The treasure of the forest

“One more story, please!" Said Anila. "It is past your bed time" says her mother. Anila begs for just one more story, "please!!" "The one about the woodland creatures." "OK then" says Anila's mother. "Once long ago, there was a girl named Leilia. Leilia had never been outside before. Her parents were very strict. She wasn’t allowed to go outside or have any pets. Every day, she wondered what the outside world looked like. One day, she couldn't stand her curiosity anymore, she had to know! The next night, she planned to sneak out. Leilia opened the window and jumped out. Luckly, her house only had one floor and the window was very close to the ground. She had packed her bags the night before. She brought a flashlight, a stuffed unicorn, tweesers, a sandwich and a rope. Leilia gasped at the sight, the air was fresh, the grass was green and the moon was shining bright.

She walked for a while and began to get hungry, so she took out her sandwich and started to eat. Suddenly, a deer walked towards her and said "You can't possibly finish all that yourself, can you?" Would you consider sharing?" Leilia screamed not because the deer had spoken, because she had never seen a woodlands creature before. "Why are you screaming, little girl?" Said the deer. "Wh-who are you?" Said Leilia. The deer looked shocked. "Why, I am a deer, little girl!" "Oh" said Leilia and gave the deer a little bit of her sandwich. The deer suddenly froze. "Wait..." it said "you can understand me!?" "Uh yea I guess" said Leilia. The deer was stunned. It came forward and looked into Leilias eyes and said "Where are you going, little girl?" "I'm going to explore! I have never been outside before." Responded Leilia. "Please let me come with you" said the deer hopefully. Leilia accepted the deer's offer and they trotted along the dirt road.

They walked for a while until they came across a small whitey angry puppy. The puppy was making rather strange noises, between a growl and a whimper. The puppy was in too much pain to speak. Leilia spotted a giant thorn on the puppy’s leg. She quickly took out her tweesers and pulled out the thorn. The puppy stopped wimpering and looked at Leilia and the deer. “Thank you” “by the way my name is Waggles. “You are welcome, Waggles” said Leilia, the pup felt much better. But then it froze. “you can understand me?” Asked the Waggles “Yes, I can” said Leilia. “ I have something for you two. Follow me”, Waggles went into a cave behind vines. Leilia and the deer cautiously followed. They were led into a dark room. Waggles put in a complicated password and the rock covering the door moved aside. They all slowly entered. There was a blinding light and a pile of gold and diamonds. Waggles said “You may take 7 items each but don’t take more than that. Leilia slowly took a gold crown, a diamond, a gold doubloon, a necklace, a bracelet and a plain staff. Next, the deer trotted up to the pile. The deer was not greedy but it didn’t know how to count “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9” counted the deer. When the deer put his treasure in the bag, the cave started to shake and the door started to close “RUN!!” screamed Waggles in a panic. They made it out just in time. “Phew!” they all were relieved. “Thank you for the treasure Waggles, would you care to join our adventure?” asked Leilia. “Sure!” said Waggles.

Waggles, Leilia and the deer kept walking. They came to a small hut which was made of sticks. Inside the hut, there was a small bookstore filled with old books. Leilia loved books! She ran right in there with her animal friends screaming after her. “NOOOO!” “Don’t go there!!!” “You don’t know what’s in there!” “Listen to me, child!” Leilia wouldn’t listen but continued to walk in. The book store was old and dusty. There was only a skeleton sitting in the register. The skeleton was holding a book called “The treasure of the forest”. Leilia slowly took the book and opened it. A riddle fell out of it. “I am high above. Don’t look down but look up.” Leilia showed her map and riddle to the deer and Waggles. Hmm they all wondered what the riddle meant. They looked all around, but didn’t see anything. They spent hours trying to figure the riddle out.

They were still trying to solve it When a girl about Leilias age walked towards them. “Hi!” “My name is Ariana” “do you need help with that riddle?” The deer had a crazy thought “Can you hear me??” “Hello??” babbled the deer. The girl just looked confused. All she could hear was wuf wuf and snuffles. “She can’t understand you” whispered Leilia to the deer and dog. The girl apparently overheard “You can understand them??” She said shocked. “Yes” answered Leilia. “Ok, let’s get started with the riddle” said Ariana “I am high above. Don’t look down but look up.” “hmmm” Ariana looked up, they all looked up they saw a small tree house among the trees. There was a small ladder. They all climbed up slowly. The door was locked! They all wondered how they would get in. There was a key hole in the shape of a staff. Suddenly Leilia took out her staff and put it in the hole. The door slowly creaked open. The tree house was the size of a castle! There were gold walls. It was so fancy! They found a card on the table it said “congrats! This is yours now!” everyone was happy and they lived together happily ever after in their new home. “Wow that was a good story” said Anila “I wish I could talk to animals too!” "why would you want to talk to animals?" asked Anilas mother. "I want to be best friends with my goldfish!" “Goodnight!” said Anila “Goodnight” replied Anila’s mother.