Summer of the Sea Serpent

by Mary Pope Osborne

  “AHHH!” screamed Jack and Annie.

  The giant sea serpent arched its long neck into the sky. Its scaly green skin glistened in the late sunlight. Staring at Jack and Annie, its eyes burned like bright yellow lamps.

  Jack and Annie were frozen with terror.

  The monster opened its mouth. Inside were hideous fangs and a purple forked tongue. The serpent made a terrible hissing sound!

  Jack and Annie huddled together on the rock. Frantic seal barks came from far away.

  “Teddy!” yelled Jack. “Kathleen!”

  “Their magic can’t help us now!” cried Annie. “They’re stuck in their seal—”

  Before she could finish, the sea serpent’s deep voice boomed through the cove: “WHO ARE YOU? AND WHY ARE YOU SSSTEALING THE SSSWORD OF LIGHT?”

  Jack was too stunned to answer. But Annie shouted back at the monster. “We’re Jack and Annie! We’re on a mission for Merlin!”

  “SSSSSSSSS!” the serpent hissed angrily. Its purple tongue flicked as it coiled its body around the rocky island. Then the monster arched its neck and lowered its huge head.

  Again, the ancient voice boomed through the cove: “TO BE WORTHY OF THE SSSWORD, YOU MUSSST ANSSSWER THE QUESSSTION OF THE SSSWORD.”

  “What is the question?” shouted Annie.

  “SSSSSSSSS!” hissed the serpent. It turned away and circled the rocks again. Soon its scaly green body was coiled twice around the little rocky island.

  It’s going to crush us! Jack thought with horror. Maybe they had strength enough to stab the monster before it squashed them. “Pick up the sword!” he shouted at Annie.

  Together Jack and Annie lifted the mighty sword. They gripped its handle and pointed the gleaming blade at the sea serpent.

  “Don’t come any closer!” Jack yelled.

  The serpent came closer. Its eyes flashed. Its forked tongue darted in and out. It opened its mouth wide.

  “Wait! Stop!” Annie shouted at the sea serpent. “Give us a chance! Ask us the question!”

  The serpent closed its mouth. Then it arched its neck, and its huge head dipped down right in front of Jack and Annie. In a low, deep voice, it said, “WHAT ISSS THE PURPOSSSE OF THE SSSWORD? THAT ISSS THE ANCIENT QUESSSTION.”

  “Okay! The purpose of the sword! Just a minute!” shouted Annie. She turned to Jack. “What is the purpose of the sword?” she asked.

  “To defeat your enemies?” Jack said.

  Annie shook her head. “That doesn’t sound right.”

  “To force them to give up?” Jack said. “To slay them?”

  “No, I’m sure that’s not right,” said Annie.

  “SSSSSSSSS!” the serpent hissed at them impatiently.

  “Then what?” said Jack.

  “I don’t know,” said Annie, “but maybe—maybe it’s not about fighting at all! Look at it!”

  Jack stared at the gleaming sword. Its silver blade glowed against the red sunset sky. Staring at the wondrous sword, Jack felt calmer. A strange sense of joy and relief came over him.

  “ANSSSWER THE QUESSSTION!” the serpent boomed.

  Jack’s mind became clear. “I think I’ve got it,” he said. “Remember the line from Merlin’s rhyme? Answer a question with love, not fear.”

  “Yes!” said Annie. “That’s it! It’s not about fighting! It’s about not being afraid!”

  “ANSSSWER THE QUESSSTION!” the serpent boomed.

  Jack looked up at the serpent’s face. As he stared deep into its yellow eyes, he no longer felt any fear. It was the serpent who seemed afraid now.

  “The sword should not be used to harm anyone or anything!” Jack shouted.

  “That’s right!” said Annie. “It should be used for good only!”

  The serpent stopped swaying. It flicked its tongue.

  “The sword should not make people afraid!” said Jack. “It should help take away their fear! If they’re not afraid, they’ll stop fighting!”

  The serpent was very still.

  “The purpose of the sword is not fighting!” Jack shouted. “The purpose of the sword is peace!”

  The sea serpent moved its head very close to Jack and Annie and hissed a long, whispery sssssssss.

