The Hidden Path - 2 - Treasure!

Henry scanned the ground. He moved leaves, turned over rocks and even dug a hole under the spot where he had found the flake. There wasn’t any more gold.

Henry looked again at the gold flake in his hand. “Well, one gold flake is awesome!” he sang triumphantly. Pulling on a cord around his neck, he lifted a small leather pouch out of his shirt. Carefully he loosened the string and dropped the gold flake in. Then he cinched up the cord and dropped the pouch back inside his shirt.

Henry stood and continued his journey up the path. It was spreading into a bit more of a track. It was wide enough now for a horse to walk on.

Henry carefully made his way along the path. He was walking slower than he had been before finding the gold. He didn’t want to miss anything important.  When he had been walking for about 15 minutes Henry emerged from the bushy green trees and walked into the direct sunlight. The path was getting rockier and the surroundings drier as he went up the mountain.

As Henry rounded a bend in the path, the sunlight shone brightly all around him. Something sparkled in distance. Henry put a hand to his forehead to shade his eyes. Had he really seen something?

Yes! There it was again, in the middle of the path far in front of him. It glimmered and shimmered as the sun beat down. It wasn’t shiny like the gold had been. It was a reddish colour and maybe a bit bigger than the gold flake.

Henry let out a whoop of joy and sprinted up the track, sliding the final metre on his knees, getting his pants dirty. He reached down and picked up a tiny red ruby. At least it looked like a ruby. Henry held it up to the sun. It lit up like a tiny fire.

“It is a Ruby!” Henry shouted with glee. Quickly he looked around himself for any more precious stones, but there were none. He dropped the ruby carefully into his pouch before getting to his feet and continuing up the path.

The Hidden Path

a fairytale by David Edgren

Carefully examining his surroundings with every step, Henry slowly made his way up the mountain. He had been walking for approximately 30 minutes since finding the ruby when he saw a dark hole in the mountainside.

Maybe it’s a cave, Henry thought. I wonder what’s inside the cave! As he got closer, Henry realised he was right. It was a cave.

He walked into the shade of the cave mouth and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. When he could see, he saw a pile of gold a few steps inside the cave.