Once there were three children. Their names were Bruce, James, and Jessica. They were all brothers and sisters. They lived in a house all together on Mulberry Street. They were almost always looking for adventure.
It happened that one day they were looking for adventure (as always), that they met a strange old man with a top hat and cane. He asked, ``Where do you live?'' and they replied ``on Mulberry Street.'' Then he asked them ``Is there a secret little room in your attic?'' and they said ``Yes.'' For there was a secret little room in their attic. Their parents said that the key had never been found because it had fallen out of one of the builders' pockets when they were eating lunch next to the river.
They also said that the since the door was a moon-shaped C-shape the key should also be a moon-shaped C-shape. The strange man said, ``Then I have something for you.'' He gave them a key and said ``Go try to fit this key in the secret little door in your attic.'' Then he just walked away. The children were really excited so they ran all the way home.
When they got to the attic, they put the key in the little door and tried turning it. It turned. The children were so excited. Bruce went in first. When he came out he said, ``It's like being on the sun! It's so hot and bright!'' Then all the children went in and stood there until they got used to it. But when they went in they didn't notice the dust that came off the door and the letters that said, ``THE LAND OF CLOTHE''.
Then they saw a flying horse standing about five feet away from them. When Jessica saw it she fainted. The two brothers tried to revive her. They asked the flying horse what its name was and where they were. He replied, ``You are in the land of Clothe and my name is Hazel. Where do you come from? What kind of animals are you?'' said Bruce. ``We come from England and we are people. By the way, what are you?'' ``I'm a flying horse'' replied Hazel. Then suddenly Hazel left and flew quickly to King Rabbit Frith. When he got there, he said to King Rabbit Frith, ``There are some pea-pull in your territory who come from Ing-land, oh Lord Frith.'' Then Lord Frith said ``Bring these pea-pull to me that are from Ing-land before Gruke finds them.''
Hazel flew and went to get the children. Meanwhile, the children wondered what this mysterious ``Land of Clothe'' was all about. They started to wander around. But then Bruce said ``I don't think we should be wandering around like this.'' Suddenly, Hazel came flying back. He said, ``Hurry up and climb on my back or else I will eat you up.'' (he wouldn't really eat them up). The children climbed on his back and off they went. The first thing they said when they got there was, ``This is really adventure.''
When they got there, the first thing Lord Frith said was, ``What are your names, O strange pea-pull?'' Bruce said, ``My name is Bruce. That is James'' he said (pointing to James). ``And Jessica is over there.''
Then Lord Frith said, ``Never, EVER go near those mountains, I tell you. NEVER. For in the mountains over there live Gruke. My castle is named Gnorcia.''
Next, they were taken to a room which had four beds in it. All the blankets had the word ``Gnorcia'' written on them. Hazel told them to sleep.
When they woke up, they saw Hazel at the door, guarding them. Hazel asked, ``Do you want to see Lord Frith's garden?'' They replied, ``Yes.'' So they went out and smelled the flowers.
When they had finished smelling the flowers, they asked, ``Can we explore?'' Hazel replied, ``I suppose so.'' So they started to explore.
When they started to explore, they went back into their bedroom, with the four beds, and began looking for unusual things. First, Bruce found some odd shaped closets that looked like kidney beans. Then they saw the best and finest clothes ever made. Jessica gasped.
They asked Hazel what these were for. He said they were for very, very, very important occasions. Then, James found some H-shaped cases. They asked Hazel what these were for. He said that inside them were soundys. They made sound. Bruce whispered to James and Jessica, ``I think they're instruments.''
Then they went to the Great Hall. Jessica noticed that the throne was oddly shaped. Just then, Hazel came in and said, ``Lord Frith wants you.'' So they went to see Lord Frith. When they got there, they said, ``Why do you want us, Lord Frith?'' Lord Frith replied, ``I want to ask you a question. Do you have any bagments?'' Bruce asked, ``What are bagments?'' Lord Frith answered, ``Bagments are things that you bring into the Land of Clothe. So. Do you have any bagments?'' ``No. We don't,'' Bruce replied. ``Good'' said Lord Frith.