  The serpent’s flicking tongue touched the sword for a moment. Jack’s heart nearly stopped. But then the serpent slowly pulled back its head and began to uncoil itself from around the rocky island.

  The monster kept uncoiling its great body, until once again one wide ring surrounded the cove like a circle of green hills. Then the serpent’s head sank beneath the water with barely a ripple. It was impossible to tell where its body started and where it ended.

  Jack and Annie lowered the Sword of Light and laid it back on the rock. Then they let out a huge sigh of relief and sat down next to the sword.

  Kathleen and Teddy poked their seal heads up from the calm waters. Barrh! Barrh! they barked.

  Jack and Annie laughed. “It’s safe to come out now!” Annie called.

  The seals hauled themselves onto the rocky island. Then they plopped on their sides.

  “The sword helped us answer the ancient question,” said Jack.

  They all looked at the Sword of Light. It glowed brightly, even though the sun had slipped below the horizon and the purple sky was fading into twilight.

  “We still have to get it out of here before it’s completely dark,” said Annie.

  “I know,” said Jack. “But how?”

  “Look at Merlin’s rhyme,” said Annie.

  Jack took the shell from his pocket. He read the last line of Merlin’s rhyme:

  With rhyme and sword, your home is near.

  Jack looked up. “That doesn’t make sense,” he said.

  “Perhaps it does,” said Teddy.

  Jack and Annie turned around. Teddy and Kathleen were standing behind them. Their seal skins had silently slipped off. They were human again.

  “Perhaps it calls for a magical rhyme,” said Teddy. “And I am a magician, remember?”

  Annie laughed. “How could we forget?” she said.

  Teddy grinned. “I have gotten much better at my rhymes,” he said. “Just watch.” He rubbed his hands together. Then he carefully picked up the Sword of Light. He gripped its handle with both hands. He pointed the silver blade toward the tree house on the distant sea cliff.

  Teddy took a deep breath. Then he shouted:

  O Sword of Light, now light the night!

  Teddy paused. Jack grew worried. Teddy always had trouble finishing his rhymes. And even the ones he did finish never worked the way they were supposed to.

  Kathleen stepped close to the young sorcerer. “Say it again,” she said softly.

  Teddy called out again:

  O Sword of Light, now light the night!

  Kathleen finished the rhyme in selkie language:

  Ma-ee-bree-stro-eh-brite!

  The sword began to vibrate in Teddy’s hands. There was a roar and a blast of white light. Shimmering beams shot through the dark. The beams wiggled and waved, then streamed together to make a glittering bridge.

  The bridge spanned the purple darkness of dusk. It stretched from the rocky island in the middle of the cove to the sea cliff above the coast. When Teddy lowered the sword, the bridge remained in the sky.

  “Wow!” whispered Annie. She turned to Kathleen. “What did you say to finish the rhyme?”

  “Ma-ee-bree-stro-eh-brite,” Kathleen told her. “Make a bridge, strong and bright.”

  “Yes, that is exactly what I was going to say,” said Teddy.

  “Indeed,” said Kathleen, smiling. She took Teddy’s hand, then turned to Jack and Annie. “ ’Tis a bright bridge to take you from my world back to yours.”

  “You mean—we can walk on it?” said Annie.

  “Try it,” said Teddy.

  “Oh, man,” said Jack. He laughed nervously. Then he raised his foot and put it down on the light. It felt solid. He put his other foot on the light and took a step for
ward. The light felt as firm as a brick pathway.

  Annie stepped onto the light bridge beside Jack. It was wide enough for them to stand side by side. “This is so cool,” she whispered.

  “Wait, do not forget this,” said Teddy. He carefully handed Jack and Annie the Sword of Light.

  Together they gripped the handle of the sword. “What about you guys?” asked Jack.

  “I must return to my cave now,” said Kathleen, “or my sisters will begin to worry.”

  “And I will see Kathleen back home,” said Teddy, “then return to the future in Camelot.”

  “After you stay for supper with me and my sisters,” Kathleen reminded Teddy.

  “Oh … ,” said Jack. He wanted to have supper with the selkies, too. He wanted to spend more time with Kathleen and Teddy, whatever they were doing.

