The Amber Necklace

by Paula Harrison

  A few lemurs scampered to the ground and one galloped right up to the picnic basket.

  “Let’s give them some now – they look hungry.” Zina rummaged in the basket. “I chopped up a lot of fruit so we’ll still have some left over.”

  The girls spread half of the fruit across the ground. Then they climbed on to a large mossy stone at the side of the clearing and shared Cook’s pastries.

  The lemurs nibbled the fruit hungrily. Then they began leaping around the clearing, chasing each other and swinging off the rope that the carnival workers had tied around the trees.

  At last there was a rumbling sound and a blue truck rolled through the bushes. The bearded man, Ando, climbed out and two workmen followed him. The lemurs sprang into the trees, calling in alarm.

  Scarlett quickly flung the rest of the fruit on to the ground. The lemurs waited for a moment, watching the workmen warily. Then they slipped down from the trees and began to eat.

  “Good luck!” Lily squeezed Zina’s arm. “At least there aren’t as many of them this time.”

  Zina brushed off the pastry crumbs and walked towards the workmen. Suddenly her hands were hot and her mouth felt dry. You have to remember lots of lemur facts, she told herself firmly. Don’t let them go before you’ve explained things properly.

  “Your Highness.” Ando looked at Zina’s green ninja clothes in surprise. “I really must ask you to leave this area. We’ll begin sawing soon and it’ll be very dangerous.”

  Zina took a deep breath. “I’d like you to listen to me first. There’s a lot you don’t know about the lemurs that live here. Please would you come and sit down?”

  Ando took off his yellow helmet and scratched his head. “I suppose so. Just for a minute.” He sat on the mossy stone and his workmates joined him.

  Zina felt as if everyone’s eyes were fixed on her. She stared at the little baby lemur, who was nibbling a piece of mango, and tried to remember what she’d planned to say.

  “Go on, Zina,” whispered Lily. “You can do it.”

  Zina swallowed. “Ring-tailed lemurs live in groups of fifteen to twenty animals. As well as fruit, they eat flowers, leaves and sap.” She noticed the workmen smiling as they watched the animals playing, and her heart lifted. “When lemurs look for food on the ground, they point their tails straight up so that everyone stays together and no one gets lost.”

  “I didn’t know that,” said Ando. “What else can you tell us, Princess Zina?”

  Zina explained why the tamarind trees were so special, providing food all year round. “The lemurs are amazing animals. That’s why we want to save the trees that give them food for the whole year.” She clasped her hands together. “So please will you change the route of the carnival parade? Then the lemurs can keep the trees they need so much.”

  Ando’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t realise these trees were so important. I’m glad you told us in time.”

  “Then you’ll change the carnival route and leave the tamarind trees alone?” Scarlett asked eagerly.

  Ando looked at the lemurs bounding along the ground and scampering through the branches. “Yes, I definitely will!”

  Zina beamed with delight as the men untied the rope around the trees. She’d done it! She’d persuaded the workmen that the lemurs should keep their home.

  “We’ll need to find a new path for the carnival floats.” Ando took a map out of the truck and studied it closely. “Princess Zina, would you and your friends help us? You can check whether the new route crosses any more tamarind trees.”

  Zina exchanged looks with Scarlett and Lily.

  “We should definitely help!” whispered Scarlett, her eyes sparkling.

  Zina turned to Ando. “We’d be happy to help you. We’d like to protect as much of the forest as we can.”

  “If you climb into the truck we’ll give you a ride,” said Ando. “We must go back to the start of the route by the main road.”

  The princesses grinned in delight and climbed into the back of Ando’s truck.

  “This is so much fun!” said Scarlett, holding tight to the side as the truck bumped its way through the bushes. “Just imagine what our parents would say.”

  Zina bit her lip. She didn’t think her mum would be very impressed to see her riding in a truck wearing ninja clothes!

