Grandpa Benny and Pirates of Galapagos
By: Ran Levi
Maya and I sat in the kitchen. I colored dinosaurs in my coloring book and Maya put a puzzle together. Grandpa Benny came into the room holding a box. ‘David, Maya, look what I found in the yard!’ He carefully set the box down on the table.
’What's this, grandpa? What's inside?’ asked Maya, and we both tried peeking inside the box. We saw a pair of small, curious eyes looking out from the holes.
Grandpa lifted the lid and took out a small, cute turtle. He gently placed this strange-looking creature on the kitchen table, but the turtle immediately hid its legs and head inside his shell.
’I think he got a little scared,’ said grandpa, ‘if we give him some carrots, maybe he'll come out again.’ He pulled out a few carrots from the vegetable drawer, placed them beside the turtle and took a bite of one himself. ‘Want some?’ he offered. Maya took a carrot, but I shrugged. ‘I don't really like carrots...’ ‘That's too bad - carrots are delicious and healthy too,’ said grandpa, ‘and even saved me from pirates once.’
’Really?’ I asked.
‘It was years ago,’ Grandpa explained. ‘An elderly woman once came into my post office. 'Hello!' she said, 'I need to send my son an urgent package. He went on a long sailing trip to South America, and forgot his wallet at home!’
'Sure miss. What's your son's name?’ ‘Darwin, Charles Darwin,’ she replied, ‘I think he's in Chile now, looking for old animal skeletons and bones.’
I took a small bag full of coins from her, and set out for Chile in South America.’
‘I arrived in Chile, and a few days later I found Darwin in the Andes mountains. He stood on a high stone step at the foot of a tall cliff and scribbled something on a small notepad.
'Charles Darwin, I presume?' I called out to him. 'What a nice fossil!' he said, still examining the stone with gleaming eyes. And then, for the first time, I noticed a large turtle skeleton engraved in the stone.
’A fossil?...What's a fossil?’ I asked Darwin.
’A fossil is an animal that was buried in the ground many, many years ago,’ explained the young researcher. ‘Over time, the ground hardened and turned into solid stone, and the animal's skeletal bones hardened too and became an actual part of the stone.’
‘Fascinating!’ I said, ’and this fossil belongs to a turtle that lived millions of years ago?’
’Exactly,’ said Darwin. ’I think that this fossil belongs to a very ancient type of turtle, already extinct and no longer in existence. I drew a picture of it in my notepad, so that I can show it to other scientists when I return to England. And who are you, my friend?’
‘My name's Benny the postman. Your mother asked me to deliver your wallet to you.’ ’Oh great!’ Darwin was happy, 'I was wondering where my wallet went. I'm such a scatterbrain! My mom always said that I'm lucky that my head is attached to my shoulders- otherwise I would leave it at home too!'
‘I gave Darwin the wallet, but a coin dropped out of it. I looked for the coin between the thick grass and colorful flowers, but couldn't find it.
'It's ok,' said Darwin, ‘there are many more coins in the wallet. There's no time, my friend! We have to go back, the ship's about to sail.'
'Where are you sailing to?' I asked. 'To the Galápagos Islands, and from there back to Europe.' said Darwin.
'Can I join you? I've never been to the Galápagos Islands.' I asked. 'Gladly!' Darwin replied.’
‘The two of us hurried back to the port.
’I didn't know it then, but the leader of a gang of pirates, a rough and wicked man, found the coin. He assumed that there were many more coins in Darwin's wallet, so he and his two greedy gang members decided to follow us to the Galápagos Islands, and steal the wallet at the first opportunity.’
We set sail in Darwin's ship, and anchored a few weeks later near an island by the name of San Cristobal. We went down to the beach and found turtles. And not just any turtles....huge ones, that reached to my waist! The turtles were very friendly, and weren't afraid of us at all. I took a carrot that I had brought with me from the ship out of my bag and fed one of the turtles, who took a hearty bite.
’We saw other animals on the island: iguanas, blue-legged birds, penguins and more. They weren't afraid of us either, and we were able to get very close to them. Darwin sketched them all in his small notepad.’
‘The pirates watched us from a distance, but Darwin and I did not notice them. We were too busy playing with the large turtles and feeding them carrots. The turtles liked us so much that they even let us climb on their backs and ride them. It was so much fun, and Darwin and I had such a good time riding the turtles that we didn't notice how far we were from the beach and the ship.
