What a strange sounding voice this mysterious creature had! It definitely wasn’t an ape. Nor did it sound like a girl animal, as Dorabella had been hoping. The voice was far too deep for that. Everyone wondered and waited in silence.

As you remember, the mysterious hero had defeated the Black Beard Gang. It had their leader, Old Black Beard, pinned up against the trunk of the Life Tree. The creature’s spear was pressed firmly against the ape’s neck, nearly pricking through the skin.

Old Black Beard had never been so scared in all his life. He was sweating. His knees were shaking. He couldn’t even talk properly. And then there was the embarrassment of being defeated. A part of him was actually very glad, reader, that none of his gang was left there to see him this way.

“Boo hoo! Boo hoo! Ho, ho, ho! Ooh ahh! Ooh ahh! P-p-p-please, sir! D-d-d-don’t k-k-k-kill me! Ooh ahh!”

“Wow,” Sebastian marveled. “Look at him. He’s like a big baby.”

Many of the animals watching felt almost sorry for Old Black Beard. There were some whispers about how, maybe, he should be let go. But not the hero. He was still very upset.

“Hmm . . . Now, what do you have to say for yourself, thief? Kidnapper!”

He pressed his spear in a little more just to make sure Old Black Beard knew he was serious.

“Ah! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Oh, no! Please! I’m . . . ugh . . . I’m sorry! Yes, I surrender! You win! Please! Let me go . . .”

“Hmm . . . just like you were going to let Lumpy and his friends go? And return their bananas you stole?”

“Ugh . . . Ugh . . .” stuttered the villain, sweating more. He didn’t have a clue what to say.

“Yeah, right,” answered the mysterious creature. “I didn’t think so! Nope, you’re under arrest!”

“Arrest? Oh! No! No! How horrible! How lamentable! Alas! Alas! Anything but that! Ugh . . .” Then he whispered. “Ugh . . . ahem . . . what does ‘arrest’ mean?”

“It means I’m going to take you away! You took Lumpy and his friends as prisoners. So, now you’re going to be their prisoner. I plan on taking you over there myself.”

“Oh no, no! Please! No! Anything but that! They hate me! Who knows what they’ll do to me!? I’m a goner if you take me back! Oh, boo hoo! Please don’t, sir!”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you kidnapped their favorite prince.”

“Prince?” Sebastian thought. “Lumpy was a prince? I didn’t know that.”

Lumpy jumped off the mysterious hero’s back and onto his head. He posed nobly, like a handsome statue.

“You see?” said the mysterious creature.

“What? You’ve got to be kidding me! A little runt like him? A prince!? No way! I’m the prince! Me! Me! I’m the king!”

“Not anymore you’re not,” replied the hero defiantly. “You’re through. Your reign of terror is over.”

Hearing this really upset Old Black Beard. To be spoken to in such a way was something he just wasn’t used to. And, for a moment, he forgot that he’d just been overpowered.

“What! What did you say! Me? Through? Guards! Seize him! I shall have you whipped for your insolence! Guards! Gua- Ah! Ghup!”

But he suddenly remembered that there was a spear to his throat, and that his guards had all run away. So, he quickly covered his mouth before he could say anymore.

“Ugh, I mean . . . I’m sorry for kidnapping your charming little friends. Heh, heh . . . Ahem!”

“Hmph. Well, sorry, but it’s too late for that. You can apologize to them as their prisoner. And maybe if you’re nice, then—just maybe—they’ll forgive you and let you go. Now, let’s see . . . hmm . . . where are my handcuffs . . .”

The mysterious creature took out a special extra strong rope he’d made. But in order to put them on Old Black Beard, he had to put away his spear. He reattached it to the harness on his back.

“Alright, come here.”

Old Black Beard knew this would be his only chance. The mysterious creature was unarmed. He gave the hero one of his hands to make it seem like he was giving up. But as the hero slipped it on, he very sneakily raised his other hand up, ready to chop the hero with it. He thought he had him for sure. With all of his rage, he then thrust it down as hard as he could, aiming for the mysterious creature’s head.

“Die, Phantom Ape! Die!” he yelled. “You’ll never take me alive! Do you hear me!? Now, witness my power! Hiii-yaaaa! Agh! Oof!”

But in the blink of an eye, Old Black Beard went from almost hitting our hero, to being on his back. It happened that fast! The mysterious creature caught the chop and punched him square in the stomach.

“Wow! Look at that speed!” exclaimed Sebastian. “He’s so fast! I didn’t even see him move! Did you?”

All you could hear after that was the sound of Old Black Beard moaning and groaning.

“Ohh . . . Ooh!”