  A few minutes later, the truck rumbled out of the forest next to the road. Ando stopped and the girls jumped down from the back. A whole section of the road was covered with water. The river, which had flooded over the top of its banks, lay just beyond.

  “This is where the path was supposed to go.” Ando unfolded the map and drew a line with his finger. “We chose this route so that it joined the road on the other side. We’ve already cut down half the trees.”

  Zina studied the map. She could see the large square shape of the palace and the forest beside it. Close by was the city, where the carnival parade would begin.

  “How far does the flood go?” asked Scarlett.

  “The water stretches all the way to here.” Ando pointed to the map again.

  “So if you take the path along like this it’ll join the road a little quicker,” suggested Lily. “You’ll have less trees to chop down and that means you’ll disturb less animals too.”

  Zina nodded. “Yes – make the path shorter! There are lots of creatures living in the forest, not just the ring-tailed lemurs.”

  “Thank you, princesses.” Ando folded up the map. “Follow me and I’ll show you where the new path will go.” He led the princesses along the path where some trees had already been felled. Logs lay in neat piles at the side.

  As the girls checked the new route for tamarind trees, the workmen walked behind them marking the new path by putting chalk crosses on the trees.

  “There are no tamarind trees along the path at all,” said Zina, as they rejoined the road.

  “That’s good news!” Ando smiled. “Thank you, princesses. I hope I’ll see you again on Carnival Day.”

  “Goodbye!” The girls waved as they walked on down the road towards the palace.

  “We did it!” Scarlett skipped through the palace gates, her black curls bobbing. “What shall we do now?”

  “We could get something to eat,” suggested Lily. “I’m really hungry.”

  A maid came down the palace steps to meet them. “Good morning, Princess Zina.” Her eyes widened a little when she saw their odd green clothes. “Your parents took the other kings and queens for a tour of the City Gardens. Queen Tali wanted me to let you know that the float has arrived and it’s in the courtyard ready for decorating.”

  “Thank you,” said Zina.

  The maid curtsied and went back inside.

  Lily’s eyes lit up. “I can’t wait to make the perfect lemur float.”

  Zina smiled. She knew how much Lily loved making things. She was sure her friend would have lots of ideas. “The carnival is tomorrow so we’d better get started!”

  They hurried through the palace garden and found the wooden carnival float standing in the courtyard.

  “It looks so big and empty,” said Scarlett.

  “But it won’t be when we’ve finished,” said Lily excitedly. “First we need to fix paper here at the back and paint a rainforest background on it. Then we can make tall trees out of rolled-up cardboard and stick branches and leaves on to them. Do you have any cardboard, Zina?”

  “I think so,” replied Zina. “Let’s collect all the things we need.”

  The princesses gathered cardboard, paper, glue, scissors and paint. Lily began painting the rainforest background, while Scarlett and Zina rolled up the cardboard to make the tree trunks.

  They fixed the cardboard tree trunks to the cart with sticky tape and made sure none of them wobbled. Then Zina started cutting out green tissue-paper leaves.

  Lily studied the float, curling her blonde hair behind her ear. “It would look nice if we added some flowers.”

  “We can pick a few from the garden,” said Zina
. “And I’ll fetch the furry toy lemurs from my bedroom. We can put them in the cardboard trees.”

  At last they stopped to look at the decorated float. The cardboard trees stood tall and straight, and Zina’s toy lemurs peeped between the beautiful tissue-paper leaves.

  Lily tilted her head to one side. “It just needs a little more decoration… Maybe we could hang some vines from the branches and scatter some twigs across the floor – just to make it look real.”

  Rushing through the palace gates, the princesses gathered twigs and low-hanging vines from the nearby trees.

  Zina stopped suddenly. “I think I left the picnic basket behind in the forest where we met Ando and the workmen. I forgot all about it.”

  “We can fetch it now,” said Scarlett, and the girls headed deeper into the trees.

  The rainforest was eerily quiet. No parrots squawked overhead. No lizards rustled in the bushes. There was only the endless fluttering of leaves in the wind and Zina’s amber jewel murmuring back.