Then they started to explore again. They went back into the garden to see if there was anything they had missed, when they were smelling the flowers. First, Jessica noticed some flowers that were P-shaped. Next, Bruce noticed some A-shaped flowers. Finally, James noticed the weirdest flowers of all, that were E-shaped. But then Jessica, Bruce, and James saw something odd. Jessica and James saw J-shaped flowers. Bruce saw B-shaped flowers. But then they went away. Then the children went back into their bedroom, with four beds. When they all got there, they took a nap because they were tired of exploring.
When they woke up, they asked Hazel if they could sit outside. He said, ``Yes, you can.'' So they went outside and sat down. When they got tired of sitting down outside, they asked if they could pick some flowers for their Mother. Hazel said, ``Yes.'' So they each picked one flower for their Mother. Then they went back into their bedroom and they all took another nap.
When they woke up, they discussed their dreams. It was funny, because they had all had the same dream. In the dream, they all saw a cauldron with the word ``Halddakcan'' written on it and a laughing rabbit, saying ``I will defeat Frith! Ha, ha, ha!'' Then they had all woken up. They decided to keep the dream a secret and to try to forget about it.
After that, they all decided to go back to sleep, because it was eight o'clock. When they woke up in the morning, they were relieved that they hadn't had any more dreams.
James and Jessica went back to sleep after they woke up but Bruce secretly stayed awake after he woke up. He asked Hazel if he could study things in the room. Hazel said, ``Yes.'' So Bruce started by looking at the stitching on his blanket. He didn't notice anything until he looked at the word ``Gnorcia'' on the blanket. Then he noticed some odd stitching that wasn't even stitching at all! It was little tiny circles holding velvet letters!
After that, Bruce was very tired and all he wanted to do was sleep. He fell asleep again.
When all of them woke up, Bruce said, ``What should we do now?'' ``Well, we could just sit here.'' Jessica replied. ``Nah,'' said Bruce. ``Well, we could explore the flower garden again,'' said James. ``Nah. I guess that we shall just have to sit here until we think of something we all want to do which isn't silly,'' said Bruce sighing. So they just sat there until they died. No, of course, that didn't happen.
After that Bruce said, ``Of course! Let's explore!'' So they started to explore the furniture room. First Jessica noticed that all of the furniture had the letter ``G'' on it. Then Bruce noticed that the sofas had extra high backs. And then, James noticed that there was a commemorative inscription on each rocking chair. The strangest name on any commemorative inscription was ``The Peacock.'' Now they were finished with that room so they went to the dining room.
First, Bruce noticed that the table only had three legs! Next, James noticed that the chairs only had three legs as well. Last, Jessica said that basically everything in the room had three legs (only if it had legs of course).
Next they went into the artwork room. They thought that the artwork might show them a lot about The Land of Clothe. But they were very wrong. It was exactly the same as their artwork. They were disappointed that the Clothean artwork didn't show anything about The Land of Clothe. Then they went back to their bedroom, and they decided to forget about everything until morning.
When they woke up the next morning, they tried to remember what had happened yesterday. They didn't seem to remember anything. They thought that maybe Hazel had given them some kind of magic in the night that made them forget anything that had happened yesterday, under the orders of Lord Frith. But they also thought that probably didn't happen.
They thought that another nap might give them some more energy, so that they could explore when they woke up. When they woke up after their nap, they started to explore the music room. They thought that the soundys, that Bruce thought were instruments, should be in the music room. Jessica noticed the first thing anyone noticed. She noticed that there were violins in the room just like our modern ones. Then, James noticed that there were also trumpets in the room. Then finally, Bruce noticed that there were flutes in the room as well. The children were quite surprised that the Clotheans had the same instruments as them.
Then they went to the technology room. This time they were so surprised. They saw the same old computers and DVDs. So they just skipped that room.
Then they went to the library. They knew at once that this was the key to learning about ``The Land of Clothe'' because not even one book was written by Charles Dickens or anyone else famous in England on Mulberry Street. So they started reading every single book in the library, not organized, without a plan, and with no estimations of how long it would take them.
No, of course that didn't happen. This is what they did really. They sat down at a table and all thought for a minute. Then Bruce said, ``I think, first we should read the books in the geography section so we can learn about this castle.'' Everybody agreed with Bruce because they thought that he was the smartest. Bruce also said, ``I think we should start tomorrow.''
