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Hello, hello and welcome to Storynory! You’re listening to Jana, and I’m back with a brand new Birdy story.

Birdy’s Treasure Hunt

It was a lovely, hot, dry summer. Jake and his family packed their bags and drove to a scenic part of Britain called Wales, where there are castles and rolling hills and long sandy beaches. Some people say there are even dragons there, but Jake didn’t see any.

They rented a barn on a farm. When I say a barn, it had been converted into a comfortable cottage. But there was also a real barn full of hay and a stable with horses and ponies. Hens pecked in their pen behind a wire fence to keep out the fox. Ducks paddled on the pond, while two geese ruled a little island in the middle.

It was the sort of farm that seemed to have everything a storybook farm should.

The farmer took Jake and his little sister Elle for a ride on his tractor to see his prize pigs, who lived on a small, pointy hill. They were Berkshire pigs – black with white feet and faces.

“See that magnificent fellow over there? We call him the Emperor, because he’s in charge of all the others. Last May he won first prize as the finest pig in all of Wales. He’s clever, no doubt about it, and he knows he’s special. He’s as proud of himself as we are of him,” explained the farmer.

Jake saw that the Emperor really was a proud pig. He listened to the farmer’s praise as if he understood every word.

“Are you going to make him into sausages?” asked Elle.
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“No, never,” said the farmer. “He’s so smart he could be a straight-A student if he went to school.”

“You’re joking,” smiled Elle.

But Jake believed the farmer. After all, Jake knew a black crow who was one of the wisest creatures you could ever meet. So why shouldn’t a pig be clever too?

After watching the pigs root around with their snouts for a while, the farmer turned the engine back on, and they started chugging back down the track to the farmhouse. On the way, they passed a man sweeping the ground with a long stick.

“What’s he doing?” asked Elle.

“Oh, he’s a treasure hunter, looking for gold. That pole he’s using is a metal detector. If he finds any metal it will start beeping like crazy,” said the farmer.

“Cool!” exclaimed Jake. “Has he found any gold yet?”

“Not yet,” said the farmer. “But if he finds any on my land, we have a deal. Fifty–fifty. Half his, half mine.”

“And will you give me the same deal if I find some treasure on your farm?” asked Jake.

“Yeah, why not!” said the farmer. “Fair’s fair.”

The next day they went pony trekking. Everyone in the family loved riding a horse for the first time – until Mum’s pony suddenly galloped off, giving her the fright of her life. So the next day they decided to do something more relaxing and go to the beach instead. That was lovely too. It was an idyllic holiday, but one thing was missing: Birdy. Jake wished he would come to the farm so he could tell him all about the buried treasure. He was sure Birdy would know where to find it.

And very early the next morning, there was a little tap on his window pane – just loud enough to wake Jake out of his dream. He opened his eyes and saw his friend on the sill.

“Birdy!” he shouted.

“How’s your holiday?” asked Birdy.

“Fantastic!” said Jake. “Except for when the pony ran off with Mum. But she was okay. Just a bit shaken. And do you know what? The farmer says there’s buried treasure on the farm. If we find it we can keep half. But there’s a man looking for it with a metal detector. Can you help me find the treasure first so I can be rich and never have to go to school again?”
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“Well,” said Birdy, “I might be able to assist you in this matter. Many years ago – about two thousand years or so – I came here to visit my friend, a Welsh druid. He had all sorts of gold – swords, goblets, chains and the like. But the Romans were coming, led by General Agricola. So I said to him, ‘Themgodden’ – that was his name – ‘Themgodden, I think you’d better bury your gold in case the Romans steal it.’ And so he did.And his treasure might still be here for all I know.”

“I bet it is,” said Jake. “But it’s a big farm. It could be anywhere. Do you have a map?”

“Naaaw,” said Birdy. “But I do have my brain. As I remember, he used to perform all his druid ceremonies on top of a pointy hill, and he buried his treasure thereabouts.”

“Oh, I know!” said Jake. “That’s where the pigs live. Nobody would ever think of looking for treasure in a pigsty!”

At breakfast, when Mum asked, “What shall we do today then, kids?” Jake enthused, “Let’s look for buried treasure!” But Elle pulled a face and said, “That’s boring. And Jake always gets his way. I want to go to the beach Mummy.”

After some arguing, they agreed to go to the beach first and look for treasure afterwards, in the evening.

After a lazy day at the beach, Jake was still bouncing with energy and in a hurry to go treasure hunting.

“Come on,” he said to a relaxed and nicely tired Dad. “If you want us to be rich we’ve got to find the buried treasure before the man with a metal detector.”

Dad insisted on a cup of tea first, and then he pulled on his boots and followed Jake up the path to the hill where the pigs lived. High overhead a black crow led the way. When they reached the top of the hill they saw the porkers on the other side rooting around for grubs before the sun went down. But that wasn’t all they saw. The man with a metal detector was also there, sweeping the ground.