  “Zina, why does your necklace make that whispering sound?” Lily stared at it curiously.

  “I don’t know.” Zina lifted the golden jewel on its chain. “It always happens when I’m out in the forest. Amber comes from tree sap, which turns into a jewel over millions of years. My grandma used to say it holds the heart of the forest.”

  “It’s really beautiful,” said Lily.

  “Hey! We’re nearly there,” called Scarlett, who’d climbed halfway up a tree. “I can’t hear the lemurs though.”

  Zina hurried forward. She was sure she recognised the way. The bushes and flowers looked just the same. Yet just up ahead there was a huge open patch of blue sky where branches and leaves should have been.

  A horrible cold feeling ballooned in Zina’s stomach. She darted past some bushes and gasped. Sunlight beamed down through the empty space. Eight large tree stumps stuck out of the ground and sawdust was scattered all around the clearing.

  The special tamarind trees were gone.

  Zina’s eyes filled with tears. “No! Why did they take these trees when they said they wouldn’t?”

  “It’s horrible!” stormed Scarlett. “We told them the lemurs needed the tamarind trees. We even helped them change the carnival route.”

  “The lemurs are gone too,” said Lily. “They must have run away when the carnival workers started sawing.”

  Zina sank on to one of the stubby tree stumps. She couldn’t believe this had once been a beautiful tamarind tree with long branches and emerald-green leaves.

  A pile of sawn-off branches stacked to one side was all that was left. A rumbling began in the distance, growing louder. A blue truck rolled to a stop and Ando jumped out. “Princess Zina, I was just on my way to the palace to find you. I’m so sorry about these trees.”

  Zina wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Ando scratched his head anxiously. “It was all a terrible mistake! You see, some of my team didn’t come with me this morning. They were busy hanging up carnival decorations and when they finished early, they drove out to find us. When they saw these trees still standing they got on with cutting them down because they thought it needed to be done.”

  “You mean they didn’t know you were changing the route of the parade?” said Lily.

  “Exactly.” Ando gave a deep sigh. “I can only tell you again how sorry I am about all this.” He bowed before returning to his truck.

  “So it was all a mistake,” said Scarlett grumpily. “Well, that doesn’t help the lemurs, does it?”

  Zina twisted round. “Did you hear that squeaking noise?”

  A faint squeak came again.

  “It sounds like an animal.” Lily stared around. “But where is it?”

  Zina sprang up and tried to follow the sound. Crouching down, she delved through a pile of leaves but there was nothing there.

  “Over here!” Scarlett was leaning over the stack of sawn-off branches.

  “Some poor animal’s stuck under there,” cried Zina.

  The girls took the branches off the pile one by one, moving them gently in case the animal was right underneath. As the heap grew smaller, a little furry face looked up through the leaves. Its eyes were golden-brown.

  “It’s the baby lemur!” Zina pulled off the last two branches, freeing the baby lemur who they’d helped the day before.

  The little animal squeaked again and bounded up Zina’s arm on to her shoulder.

  “Did you get stuck under there?” Zina stroked his furry head soothingly.

  “Poor thing! That must have been really scary,” said Lily. “Look, Zina! He remembers you.”

  “I guess we’ll have to help him find his family again,” sighed Scarlett. “I just wish we’d helped them all by saving their special trees.”

  The girls were silent for a moment.

  Zina felt tears come to her eyes again but she blinked them back. She knew what Scarlett meant. She felt like they’d failed too, but right now the baby lemur needed them. She rubbed the little creature’s fur. “I guess we should start looking for the other lemurs.”

  “We don’t need to,” Lily told her. “They’re coming back!”

  Leaves rustled. Branches creaked. The lemur tribe came swinging silently through the trees. As they reached the clearing, they sprang down to the ground and gathered round the tree stumps. A few of them searched the ground, as if looking for food, but most of them stared at the three girls.

