Sample Chapter
My First Letter
Grandfather has something special for me.
Dear Bettina, Stefanie, Francisca, Frank and all children around the world,
I send you and your parents my best wishes, may they all come true. I hope for peace and no quarrels among all children in Europe and here in Africa. Most of all I wish you good luck and wisdom, why these I will tell you.
I am sitting here in my home in the Gambia, Africa. I have so much to tell you, I know not only you will find my news very interesting, but your friends and their friends will also, then at last many people will know about it.
I live with my father and mother on the Atlantic coast, in West Africa, right at the mouth of the great River Gambia. Mother has
lived here for quite a long time and fathers family, who are all Gambian, live here too. Together we run Gambia River
Excursions and we take tourists to many interesting places on boats. Most of the tourists who visit us come from Europe and on each trip we see many wonderful things.
This is how the journey I am now going to tell you
about became possible.
I t all started on the day we celebrated grandfathers 80th birthday.
We all met at his house on Long Street. As a present we took along a sheep, later it was cooked
to make a delicious meal. As I said hello
to grandfather he said he had something very special for me, but I was not to ask what it was. I went in to the sitting room which looked
a bit like the dolls house you bought from the flea market Bettina. The walls were made from wooden panels painted dark
green with
a red and white border. Grandmother adores
colorful flowery curtains
and white embroidered table cloths so they were all on display for the occasion. All the old furniture was made from dark mahogany wood, which
grandfather can remember being there since he was a child. Hanging from every wall were
photographs of aunts and uncles, some of them no longer alive.
On one wall there hung a painting I had
never seen before. It made me feel scared,
but at the
same time quite curious. It was a picture
of a dragon bathing in the shallow edge of the water. His
skin
was covered with scales and his
magnificent tail was ten times longer than a giant snake.
On either side of his huge
belly wings were growing, and his huge head was like a crocodiles, with his mouth open so wide that his big, sharp
teeth could be seen by everyone. From his mouth there came a mighty breath of fire. There would be no
doubt in anyone mind of his fearful powers. On the dragons nose grew a horn, very much like a rhinoceros but much bigger, and resting on his head was a golden crown which was as beautiful as an exotic water
lily. I found out later the dragon had a beard, but in
the picture I could not see it, maybe at that time he was not fully grown.
Just looking at the picture filled me with excitement. Surely this must be the special something grandfather had for me. Earlier he had told me "Samba, this piece of art work was given to me by your uncle Ebrahima, he painted it especially for my 80th birthday. It shows Ninki Nanka, the dragon from the River Gambia. He holds all the power and wisdom in this world and can bring you good luck. It is possible to to get this power and wisdom if you know how. That is not all, Ninki Nanka is said to be a devil, a daemon who can kill you with his fire, especially if you are afraid of him!"