Chapter 5 - Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

A novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 5

The Sinking Of Atlantis

Harry and Maisie arrived in the Canary Islands and decided to take a few days to look around .  The hotel they chose informed them about a man called Seadar who they recommended as a tour guide if they wanted to see the sights around the Islands .’So  they contacted Seadar picked them up as the hotel , He seemed very friendly and knowledgeable about the islands and gave them an idea of the places he could bring them, .

places of interest on the island  and for a small fee he offered to show them on their way to a forest in La Gomera Seadar asked Harry and Maisie what kind of places they had been to on their yacht . When Harry mentioned about their voyage of discovery to write and illustrate a series of stories for a book Seadar was very impressed and he asked Harry to share one of his stories to the people on the island . Harry had never been asked to do this before and decided to give it a go .

Seadar in return offered to do all his sightseeing services for free .

After arranging an evening at the local community hall for Harry to present one of his stories Seadar did some promotion about the visiting Author and created some interest with the tourists and the locals , Harry thought he might try to tell them his most recent story called the sinking of Atlantis so on the evening of his storytelling in the community hall he tried to create an atmosphere with some of his Mammy’s recent sketches on display with sea serpents and dragons .

The doors opened and people began to arrive to listen to the visiting storyteller .

Harry had built a fire in the open-hearth fireplace in the hall and filtered some of the lights to a half light .

Smoke from  the fire spiralled  upwards from the flames to the chimney and everyone settled in their seats .

Harry began by welcoming everybody to the event  .

“ Hello there ,  my name is Harry and I hope you enjoy the tale I am going to tell you today about the sinking of Atlantis . It’s an ancient story that happened long ago before the great flood destroyed the monsters and giants that were on the earth .

There once was a greedy King called Abelos who ruled in Babelonia who commanded his servants to take all his jewels and gold and poke them up like a mountain near to a hill on the sea . He ordered everyone in his kingdom to come to the place where the mountain of wealth was . Then he climbed to the top and looked  down upon everyone in his kingdom . 

As he sat there with his huge wealth that had been collected from sunken ships and the plundering he had done, he wore a smile and felt almost complete . He also had a powerful dragon that was kept deep below in an underground cavern in the Castles  keep to protect all his treasure that he had accumulated , Then there was another King called Neptune who ruled in Atlantis who also had a powerful sea serpent that he often summoned to destroy any threat over his territory .

So as King Abelos sat there in all his vanity on top of his mountain of treasures he felt almost complete except for one thing , he desired King Neptune to admire him and all his wealth and so he  made the decision to show off his wealth to King Neptune from Atlantis to make him jealous and he ordered all his carpenters to  build a tall and very strong ship to carry all his gold and jewels on the ship to make the voyage to Allantis to taunt and flaunt Neptune with his great wealth .

After the ship was built, they loaded it with treasures right up to the very hilt .  Then with a hundred oarsmen they set off  rowing the huge ship slowly so that everyone passing the ship would also get a good look at all his wealth .

The greedy King summoned the dragon from the Castle keep accompanying the ship on its voyage to Atlantis to protect his treasure , but King Neptune saw the dragon approaching and summoned Leviathan the sea serpent to fight the intruders .

The battle between the sea serpent  and the Dragon was noticed from afar in the sky in  Aquarius and a ripple of unrest went through the universe that was felt by Zeus who sent a message to Ganymede in Troy to intervene in the battle and bring an end to the dispute by sharing  all the treasure with the people from the two Kingdoms . 

By the time the message was heard the dragon was struggling in the fight and the sea serpent had coiled itself around the dragons neck and the dragons flames  were turned back upon the ship that was now burning upon the sea .

Ganymede asked  the Phoenix bird  who lived on a nearby mountain  to fly to Atlantis and save the treasure on  the burning ship and the phoenix responded  sharing all the treasure with the people of the two kingdoms .

At the same time Zeus send a bolt of lightning and thunder from the sky that shook the foundations of  Atlantis that began to sink into the sea along with  the tall ship and  both of the warring Kings perished  at the bottom of the sea and were never seen again. Peace was restored in again the universe .

Some sailors around the world have said they have seen a ghost ship with its Captain and crew searching for the lost treasure that was taken by the phoenix and shared with the people and so the ghost ship and all its crew will  continue looking until the end of time for a treasure they will never find .

Somewhere out on the sea , a new horizon awaits to swallow another moon.

at the sunrise and many have tried to swallow all the ocean and its treasures ,

instead of taking a sip with a spoon and leav8ing the rest for others to share.

There are many who want to keep everything for themselves and boast of what they have but inside they are still feeling empty and unsatisfied . The King and his wealth could not share his wealth and took Neptune with him to the bottom of the ocean . The greatest benefit we all have is sharing kindness and love with one another .‘“

 The lights were turned on in the hall and all the audience applauded . A few of them even stood up on their feet and clapped excitedly .

Harry took a bow and his Mammy came over and gave him a hug .

People made their way from the hall into the street and dispersed into the night .

Harry and Maisie were brought back to their hotel by Seadar asked them where they would like to go in the morning .

He offe4red them a choice of the Mountains or the sea and Harry replied .

‘Tomorrow we must be on our way , back to the ocean sea to out  voyage of discovery “

They said their farewell and parted company all the better for the experience .

 End Of Chapter 5

Link to chapter 6

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/chapter-6-sea-island-caf%C3%A9

Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

A novel

By Paul McCann