BACK KIDNAP2 8' Pirates kidnap the princess, detective finds her Once upon a time a long time ago in a land far, far away, Michaela, the world's greatest detective, was in the hen house feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs, when she heard the thundering of several horses' hoofs. She went outside to investigate. It was the king's royal coach pulled by four white horses. There were two knights on black horses in front of the coach and two knights on black horses behind. They were all galloping at full speed toward the house. When they saw Michaela coming out of the hen house, they steered their horses away from the house and toward Michaela at full speed, then they halted the horses inches away from her. The footman jumped down from the coach and opened the door. Out stepped the king himself. Michaela and her family bowed down. The king exclaimed, "Michaela I need your help again! My daughter has been kidnapped!" Michaela replied, "Of course, Your Majesty." She handed the eggs to her father, then climbed into the coach. Michaela asked, "Did the kidnappers demand a ransom?" The king replied, "Yes. We've already paid the ransom. But we never heard from the kidnappers again! You... You don't think that they.... You don't think that my beautiful daughter..." "Your Majesty," replied Michaela, "I will get your daughter back for you!" When they arrived at the royal palace, Michaela asked to see the place where anyone last saw the princess. The king brought Michaela to the Princess's bedroom. But Michaela could not find any clues showing how the kidnappers got into or out of the room. Michaela explained, "These kidnappers were very sneaky. They didn't leave any clues at all. I think these kidnappers have kidnapped people before. They may do kidnapping for a living." The king cried, "Oh, dear! I shall never see my daughter ever again!" Michaela replied, "Now now! Your majesty! I said that the kidnappers didn't leave any clues. I didn't say that there aren't ANY clues." So, Michaela kept searching the bedroom for clues. "Aha!" exclaimed Michaela. "What is it?!" asked the king. "It's two long hairs." replied Michaela, "I think they're from Princess Margaret." The king said, "That's not much of a clue. This is my daughter's bedroom. You'd expect to find my daughter's hairs in my daughter's bedroom." Michaela inspected the hairs through her magnifying glass and said, "No. These particular hairs were deliberately pulled out of her head. The hair follicles are on the end." "What does that mean?" asked the king. Michaela replied, "I think Princess Margaret pulled the hairs out of her own head and left them here by the window to draw our attention to the window." The king said, "But you said that the kidnappers didn't leave any clues." Michaela inspected the window saying, "No. But Princess Margaret herself left us a clue around here somewhere.... Aha!" The king asked, "Did you find something?" Michaela replied, "Yes. I saw a smudge on the glass of the window. If you breathe on the glass... (she breathed) it fogs up the glass except where there's a finger smudge. See?" Michaela pointed to three T's written with a fingertip on the glass. "Three T's?! That's not a word. What kind of a clue is that?" Michaela breathed again and again until the whole window was fogged up. In the corner nearest to where she found the hairs, Princess Margaret had drawn a circle. Below the circle she drew a large X. The king asked, "An O and and X. That doesn't spell anything either. What do you think she was trying to tell us?" Michaela thought for a moment, then replied, "Maybe these are not letters. Maybe none of these are letters. Maybe these are pictures." The king said, "I don't get it." Michaela explained, "Look here at the three T's. The middle T is taller than the other two." The king asked, "What do you make of that?" Michaela thought for a moment, then replied, "Look out the window. What do you see?" "Outside, you mean?" asked the king. "Yes." Tell me what you see," said Michaela. "The ocean." replied the king. "Closer." said Michaela. "The harbor." replied the king. "Suppose you saw these three shapes in the harbor." said Michaela. The king gasped, "Those aren't three T's! Those are three masts of a sailing ship!" "That's what I thought," replied Michaela, "Princess Margaret probably saw a sailing ship with three masts sailing into the harbor. And she traced their shapes on the window." "So, you think the kidnappers came here by ship?" Michaela replied, "Yes, Now, look again at the O and the X down here in the corner of the window. Suppose you saw these shapes on a black flag." The king gasped, "A skull and cross-bones! The kidnappers were pirates!" The king ran up to the high point on the royal palace and searched the ocean with a telescope. "There!" the king shouted, "A three masted sailing ship! Quickly! To the royal yacht! Quickly." Within a few minutes, the royal yacht had set sails with the king, his palace guards and Michaela on board. They followed the pirates to a foreign port. But when they arrived at the harbor, the pirate ship was tied up at the wharf and there was noone on board. At Michaela's request, the king ordered the palace guards to search the pirate ship for more clues from the princess. "Found something!" shouted one of the guards. In the captain's cabin, he pointed to two more long hairs near the rear windows of the cabin. Michaela inspected the hairs. Both of them were deliberately pulled out of Princess margaret's head and placed near the window. So, Michaela breathed on the windows to fog them up. Sure enough, there was another picture. It was a king's crown. Michaela concluded, "The pirates took Princess Margaret to the king's castle." On top of the hill nearby stood the castle of the king's brother. They waited until after dark. Then, using grappling hooks, they climbed up ropes to the top of the castle walls and overpowered the guards and rescued the princess. The king praised both Michaela and the Princess for making the rescue easier. The clues led the king directly to the kidnappers. But the story doesn't end there. To everyone's surprise, only the pirates were in the castle. At this moment, the king's brother and his army was attacking and conquering the royal palace back home. The king's brother hired the pirates to kidnap the princess in order to get the king to chase the kidnappers and get him out of the palace so he could steal his brother's throne. A while later, the three masted pirate ship sailed back across the sea and into the harbor. The pirates escorted the princess to the palace gates. The king's brother shouted down from the palace walls, "I thought I told you to keep the princess in my castle!" One of the pirates replied, "The king won't attack the palace and risk hurting his own daughter!" "Good idea!" said the king's brother, "Bring her in!" He gave the order to open the gates. When they opened, the pirates, who were really the palace guards in pirates clothes, attacked and overpowered the king's brother and his soldiers. The princess was not the princess at all. It was Michaela, the world's greatest detective in disguise. After the king's brother was thrown into prison, the king and his daughter rode triumphantly into the palace. And they all lived happily ever after. ©2007 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid email: bobsnook@fea.net BACK |