  “We’d better get going, Jack,” said Annie. “It’s almost dark.”

  “Okay,” said Jack.

  “Good-bye for now,” Kathleen said to them. “And thank you. ’Tis amazing how you defeated the enemy.”

  “The sea serpent wasn’t really our enemy,” said Jack.

  “He was like the Spider Queen,” said Annie. “They both seemed really scary until we got to know them.”

  “Yeah,” said Jack.

  “Will we see you again?” Annie asked Teddy and Kathleen.

  “Yes, I have a feeling you will see both of us again soon,” said the selkie.

  “We will find you when you least expect it,” said Teddy with a grin. “Now, my friends, you must go. Night comes quickly upon you. Farewell.”

  “Farewell,” said Jack and Annie. They turned and started walking up the bright bridge. High above the water, the sword’s light swung over the cove like a swaying lantern. The water below shimmered with sparkling ripples.

  Jack heard two splashes behind them. He stopped and listened.

  “Go, go, go,” whispered Annie.

  Jack started walking again. He and Annie climbed higher and higher, until they came to the end of the bright pathway.

  They stepped off the bridge onto the rocky sea cliff above the coves. Clutching the handle of the sword, they looked back.

  The shining bridge shattered into a million pieces of golden light. Like the sparks of a firecracker, the glittering pieces rained down through the sky. Then they quickly burned out.

  The cove below was dark and silent—except for the distant barking of seals.

  “Now what?” Jack asked.

  “Now I thank you,” said a deep voice.

  “Merlin!” cried Annie.

  Merlin stepped out of the shadows. He wore his red magician’s cloak. His long white beard shined in the radiant glow of the sword.

  “You brought the Sword of Light out of the gloom just in time,” he said, “before nightfall on the summer solstice.”

  “Why did we have to get it on the summer solstice?” said Jack.

  “That is the day when the powers of the Ice Wizard of Winter are weakest,” said Merlin.

  “The Ice Wizard of Winter?” said Annie. “Does the sword belong to him? Did we just steal it from him?”

  “No,” said Merlin. “Long ago, the Ice Wizard stole the sword from the Lady of the Lake and brought it to his kingdom high above the North Sea.” Merlin pointed to the snowcapped mountains beyond the rocky coast.

  “The wizard soon discovered that the Sword of Light was useless to him, for the Lady of the Lake had placed a spell upon it that made it powerful only in the hands of worthy mortals. Still, the wizard refused to part with it. He buried it at the bottom of the cove.”

  “The Cove of the Stormy Coast,” said Jack.

  “Yes,” said Merlin. “Only recently did the seabirds tell me of the sword’s whereabouts. I knew I needed worthy mortals to retrieve it. So I sent for you on the summer solstice, when the Ice Wizard could send no mighty storms to keep you from finding it. He could only throw the ‘Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost’ over you.”

  “So the Ice Wizard sent the fog,” said Annie.

  “And did he put the sea monster in the cove, too?” asked Jack.

  Merlin smiled. “No. The serpent serves the Lady of the Lake. Long ago, he secretly took it upon himself to find the sword and guard it. Should any mortals survive the wizard’s storms and gales, they still had to prove themselves worthy by answering the serpent’s question. I believed you two would be able to answer the question wisely. And I was right.”

  “Your rhyme helped,” said Jack.

  He and Annie carefully handed the Sword of Light to Merlin.

  “Will you put this sword in a stone now?” asked Annie. “So Arthur can pull it out someday and become king?”

  “No, this sword is even more powerful than the sword in the stone,” said Merlin. “This sword has a name—Excalibur.”

  “Excalibur!” said Jack and Annie.

  “I will take it back to the Isle of Avalon now,” said Merlin, “and return it to the Lady of the Lake. Someday after Arthur is king, she will give it to him. The sword will help him face many challenges bravely and wisely. He will—”

  Merlin was interrupted by a strange sound from the water below. It sounded like the deep bellow of a foghorn.

  “What was that?” said Jack.

  “Ah, yes, there is one last thing to do,” said Merlin. He raised the sword and pointed it toward the Cove of the Stormy Coast. Like the beam of a giant searchlight, the sword’s light streamed over the black waters.