So the next day the children started to read. That's probably what they did for four days: they read and read and read. Then Bruce said they should read the nature section. So they read and read and read the nature section for four days. Then Bruce asked Jessica, ``What's the main city in Clothe?'' She answered, ``Halddakcan.'' They had been testing each other on the nature and geography of Clothe.
James said, ``In my opinion, we should just stop this and explore some more.'' So they started to walk down the hall to go find Hazel. While they had been reading the books about Clothe they had also learned more about Gnorcia. But while they were walking down the hall, Hazel already stood before them. Bruce asked, ``Can we explore?'' Hazel replied, ``Yes.'' So they started to explore some more, after having a break and reading for eight days. But first, they had to review were they had already been. They had been to the library, the technology room, the music room, the dining room, the garden, the great hall, and the bedroom.
The next day they started exploring the food supply room. They saw at once that the food was really different from theirs. They asked Hazel what the red cucumbers were. He said that they were nekas. Then they asked what the pink tomatoes were. He said they were punters. Then they asked what the blue bananas were. He said they were canecs.
Then they went to the fun room. There were many baby rabbits and flying horses and other animals playing about, but when the three children came inside all the babies just stopped and stared at them. Then they started to turn back and go away, but one of the baby rabbits followed them and started licking the door. Suddenly, the door started glowing and the children went inside. It wasn't actually inside, it was outside! They went outside and tried to hide because they were afraid that Lord Frith might want to find them.
The next day they started to plan. They all agreed on starting on an adventure the next day. So they just sat around and got used to the life in the land of Clothe.
They started their adventure the next day. There were some woods nearby. So they went into the woods. It was scary. They could hear bears howling and coyotes yelping. They went back into the castle because they thought that if they went into the forest that day that they would get killed. Then they asked Hazel if he could take them back to where he had found them. So Hazel took them back to where he had found them. They went back into their room through the door, grabbed their sleeping bags and went out the door to Hazel. After that, Hazel took them back to Gnorcia. He said that they had to show Lord Frith any bagments that came into the land of Clothe. So they went into Lord Frith's throne room and he said that their bagments were okay.
So then they took a nap and when they woke up they went into the fun room and went to the door and the baby rabbit came and licked the door again and the door started glowing and the children went outside and hiked toward the forest.
When they got to the forest it was night. So they took out their sleeping bags and went to sleep. When they woke up the next morning they had forgotten they were in the forest. They were surprised. But then they remembered what had happened yesterday. Then they all stood up.
When Bruce stood up he noticed a map. It was written on a buckskin. He put it inside his pocket and said, ``We can look at this as soon as we are in a safer place.'' So then they went on with their adventure. As they hiked along, they saw a sort of cave and they decided to go inside the cave. It was deserted.
So they decided to sleep in the cave. But first, they went deeper into the cave and they found some marks. Bruce had accidentally left a torch in his pocket. He put his hand into his pocket and felt the torch and pulled it out. Then he turned it on. He also took out the map. He noticed that the first mark on the map was the same as the markings on the wall. The markings were in the shape of a panda bear. So that night they slept in the cave.
The next day, they traveled some more and they found another cave. It was also deserted. In the cave there were some markings of a wolf that matched the second picture on the map. So that night they slept in the cave again. The next night they didn't find a cave, so they tried to make some sort of shelter and they stayed up all night trying. But the next day they had a scary experience.
The scary experience happened as they were hiking. Jessica strayed off the path and there was a bear hiding behind a tree. When he saw Jessica stray off the path he reached out and tried to catch her. But she saw him ahead of time.
About three hours later they discussed what had happened to Jessica. Bruce said, ''That was a close one. It was too close. It was almost a tragedy. We have to avoid that happening again.``
The next day, when they were hiking, they came to an old house. They knocked on the door. An old man came to the door and said, ``Hello. What d'you want?'' Bruce replied (thinking quickly), ``I want you to tell us what this map means to you.''
When Bruce laid out the map, the old man was very, very, very, very interested. He said, ``Oh'' and ``Ah'' and ``Mmm''. Then he said, ``This is the map that will lead us from slavery. I wonder if there are any marks on my wall that will lead us from slavery. Let's check.''
So they uncovered and recovered all the walls in the house to check. There were no markings which would lead them from slavery. The old man muttered, ``The old legend. The panda represents calmness. The wolf represents slyn…'' ``Hey! How do you know what was in the caves?'' said Bruce.