“Hmph, nice try,” said the hero, crossing his arms. “But you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to beat me.”

Old Black Beard lay on his back, dumbfounded and stunned that such a blow could be delivered by a creature so small. He didn’t even feel scared anymore, but curious like everyone else—curious about what this creature was, and what it looked like under its hood.

“Who . . .” he said, while gasping for air and coughing, “who . . . who . . . are  . . . you? What are you!?” He felt at this point like he had to know.

The hero sensed this. He looked around and sensed that it was what everyone else was thinking too, hearing all their whispers. So, he decided to remove his hood. What the animals saw shocked them.

It wasn’t a bird. It wasn’t an ape. It wasn’t a spider. No, it wasn’t a flying pig either, like Edward had guessed. It was something else altogether that no animal in that wild forest had ever seen before. It was a human. A boy. He had long, shaggy, dusty brown hair and dark blue eyes. His skin was white, but very tanned and darkened from the hot forest sun.

“Oh, goodness!” said Dorabella and some of the other girl birds. “He’s so handsome!”

“Yes, I wonder if he has a girlfriend!” said another.

“I saw him first!” said yet another.

The boy animals all thought he looked tough and brave, like they wanted to be. Everyone was astonished. Even Old Black Beard, though he would never admit it. And everyone started cheering again.

“Well, then,” said the boy, walking over to the old villain, who was too ashamed by that point to even look him in the eye. He bent down and put the handcuffs on him. “Time to go.”

Then he whistled and everyone saw a wolf down below pull up to the base of the tree with a sled. The boy took his whip out and looked for the bananas, which were a few branches over, all wrapped up in a giant leaf.

“Hii-yaa!”

With just one crack of it, he split the leaf open. Bananas burst out and poured down everywhere, like candy falling from a piñata. Anyone who wanted could reach out and grab one. Lumpy stuffed about three in his mouth at the same time. But most of the fruit fell into the sled, where he was trying to aim them.

“Wait, wait! I can explain!” whimpered Old Black Beard, making all manner of ridiculous excuses for his crimes as the hero dragged him along the branch. “There’s been a mistake! I didn’t rob them. They robbed me! Ouch!” His behind was dragging along the branch, getting pricked each step of the way by thorns that were growing, feeling like the very Life Tree itself was getting some revenge on him too. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! You don’t understand! Ouch! They made me do it! Youch! I wouldn’t have had to take it from them if they had just given the bananas to me when I asked! Ouch! I wanted it, you see! And they wouldn’t give it to me! Me! ME!”

“Yeah? And what’s so special about you?”

Old Black Beard was shocked and appalled by the question.

“Hah!” he scoffed. “Isn’t it obvious? Look at me. Look at me!”

The boy stopped pulling Old Black Beard for a moment and looked down at him.

“Who wouldn’t want to give me their things? Look at me! You’d have to be crazy! Don’t you see?”

But, despite looking really hard, the boy didn’t.

“No,” he answered awkwardly, raising an eyebrow. And he started pulling him again.

“Oh!” the old ape scoffed some more. “Oh! The nerve! Insolence! How dare you! Ouch! Ouch! How dare you!”

Some of the animals began throwing bananas at his head, too.

“Ouch! Stop it! Stop it immediately! You are ruffians! All of you!”

Finally, they got to the end of the branch. The hero kicked Old Black Beard in the behind, which by then had so many thorns in it that it looked like a porcupine. He fell down with all the bananas into the back of the sled. Then, with the three apes still on his back, the hero jumped down too, giving more high fives to his new fans on the way down—all of whom were trying to push each other out of the way to get close.

“Hey! Move!”

“I want to see him, too!”

“Over here! Don’t forget about me!”

The hero jumped up front with the wolf and pulled the sled away, making sure to wave to as many of the animals in the Life Tree as possible—the clapping and cheering getting louder and louder, until he finally disappeared. What a day it had been for the creatures in that tree, reader! What a day, indeed!

Young Sebastian flapped and chirped until he got so tired, he could flap and chirp no more.

“Well!” he sighed, out of breath. “That was something, wasn’t it!?”

He looked over at Edward who was now feeling quite embarrassed for teasing Sebastian earlier. Sebastian couldn’t help rubbing it in.

“So!” he said, crossing his arms triumphantly, “Now do you believe me, Edward?”

Edward didn’t like being wrong. He glared stubbornly at Sebastian. Sebastian glared right back. But then they both realized they were far too happy to fight, and their frowns turned into smiles! Instead of arguing, they grabbed their sister and all three of them started hopping up and down together, for the very first time in their lives feeling hopeful about what the future might bring!