Dragon of the Red Dawn: A Merlin Mission (9 page)

The sun is shining
,
The day is hot.
But moonlight
And cool breezes
Still fill my heart
,
Left over from last night.

“Whoa!” whispered Annie. “Good!”

“Yes, very good!” said the samurai. He looked at the sky. “The moonlight, the cool breeze,” he mused, “left over from the night. Very good. Master Basho has taught you well!”

The samurai strolled away, shaking his head and murmuring to himself. He let out a happy laugh, as if delighted with the day.

Jack couldn’t believe it. They were free! “Hurry, let’s go,” he said. “Before someone
else
sees us!”

Jack and Annie ran to the rope ladder and
started up. As soon as they climbed inside the tree house, Jack grabbed the Pennsylvania book. He found a picture of the Frog Creek woods. “As the famous samurai once said, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step,’” said Jack.

“Or one
sentence,”
said Annie.

“Right,” said Jack. He pointed at the picture. “I wish we could go home.”

Annie gasped. “Wait a minute!” she said. “We forgot our mission!”

“What?” said Jack.

But the wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

The early-morning air was cold.

Jack and Annie were back in Frog Creek,
wearing their own clothes. Jack’s burlap bag was a backpack again. He looked inside to make sure the Wand of Dianthus was there. It was. And Basho’s frog poem was there, too.

“I can’t believe it!” said Annie. “We didn’t look for a secret of happiness for Merlin. How could we forget that?”

“Oh, man,” said Jack. “We were so busy worrying about the samurai and putting out the fire that we forgot our mission.”

“What will Morgan say?” said Annie. “We’ve
never
forgotten a mission before! And this one was the most important we’ve ever had! To help save Merlin!” Annie was near tears.

“Wait, wait. Calm down,” said Jack. “Let’s think a minute. Maybe we actually found a secret of happiness. Maybe we just don’t know we found it.”

“You mean, like—were we
extra
happy at any time?” asked Annie.

“Yeah, sort of,” said Jack. “Were we?”

“I don’t know, were you?” said Annie.

“I think a few times …,” said Jack.

“Like when?” said Annie.

“Like when we were crossing the Great Bridge with Basho, I felt sort of happy then,” said Jack.

“Me too,” said Annie. “And I was pretty happy eating sushi.”

“Yeah, but I got scared when I saw the samurai watching me,” said Jack.

“What about the sumo-wrestling match?” asked Annie.

“That was fun,” said Jack. “But I don’t know if it really made me
happy.”

“Riding the dragon and putting out the fire?” said Annie.

“That was great,” said Jack. “But I was too worried about saving the city to be happy.”

“Making up poems for the samurai?” said Annie.

“Too nervous,” said Jack.

“Well, when were you
purely
happy?” said Annie.

“I think it was when …” Jack stopped. He felt silly saying what he was about to say.

“Go ahead,” said Annie.

“I think it was when I was lying on the mat in Basho’s house,” said Jack, “and I touched that little patch of moonlight on the floor and I listened to the banana leaves in the wind.”

“Oh, yes!” said Annie. “Before we fell asleep, and I heard the cricket and I felt like I was a cricket myself going to sleep in a cozy place.”

“Yeah, like that,” said Jack.

“It’s like what Basho said about finding beauty in the small things of nature,” said Annie, “like his poem about that frog splashing in the water.”

“I think that’s it!” said Jack. “A secret of happiness is paying really close attention to the small things in nature.”

“Wow,” said Annie. “I think that’s a great secret to share with Merlin.”

“It is,” said Jack, “and Basho’s poem will help Merlin understand.”

“Right,” said Annie.

“Let’s go,” said Jack.

Annie climbed down the rope ladder. Jack put his pack on his back and followed her.

As Jack and Annie started through the chilly woods together, Jack noticed things he hadn’t seen before. He saw tiny blue wild-flowers sprouting up from the winter-weary ground.

He saw fresh anthills in the dirt.

He saw leaf buds on twigs and green moss on a rock, bright in the March sunlight.

“I feel like I’m seeing spring for the first time,” said Jack.

“Me too,” said Annie.

“Not just for the first time this year,” said Jack. “But for the first time in my whole life.”

“Me too,” said Annie.

Jack felt happy,
really
happy, as he and Annie headed for home in the sparkling morning light.

T
he poet
Basho
was born in Japan in 1644. His family wanted him to grow up to be a samurai. But when he was a young man, he decided to write poetry instead.

Basho was poor and unknown for many years. Gradually, though, people started to read his poetry and, over time, he became very famous! His poetry fans built him a small house near the river Sumida. A student gave him a banana tree—
basho
, in Japanese—to plant in his yard. In 1682, Basho’s house was destroyed by a fire that
swept through
Edo
. (Edo was often in danger from fires because the buildings were made of wood. As mentioned in this story, a terrible fire in 1657 had burned nearly all the city!)

A new house was built for Basho, but he did not live there for long. In 1684, he began the first of his journeys around Japan. Basho even wrote a book about his travels called
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
, in which he combined journal writing and poetry.

The form of poetry that Basho is famous for is called
haiku
(say
HI
-koo). It is the shortest form of Japanese poetry. Haiku poetry is written in plain speech and often describes humble things of everyday life. At first, haiku poetry seems very simple, but it can have a deep effect on a reader. A good haiku poem can waken your senses and help you see life in a fresh way—like it did for Jack, Annie, and the other people in this story.

Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #38
(A Merlin Mission)
Monday with a Mad Genius

Available now!

Excerpt copyright ©
2007
by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children's Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

J
ack poured milk over his cereal. His stomach felt fluttery. It was Monday—the first day of a new school year.

Jack always felt nervous on the first day. What would his new teacher be like? Would his desk be close to a window? Would friends from last year be in his class again this year?

“Annie, hurry!” Jack’s mom called upstairs. “It’s fifteen minutes till eight. School starts in half an hour.”

Jack’s dad walked into the kitchen. “Are you
sure you and Annie don’t want me to drive you?” he asked.

“No thanks, we don’t mind walking,” said Jack. Their school was only three blocks away.

“Annie,
hurry
!” their mom called again. “You’re going to be late!”

The back door banged open. Annie rushed into the kitchen. She was out of breath.

“Oh, I thought you were upstairs,” their mom said with surprise. “You were outside?”

“Yes!” said Annie, panting. “Just taking a quick walk.” She looked at Jack. Her eyes sparkled. “Hurry, Jack. We really should go
now
!”

“Okay, I’m coming!” said Jack. He leapt up from the table. He could tell Annie wasn’t talking about school.
The tree house must be back! Finally!