``I'm a wizard. I know everything,'' said the old man. ``You smarty pants can't fool me. You're a regular person,'' answered Bruce. ``How dare you insult a wizard like that!'' said the old man. ``Okay, you're a wizard. Well, at least I know you're not Queen Esther,'' said Bruce. ``Grrrrrrr, bushhh. I don't like you,'' answered the old man.
``Well then, if you're a wizard, prove it.'' said Bruce. So the old man turned Bruce into a toad. Then he turned Bruce back into a person again.
``Well then, now do you believe I'm a wizard?'' asked the wizard. ``Yes'' said Bruce grumpily. Jessica and James giggled. Then Bruce said, ``Well. What about these marks which would lead us from slavery?'' The wizard replied drowsily ``The thing I was muttering. Do you mean that ?'' ``Yes'' said Bruce. ``That's what I mean.''
``The old legend starts with an old man named The Peacock,'' said the wizard. ``No one knew why or how he was named The Peacock.''
One day, The Peacock was going for a walk. He saw a cave. He went inside the cave and looked around. He decided to make a secret hideout. So he picked up a piece of buckskin that was left over from some animal's lunch and drew a panda bear on it. He decided that the panda represented calmness. The next day he found another cave, and in this cave he decided to draw a picture of a wolf on the map and on the wall of the cave. He decided that the wolf represented slyness.''
The wizard stopped and looked at them and asked, ``Was that where I stopped?'' They replied, ``Yes.'' Then the wizard went on with the old legend. ``He kept doing that until he came to a tree with carvings on it. He made a little shelter out of leaves and logs so that he would have somewhere to sleep. While he was in the little hideout he made for himself, he got attacked by a strange animal that actually killed him.''
``Even The Peacock didn't know that all the caves led to a secret gold mine. So we have to find the way to the gold, remember it, and destroy the map in the pit of fire in Gruke's lair, and, POOF! Just like that! We'll be the richest people in the world!''
``This is amazing '' said the wizard. ``I can't believe it! Bang poof wow dodo hovers headgear info gad kevel judicial protrude jettisoned jowl jinn!''
``Oh no!'' said Bruce. ``Go get some water quick!'' he told James and Jessica. They found some water and poured it over the wizard's head and the wizard came back to normal again.
After the wizard got back to normal, the children started packing. They packed their sleeping bags, and some food as well. Then, when they were all set, the wizard told them to look out for Gruke's spies and for the GOLD! ``Okay'' said Bruce, James, and Jessica. And so the three children and the wizard started their long journey.
They were hiking on the path when suddenly a gigantic rabbit appeared. The rabbit asked, ``Why are you here and what are your names and what are you?'' Bruce started to answer but then the wizard said, ``Be quiet for goodness sake and let me do the talking. Plus, it's one of Gruke's spies.'' Then Bruce said out loud, ``Well, how do you know tha...'' ``Oh, SHUSH! Well for crying out loud!'' the wizard whispered in Bruce's ear (quite loudly, but not so loud that the spy could hear him).
Then the wizard said (to the spy), ``We are taking a walk.'' So then they carried on. Whenever they met a spy they always said the same thing: ``We are going for a walk.''
So the beginning of what happened on their journey was okay. But that was nothing compared to what was going to happen in the rest of the story.
That night everybody gathered round and formed a small meeting. Then the wizard started talking, ``I suspect that there are nasty creatures behind our backs trying to figure out what our plot is. They're nasty creatures, not like the cute, cuddly dogs you have at your home-nasty creatures with three heads and four toes on each foot.'' ``They must be really nasty creatures,'' said Bruce.
Suddenly Jessica let out a scream: ``EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!'' There was a small creature with eight legs coming toward her. It had three heads. The wizard quickly took out his magic wand, and said ``Rococo thruveren frusta wertyiop!'' Immediately the odd creature disappeared. ``Phew!'' said the wizard. ``That was a close one!'' ``What was that creature?'' asked Bruce. The wizard replied, ``It was a drewthere. They are terrible creatures. I hate them! They can squirt poison from their arms.''
So they traveled on day by day until they came to a HUGE city. The wizard leapt up with excitement and blasted through the sky and said, ``I'm stuck.'' No, that didn't really happen. The wizard really stayed on the ground, and said, ``Halddakcan! We made it!'' Then he said to Bruce, ``C'mon. Let me see the map.''
