across to the bar. He drew himself up and opened his mouth to speak, "Ye ain't seen a port in these parts, 'ave ye?"
John and his father looked at each other.
"This pub is in a port. You must have seen it on your way in," John's father replied.
"Yar, this 'ere is a glass eye."
"Why don't you have two glass eyes?" chipped in John.
"There's nowt wrong with this other eye," he said tapping the eye patch. "I hear it's fashionable for a pirate to 'ave an eye patch."
"It probably isn't very fashionable not to be able to see, though," reasoned John.
"Aye, you've got a point there, sonny," said the pirate, switching his eye patch over to the glass eye. "The name's Kevin, but ye can call me Kev. An' you might be
?"
"I'm John, John Silver," John piped up.
"Arr, that be a good pirate's name. 'Ow do ye fancy coming on a little quest with me?"
*
John, Kev and his parrot walked along the quayside. The air smelled of fresh fish. The sky was filled with gulls so the blue sky looked as if it had been torn to shreds.
"John, lad, what do ye want in life?" Kev suddenly enquired.
"Books," replied John.
"Well, that be a coincidence; our quest be to find books. Have ye heard of a certain pirate by the name of Jake Ashford?"
"No."
"Well, mebbe if I was to call him Ashbeard the Unsightly?"
John gasped. "Not the most feared, wanted and ugly pirate in the land?"
"Aye, lad, that's him. He was the one who cut me leg an' me hand and poked me eye out. Jake always hated books - never could read nor write. When I were on a ship with him...."
"Wait a minute," interrupted John, "You were on a ship with Ashbeard the Unsightly?"
"Aye, I was cap'n an' he was first mate, the mutinous sea dog. Left me marooned on an island, 'e did, 'til I was picked up by the Floating Library."
"The Floating Library? Everyone knows that's only a story," said John incredulously.
"A story, mebbe, but a true one. An' now Ashbeard's planning to burn it," Kev finished with a dramatic flourish.
"We must stop him!" shouted John.
" And that be our quest, sonny."
*
John and Kev sat exhausted in the boat in the middle of the sea. It had taken a lot of rowing (and some swimming, as Kev hadn't fully mastered the ropes) to get there.
"So where is the library?" asked John.
"Y'see this 'ere compass," Kev began.
"Don't tell me, it points to the Floating Library," John interrupted.
"No. It points where it feels like. Ye've got to tell it!" Kev shouted at the compass, whose needle swung round defiantly.
"Hmm, perhaps a little bribery in order here, eh?"
Kev placed a coin onto the compass. The coin started to glow, then suddenly disappeared. The compass needle swung once more, then stopped abruptly.
"Hold on tight!" shouted Kev.
"Why
?" John had no time to finish as the compass whisked them high into the air.
*
It was a very small ship, with an odd hut in the middle of the deck.
"This is the floating library?" John asked sceptically. It wasn't quite the magnificent vessel he had been expecting.
"Ye haven't been inside yet," replied Kev mysteriously as he pushed open a small wooden door
They were on a balcony looking down. Inside, the library was indeed magnificent.
In fact, it was cavernous. There were bookcases everywhere, a maze of them on the floor and many more floating around in the air. John was still marvelling at this incredible treasure trove of literature when they heard voices from outside. "It's him. Grab onto this bookcase!" Kev snapped. They leapt onto a bookcase as it was floating past, just as Ashbeard the Unsightly broke through the door.
He really was unsightly. His beard was sooty black and his pupils were like little lumps of coal, a burning fire in his eyes. "So Crooked Kev, come to try an' fail me plan again, are ye? I only needs to give the word an' ye'll burn to death with these blasted books! I thought I'd seen the last o' ye when I left you on that godforsaken spit of land."
"Read, John lad," Kev hissed urgently.
"But
"
"Just do it!"
John grabbed a book and cleared his throat. "Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away
"
Ashbeard's men looked at one another.
" I remember this one!"
"My Mam used to read me this!"
One by one the bloodthirsty crew sat down and listened, rapt, as John read.
"No!" screamed Ashbeard, lunging at them, but the bookcase was out of reach and he plunged over the balcony with a piercing cry.
*
And so it was that John got his first ever book. He became librarian in chief of the Floating Library, and is still there to this day.
Sam's story was submitted to the national StoryQuest Tales 2004 competition, created by The Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation, in which Michael Morpurgo and Quentin Blake were two of the judges... and it came second in the whole of the UK!
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