“Oh no,” said Jake, “I told you we should have come this morning. He must have heard us saying that the treasure is buried on this hill.”

“Jake, why don’t we leave it to the professionals,” said Dad. “The treasure could be anywhere. Without a metal detector we’ve no chance of finding it.”

“But we don’t need a metal detector because we’ve got Birdy,” protested Jake.

They stood and watched as the metal detector man dug in the ground with a trowel and dusted something off with a brush. Jake ran down to him.

“What did you find?”

“Oh just an old shilling coin.”

Jake ran back and told Dad. “What’s a shilling Dad? Is it valuable.”
“No, it’s just old money from grandad’s time. About 5 pence if that. Come on. Let’s head back for supper.”

“Hang on,” said Jake. “There’s Birdy! He’s chatting to the pig.”
He pointed towards the proud pig who rejoiced in the name The Emperor. Birdy was standing on his head and squawking loudly.
Caaaaaaaaw! Cawwwww!

“I bet he’s asking the Emperor to help us find the treasure,” said Jake.

And it seemed he was right because the pig started to trot up the hill with Birdy still perched on his head. Jake and Dad followed and were soon half way down the other side. The magnificent pig was now rooting in the ground and digging with his trotter while Birdy hopped around flapping his wings.

“Look Dad,” exclaimed Jake, “He’s found something.”

There was a glint of silver in the evening light and before long the round rim of what looked like a goblet came into sight. Jake began to jump up and down singing “We found it! We found it! We found the treasure!”

But he soon wished he had kept his mouth shut because the metal detector man came to see what the noise was about.

“Did that pig just dig up some treasure?” Asked the man bewildered.
“No it’s real life true,” said Jake. “The emperor pig and my friend Birdy are both super intelligent and know where the Druids buried their treasure to hide it from the Romans. All we had to do was to ask the pig politely to help us and now he’s digging it up for us.”
The metal detector man went down on his knees alongside the pig and started to dig with his trowel. It was starting to get dark when he finally pulled up a goblet. It glowed a little red in the sinking sunlight but the man said it was silver and probably very old. He turned it around and they saw an emblem of a crow engraved on it.
“That’s my friend Birdy,” said Jake proudly.

And as they walked back he chatted all about his crow friend and how many clever things he knew.

They visited the farmhouse to show their discovery to the farmer who was as amazed as they were.

“Well I never,” he said, “so my granddaddy was right when he told me their druids left gold on this land. Well done for detecting it with that buzzing contraption of yours! I’ll call the museum in the morning, and I’ll keep my word. We’ll go 50-50 if it’s worth a few quid.”

“Actually,” said Jake. “We found it.”

The metal detector man argued that actually the Emperor pig had found it.

Jake nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, the Emperor dug it up with his snout but my best friend Birdy the crow told him where to look because I asked him to help. You know he was friends with one of the druids in Roman times,” said Jake proudly.

The farmer wiped his brow. “Well that is quite a tale,” he said.
“Look here, I don’t mean to put the kid down,” said the metal detector man. “He’s got a real imagination. But I have been walking up and down this land for three weeks. Now, I’ve earned the reward.”
“Well no point in arguing here this evening,” said the farmer.
“First let’s see if it’s worth anything. Let’s ask what the museum says shall we?”

They went back to their cosy barn for supper. Jake found it hard to sleep that night as he was full of excitement. Things got even more exciting the next day when they went back up the hill with the farmer and found that the Emperor had dug up a silver tray. To their amazement it was engraved with the emblem of a wild boar. The boar looked just like the Emperor only with fierce tusks. The metal detector man was sweeping all over the hill and found a bronze sword studded with some sort of stone. Over the next few days more and more gold, silver and bronze turned up, many pieces carrying the sign of the wild boar. The Emperor was finding treasure three times as fast as the metal detector.

At the end of the week Jake and his family returned home. Jake had to wait about six weeks for any news of the treasure. He had almost given up waiting, when a parcel arrived by special delivery - a well packed box containing the goblet with the sign of a crow on it. Apparently the museum had bought all the treasure with the sign of the wild boar. It was a very special collection dating back to the times of the Welsh who lived before the Roman times. But the bird goblet did not seem to fit in and they had given it back to the farmer.

“I’d like you to have it,” he wrote, “Fairs fair, even if the Emperor did dig it up you were the first to spot what he found.”
Mum put the goblet on the mantle piece, “It must be worth something. Shall we sell it at the auction house? she asked.

“Oh no, I don’t want to sell it. It’s Birdy’s goblet. It’s really special and it’s probably magic.”

And so they kept the silver goblet that the Emperor pig had found with the help of a very wise and extremely old black crow. It was, said Dad, quite an exceptional holiday souvenir.

And that was Birdy’s Treasure Hunt, read by me Jana for Storynory.
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From me Jana at Storynory, see you soon!