Susanne Stemmer - Ilvie Little and the Fearless Sailors

“Wow, I haven’t seen the Anastasia without the tarp for a really long time!” murmurs the little girl.

“She’s beautiful!” cries Ilvie when she has reached the top of the ladder.

‘Hey, what about me? Huh? Are you just going to leave me down here to rot? That’s really mean of you!’ Ilvie hears an aggravated twinkling in her mind.

“Oh, Theo …” murmurs Ilvie softly. “My little monkey friend is kind of afraid of heights,” she whispers to Leonie with a wink. “I’ll come and get you!” Ilvie cries loudly, climbing down again. She grabs the little monkey, who is holding tightly to his knapsack, and climbs back up the ladder ­holding him.

‘Waaaahhhh … this is hiiigggh!’ twinkles Theo anxiously, keeping both eyes closed tight. ‘Don’t boats belong in the water? This is muuuch too high!’

By the time they arrive at the top, Leonie has disappeared.

“Leonie!” cries Ilvie anxiously. “Leonie, where are you?”

“I’m under here!” she hears from deep inside the ship’s belly. “You just have to go through the cabin door and climb down the steps!”

‘Waaahhh, it’s dark and dusty; I’m definitely not going in there!’ twinkles Theo with disgust. ‘Yuck!’

‘Come on, Theo, I’ll hold your hand,’ twinkles Ilvie, who has already climbed halfway down the stairs.

“Wow! It’s cool down here!” she cries with amazement when she reaches the end of the stairs and can look around the inside of the boat. Only a little light comes through the dust-streaked portholes on the sides. The old ­wooden ­floor, the furniture, and even the walls are covered in a thick layer of dust, but Ilvie can clearly see that the Anastasia is a beautiful, precious old wooden ship.

“Come on, take a look over here,” Ilvie hears a voice from the semi-­darkness. Slowly, she feels her way along.

“Where are you? I don’t see you!” asks Ilvie while searching her way ­carefully.

“Here!” cries a voice next to her.

“Oh! You scared me!”

The voice next to Ilvie giggles. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to! Look, this was the library. Here are all kinds of books about sailing and navigation, and a lot of sea maps. It looks as if my great-grandmother were just here.”

“All the stuff that she left lying around is still there; that’s fantastic,” says Ilvie impressed.

‘Hellooooo!’ twinkles Theo, who—trembling all over—has indeed dared to enter the belly of the ship. Standing around outside by himself at this height definitely seems more dangerous than following the girls. That way, at least they would die together if it came to that. The little monkey is so scared that he’s even forgotten his precious knapsack on the deck. ‘Ilvie, where are you?’

‘Come on, Theo, take a look at everything that’s here!’ twinkles Ilvie with enthusiasm.

‘B … but … where are you?’ twinkles Theo in reply. ‘My little monkey eyes can’t see anythingatall!’

“Ha! By the bowlegged Danio Rerio!” cries Leonie. “That’s my great-grandmother’s old ship’s lantern! Wait a minute, there must be matches here somewhere …” she murmurs, beginning to open a few ­drawers. “Tadaaa!” says Leonie with pride as she lights the ship’s lantern.

“Oh my goodness! It’s really beautiful,” says Ilvie with wonder when she sees the library in the gentle glow of the ship’s lantern.

Theo had followed the light and is peeking cautiously around the corner. ‘Pooh, these adventures are really stressful!’ twinkles the little monkey. He wipes his forehead and climbs carefully onto the big table where all the sea maps are lying open.

“Leonie, we just have to find the treasure map and go to sea on the Anastasia!” says Ilvie with determination. “Is there any hint of where that map might be?”

“Hmm … I don’t know …” says Leonie thoughtfully. “Many people have already tried to find this old map, but so far nobody has succeeded. I really think the treasure map is lost.”

Leonie pauses briefly and then continues: “But something just occurred to me—a few years ago, a very old woman down here spoke to me. I’d never seen her before, and she asked me whether I happened to be related to Grace the dauntless sailor. I said, ‘Yes, that’s my great-grandmother!’ Then, the old woman smiled and shook her head slowly. ‘I knew it. You look just like beautiful Grace!’ she said.”

Leonie stares distractedly into space before continuing. “The old woman said something very strange—something I haven’t been able to get out of my head since then. I can still remember her words precisely: ‘When Grace left on her last journey, I was very sick and couldn’t go along. That saved my life, otherwise I would have sailed into the trap with the whole troop and I would have died with them. I still feel bad because of that … But shortly ­before her departure, your great-grandmother told me that if she didn’t come back I was to remember that the secret is to look at the pictures of the past! I never understood what Grace meant, but I think she suspected that she would never return. I’m happy that I’ve met you now, young girl. I’m ­already very old and nobody knows how much longer I’ll live. I could never solve the riddle, but maybe you can!’ Then the old woman hugged me briefly and disappeared. Ever since then, I’ve been puzzling over what her words meant and whether they could really have something to do with the treasure map.”

‘Haha, what is this funny thing’? twinkles Theo. The little monkey has ­finally recovered from his fright and started to look around him. Curious, he opens a wooden chest and sees that it contains a strange-looking object that has a telescope on it. He slowly pulls the shiny thing out of the chest and tries to look through the telescope. ‘I don’t see anythingatall!’ he twinkles in disgust. ‘I should be able to see much better than normal with this telescope, but I can’t. Stupid thing!’

“That’s a sextant, dear Theo!” explains Leonie when she notices him ­playing with the instrument. “It’s one of the most important instruments on a boat. You can use it to determine your position on the earth very precisely if you know how to use it.”

“Leonie, personally I believe that you can sail really well,” Ilvie comments. “Certainly well enough to sail the Anastasia. You already know a lot about sailing, and whatever you don’t know we can read about together and ­learn—or ask someone. It’s all here, all of the books and instruments, and ­surely there are a lot of experienced sailors around here we can ask if we don’t ­understand something. And then there’s the magnificent ship! I think we should find the treasure map and finish your great-grandmother’s ­mission!”

“Hmmm … that would really be something!” agrees Leonie. Her ­uncovered eye is shining with enthusiasm. “But how do we find that map? So many people before us have tried and failed!” she says, looking miserable.

“Let me think …” says Ilvie, pacing up and down. “What could she have meant, that old woman? The secret is to look at the pictures of the past …”

Theo puts the sextant back into the wooden chest and scratches his head thoughtfully. All of this is simply too much for his little monkey brain. And furthermore, it has been a long while since he’s eaten a strawberry cupcake, so his stomach is grumbling loudly. ‘For my part, I think we’ve heard enough of all this nonsense!’ twinkles the little monkey grumpily. ‘I’m going back up on deck to get my knapsack and I’m going to gobble down one of those good strawberry cupcakes—right now!’ And with that, the little monkey hops down off the table.