’The pirates decided to take advantage of the opportunity. They followed us along the winding path.
‘Soon the pirates caught up with the slow turtles and surprised us.
'Hands up! This is a robbery!' the head pirate bellowed, and waved two large, sharp swords before us. 'Oh no!' called Darwin as he raised his hands, 'we surrender, we surrender!' Give us all your money, now!' the head pirate thundered, and Darwin hurried to hand over the bag of coins.'
‘The pirates forced us into a large, wooden cage, and secured the door with a heavy plank. Then they sat around a table and tried to divide the coins between them. Unfortunately, they were very bad at math.
'So how many coins do we have here?' asked the head pirate. ‘Two plus two plus two...' the second pirate counted. ׳Nine, I think.׳ ׳No way,’ said the third pirate, 'seven, for sure.'
'So how many coins do each of us get?' asked the leader. The second pirate scratched his head. 'Five?'
'No way, at least four.' said the third.
'Nonsense. I'm telling you, five.'
'That's ridiculous. Four, for sure!'
‘The pirates continued arguing, and Darwin and I sat in the cage. I kept trying to think of ways to escape, but I finally gave up when I couldn't find an opening or wide enough crack in the cage. I sat on the ground and took a bite out of the carrot that I pulled out of my bag.
’Darwin had seen more huge turtles not far from us, and was so busy drawing them in his notepad that he almost forgot that he was locked up.
’I noticed something interesting,’ said Darwin. He opened his notepad and showed me his drawings.’
‘Look at the fossilized turtle we saw in the Andes Mountains. It looks a lot like the turtles we know from back home, and like the huge turtles here in the Galápagos Islands.
’What does that mean?’ I asked.
’I think the fossilized turtle was probably the ancestor of all the turtles living today - like their great-great grandfather.’ ’But if they're his relatives, why don't they look exactly like him?’
’Children don't always look exactly like their parents.’ Darwin explained. ’All living things change throughout the generations. This is a very slow process called 'evolution', thanks to which new and fascinating living things are continuously being created.’
’That is really a fascinating notion,’ I agreed with Darwin. ‘I wonder if the pre-historic turtle liked carrots as much as his descendants in Galápagos...’
‘I suddenly had an idea. ‘Carrots! The carrots will help us escape from the cage! Why didn't I think of that earlier?’
’Carrots?! How can carrots help us?’ Darwin was puzzled.
’You’ll see soon enough…’ I said, and pulled out a bright orange carrot from the bag. I stood up and went to the side of the cage and stuck my hand through the bars.
Hey, turtles! Here’s the candy you like so much!’ I waved the carrot at the large turtles. They noticed the tasty carrot in my hand and approached the cage.’
‘When the turtles were close, I pulled my hand back inside the cage and continued waving the carrot at them. The turtles, who really wanted the carrot, stuck their heads in through the bars of the door. They were so large and heavy that they effortlessly smashed and broke the thick plank blocking the door! I was afraid that the noise would alert the pirates, but they were far too busy counting their coins.’
‘It was now time to have our sweet revenge on the pirates. I snuck up quietly behind them, and carefully put carrots in each of their pockets without them noticing.
’The hungry turtles smelled the carrots, and couldn’t resist the temptation…They crept closer to the table around which the pirates sat.’
‘So everyone gets eight coins or....ahhhh!!!!' the head pirate shouted. A large turtle took a bite out of the carrot in his pocket, and tore a large piece of his pants off. 'The turtles want to eat us!!!' Other turtles approached the two remaining pirates and took bites out of their carrots and pants.
'Come on, turtles! Good job!' I cheered them on enthusiastically. 'Run! Runnnnnn!' shouted the terrified pirates, and fled into the forest as their hands covered their exposed bottoms.’
Grandpa Benny leaned back in his chair. ‘Darwin and I couldn't stop laughing...,’ he chuckled, ‘it really was a wonderful adventure. I was really sorry when we had to leave the Galápagos Islands and sail back home...’ ‘Grandpa, the little turtle stuck his head out of his shell!’ said Maya excitedly. ‘Here little turtle - take some carrot...ooh-hoo-hoo!!' called Grandpa Benny, who was surprised when the small turtle opened its mouth and greedily took a big bite out of the carrot. Maya and I cracked up laughing. ‘I guess the small turtle really is related to the Galápagos turtles...’
1