  The baby lemur gave Zina’s face a little lick. Then he scampered down her arm and leapt on to his mother’s back.

  The princesses exchanged looks.

  “They seem really sad,” murmured Lily. “Do you think they’re wondering where the trees have gone?”

  Zina looked round at the lemurs’ faces with their tufty ears and golden-brown eyes. “I wish there was something we could do.”

  The wind swirled through the forest, making the branches shake and the leaves rustle. Zina’s amber jewel hanging around her neck began to whisper again. The lemurs’ ears pricked up.

  A funny idea popped into Zina’s head. Maybe the jewel whispered back to the trees for a reason. After all, her grandma had told her that the amber jewel held the heart of the forest inside it. Maybe it could help the lemurs somehow.

  She pulled the necklace over her head and held the jewel up to the light. Lighter flecks winked inside the golden amber. “I know this sounds strange,” she began. “But maybe my jewel can help.”

  “You mean … like magic?” cried Scarlett. “That’s an awesome idea! Let’s go and fetch my jewel-making tools right now.”

  “Wait a second.” Lily frowned. “Don’t you think it would be better to stay here and help the lemurs find somewhere new to live? They look so quiet and sad, and we don’t know if the amber jewel will do any good at all.”

  Scarlett’s face fell. “But it’s a jewel that comes from trees! I really think we should use the tools to free the magic.”

  Zina’s mind whirled as if too many thoughts were crowding into her head at once. It was her jewel and she knew it was really up to her to decide. She let the necklace twist in the light and the teardrop-shaped jewel spun back and forth, flashing like golden fire. “I think we should see if this jewel has magic!” She jumped to her feet. “Maybe only a jewel from the forest can help the lemurs now.”

  Zina’s feet flew as she sped down the forest path alongside her friends. A parrot called in the trees but she hardly heard it.

  “We can get the jewel-making tools and run straight back,” panted Scarlett. “It won’t take long.”

  Lily stumbled over a tree root and grabbed a branch to steady herself. “I’m all right,” she gasped, when the others stopped to help.

  They slowed a little as they ran through the palace gates and Zina’s heart sank. Her mum and dad and all the other kings and queens were climbing out of carriages by the front door. What would they say when they saw the princesses in ninja clothes?r />
  Luckily, the grown-ups went in the front entrance so the girls dashed in through the back door. Zina stopped at the foot of the stairs. “You fetch the jewel-making tools,” she told her friends. “I’ll keep a lookout.”

  A maid came bustling past with a tea tray. Then Queen Tali marched down the corridor. “There you are, Zina.” She shook her head. “I was about to ask you to come and have tea with our royal visitors but just look at you! Your hair is a mess and there are scratches all over your arms. You look as if you’ve been fighting a bramble patch. And where did you get those odd clothes from?”

  “They’re … um … play clothes.” Zina tried to comb her tangled hair with her fingers.

  Just then, Scarlett and Lily came thundering down the stairs with the box of jewel-making tools.

  Queen Tali stared. “Goodness! You’re all as scruffy as each other. You’d better go and get cleaned up.”

  “But … there’s something important we need to do,” said Zina desperately. “Please can we come back and have tea later?”

  “Zina, your royal duties are very important.” The queen straightened her diamond crown. “You can’t run off and play all the time.”

  “Please, Mum! The lemurs need our help right now. It’s really important!” Zina fixed her gaze on her mum’s face, desperately hoping that her mum would allow her to go.

  “And afterwards we promise we’ll come straight back,” added Scarlett. “We’ll get cleaned up and brush our hair and everything!”

  Queen Tali looked from one girl to the other. “All right then. But when you come back I’d like you to get changed and come for tea, please. We have lots of carnival business to talk about.”

  “Thank you!” Zina hugged her mum, and then the princesses raced out of the door again.

  Crossing the palace garden, the princesses ran back into the rainforest. Zina led them down the path, pushing branches out of the way. A green and purple lizard dashed away from her feet and a parrot flew off, squawking in alarm.