When he looked at the map he cried out, ``Yes! We did make it! It's Halddakcan! Now everybody, listen to me. We just have to go inside the old house in front of us and there is the gold! Well, let's not go inside and waste our time. Let's just go to the pit of fire and remember where the gold is and destroy the map in the pit of fire.''
The next day everybody had a rest. It was the sort of rest when you just like to lie down and yawn and go to sleep and watch television. But that rest didn't last long.
``C'mon. Move it. Hurry up,'' said the wizard. They had been buying new food because all of the old food had rotted or been eaten. ``Oh,'' said Bruce. ``Pass me a neka. Come on. I like them. They taste like potato chips. Mmm.'' Then Jessica said, ``I want a canec please. Aaah.'' Then James asked for a punter. ``Aaah,'' he said.
``Well, let's hurry up if we are ever going to even move,'' the wizard exclaimed. So then they started to cross the city. After about three hours Jessica said, ``I'm so tired. Can we rest now?'' ``Okay then, we can rest now,'' answered the wizard. So then they rested when they were half way through the enormous city of Halddakcan.
Finally they reached the other side of the huge city of Halddakcan. The wizard said that now they were a fifth of the way to the pit of fire. So then they kept moving along on their journey. There was a forest directly in front of them so they went into the forest.
Once they were in the forest they decided to make a shelter out of leaves. But the wizard said, ``No, you will not make a shelter. I will.'' Then he took out his magic wand and made a house. So that night they slept in a house again.
The next day was just an ordinary day. They just told Gruke's spies that they were going for a walk and things like that. That night they slept in the hut, the same as last night.
But the next day something scary happened. As they were getting ready for bed some of Gruke's spies came along, and their leader said, ``I'm sorry but I'm going to have to arrest you.'' Then the wizard took out his magic wand and said, ``Rococo thruveren frusta wertyiop!'' The spies immediately disappeared.
``Well, now we are half-way there,'' said the wizard. ``I need new shoes,'' said Bruce. So the wizard took out his magic wand and made Bruce new shoes. Then he said, ``There, now you have new shoes. Now let's get going.''
They kept going safely until something saw them and they didn't see the thing. It was a bear. At the same instant, it reached out a paw toward Jessica and it caught her! ``That's the same bear that tried to catch her a long time ago!'' Bruce exclaimed. ``Jessica!''
``So,'' said Bruce sadly to the wizard, toasting marshmallows that were already toasted because he wasn't paying attention, ``It's just us two and you. Soon it might just be us two.'' ``Well, now we are half of the way there. I suspect that that bear was one of Gruke's spies,'' said the wizard. ``Well, let's get going.''
So they packed up and started walking. Then it started to rain and they stopped. It was the first time it had ever rained for one billion years in the land of Clothe. The wizard said that the reign of the human presence veered the rain off its track and brought it to Clothe, or something like that.
After about three hours the rain stopped. Then they kept going. It was about the same as that for three days (but there was no rain).
One day they heard a sound. The sound sounded like a scream. ``It's Jessica!'' exclaimed Bruce. ``Jessica! Scream again!'' Then they heard another scream. ``It's coming from over there,'' said Bruce, pointing to where the scream came from.
So they went where Bruce had told them to go. Right in front of their very eyes stood Jessica. But as soon as they saw her she ran away so she wouldn't get caught again. Everybody followed her and stopped when she stopped. She said, ``Can you please be quiet. There's no time to explain.'' She kept running, and everybody followed her.
When they had stopped running, they found a place to hide for the night. The next day, the wizard destroyed the map in the pit of fire. Then the wizard took them back to his house and they ate breakfast.
After that, they went back through the magic door and came into their rooms, and they pretended that they hadn't been away. The next day they went home. Their parents didn't even notice that the children had been gone. They heard the children go to their bedroom. But the children were asleep by the time their parents went in to see them.
Ben Mildenhall is a musician and author from Oak Park, Illinois. In the picture above, he is seven years old. He goes to Horace Mann school. He is in second grade. He plays the violin and piano. He has a sister, Esther, who also plays the violin and piano.
He likes to play table tennis with his Dad and also plays baseball in the summer. In 2000, his team, The Reds, won the village championship. Three Adventurous Children is his first book, and he is already planning for his next book, which will be called The Wonderful Adventure.