  Merlin moved the beam back and forth, as if he were looking for something. “Ah,” he said. “There he is.”

  The light revealed the gigantic head of the sea serpent. Its yellow lamp-like eyes shined back at them.

  “He mourns now,” said Merlin, “for he has lost his purpose for being here. ’Tis time we help him home to the waters of Avalon.”

  The magician lifted the sword slightly. The beam made a path to show the monster the passage out of the cove. The giant serpent slid through the water and soon disappeared beneath the waves of the dark summer sea.

  “His mission is done now,” said Annie.

  “Yes, and so is yours, my friends,” said Merlin. “You must climb the ladder to your tree house and go home.”

  By the light of the sword, Jack and Annie found their way to the rope ladder and climbed up into the tree house. When they looked out the window, they saw Merlin standing in the glow of the Sword of Light.

  “Bye!” Jack and Annie called.

  The magician raised his arm and spread his fingers in a wave of farewell. Merlin’s gesture stirred something in Jack’s memory, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Let’s go now,” Annie said.

  Jack took the seashell out of his pocket. He pointed to the words Frog Creek. “I wish we could go home!” he said.

  “Wait!” said Annie. “Our shoes! We left them on the beach!”

  Too late.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Jack opened his eyes. A warm summer breeze wafted into the tree house. The noon sun shined between the tree leaves. No time at all had passed in Frog Creek.

  “Merlin was the Water Knight,” Jack said.

  “What?” said Annie.

  “When he said good-bye, Merlin gave us the same wave the Water Knight gave us,” said Jack. “Remember?” Jack raised his hand and imitated Merlin’s gesture.

  “You’re right!” Annie laughed. “Why didn’t I think of that? He always helps us get started on our missions.”

  “And now we have three things from him,” said Jack. He put the pale blue shell on the floor next to the Royal Invitation and the yellow autumn leaf. Then he looked at Annie.

  “Home?” he said.

  She nodded.

  They climbed down the rope ladder and started walking barefoot through the damp, leafy woods.


  “I guess we’ll just have to tell Mom we lost our shoes in a time before Camelot,” said Jack.

  “Yeah,” said Annie, “on our way to get the Sword of Light that was stolen by the Ice Wizard of Winter and guarded by a giant sea serpent who served the Lady of the Lake.”

  “Right,” said Jack. “A simple explanation.”

  “You ready to go swimming at the lake now?” asked Annie.

  Jack remembered the thrill of being a seal and zooming through the deep waters. “It won’t be the same without Kathleen and Teddy,” he said. “We won’t be seals.”

  “We can pretend,” said Annie. “Let’s hurry before Mom decides it’s too late to go.”

  They took off running. They ran barefoot through the woods, over sticks and leaves, through the dappled noon light. Then they ran down their street. They were out of breath by the time they reached their yard.

  “Oh, wow!” said Annie. “Look!” She pointed at their porch.

  Sitting in front of the door were their sneakers.

  Jack and Annie climbed the porch and picked up their shoes. As Jack turned his over, fine white sand fell out—and a couple of tiny silver pebbles.

  “Who—how?” he said.

  A seagull screeched overhead. They looked up. The gull screeched again, then flew away and disappeared into the soft summer light.

  Annie shrugged. “A little leftover magic,” she said. Then she called through the screen door, “Mom! We’re ready!”

  Once again, details of old stories from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England have inspired a Magic Tree House Merlin Mission. While researching Summer of the Sea Serpent, I read about mythical creatures known as selkies, who were said to dwell in the inlets and bays of the British Isles. Selkies were “seal people” who took human shape whenever they slipped off their seal skins. In several old tales, female selkies marry fishermen and cause great heartache when they return to their seal lives.

  Many Celtic tales also tell of water horses that live in Scottish lakes and of the legendary Gray Man, a bearded giant who spreads his fog cloak over lonely Scottish and Irish coasts.

  Stories of giant sea serpents appear in tales from all over the world, from ancient Greece and Europe to India and Asia. Long ago, when the ocean was a realm of mysteries and marvels, many sailors and fishermen reported seeing long-necked, snaky monsters swimming in the deep. It’s likely that they mistook giant squid, sea turtles, or whales for these sea monsters.