Tiberius and the Black Crow Swamp

Tiberius and the Black Crow Swamp
Part I

Tiberius was painting a picture in his castle. He wanted surprise his horse Pine with a new picture of a starry sky in his stable. Tiberius loved his horse and would do anything for him.
Tiberius had all the things he needed to paint laid out in front of him. He had a piece of paper to paint on, a brush, a glass of water to clean the brush and of course, the paints. But then Tiberius stopped and looked at his paint collection closely. Something was missing. He had his yellow for the stars, white for the moon and purple for the comet shooting across the sky, but he was missing the color black.

Tiberius looked everywhere for his black paint tube, but he could not find it. Maybe he had used it all up painting another picture, he thought. Maybe it rolled into a crack in the floor and was gone. Either way, he had no black paint to paint his surprise picture for Pine. He felt sad. He needed to find some more paint.

Tiberius went to his friend the Blue/Green dragon. The Blue-green dragon was sitting in the shade, counting the leaves on the tree.

“Blue-green Dragon, I need to ask you a question.”

“Oh, bother.” The blue-green dragon said. “Now I’ve lost count of the leaves. Oh well, how can I help you Brave Tiberius.”

Tiberius told him of the missing black paint. The Blue green Dragon listened to Tiberius and thought about his problem for a long time. So long, that Tiberius made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ate it up with a glass of water to wash it down. When Tiberius came back, the dragon had an answer.

“If you want the best black paint in all the world, I know where you need to go.” The dragon told him.

“Where is that?” Tiberius asked.

“The Black Crow Swamp.” The Blue Green Dragon said. “That is where the mud is the blackest of black. If you can get there and grab some of this black, black mud, then you will have the best paint in the world and Pine will have the best picture of the sky in the world.
Tiberius had never heard of the Black Crow Swamp and he had heard of a lot of places before.

“Is it dangerous?” He asked the dragon.

“Very” the dragon replied, “No one likes to go there and if they do, they run away from it as fast as they can.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.” Tiberius said. He pulled out his sword and swished it around to show how brave he was. “Where is this swamp?”

“I don’t know” the dragon said. “But the map knight might know. He lives in the middle of the town of Salty Hat.

Tiberius thought that the name ‘Salty hat’ was a silly name for a town. But he needed to find the Map Knight, so he had to go to Salty Hat.

Tiberius thanked the Blue Green Dragon, who went back to counting his leaves. Tiberius had to walk to Salty Hat because if Pine knew what he was doing, it would ruin the surprise.

Tiberius walked for a long, long time. Over mountains, through forests and around lakes. He fought a troll once on a bridge and beat him by cutting the bridge in half and letting the troll fall into the water below. The troll was angry and wet, but Tiberius had to keep going. Finally he got to the town of Salty Hat.

When Tiberius got to Salty hat, it was the strangest place he had ever visited. Everyone wore hats. Big hats on little people. Little, tiny hats on big people. There were hats on dogs and hats on birds. Some people even wore hats on their hats. “What a silly place.” Tiberius thought to himself.

Then he saw a sign that said “The is the house of the Map Knight.” Tiberius knocked on the door. Bang, bang, bang, he knocked. The door opened and there was the Map knight. He had maps all over his armor and a map was on his shield. He held a big swornd and wore a shiny helmet.

“Who seeks the Map knight? Who?” Shouted the Map Knight.

“I do, Tiberius the brave. “ Tiberius said. “I need your help to find the Black Crow Swamp.”

The Map Knight laughed and said. “The only way you can get my help is if you fight me first!”

The two knights looked at each other. Tiberius pulled out his sword and said.

“Okay, I will fight you”

To be Continued...

© 2008