Tigers at Twilight - Mary Pope Osborne [8]
“Thank you,” he said to the blind man.
Kah and Ko chattered and held out their long arms. Jack and Annie hugged the two langurs.
“We’ll miss you,” said Annie.
“You were great tour guides,” said Jack. “Good-bye.”
Then he and Annie took off for the magic tree house with Teddy scampering after them.
At the rope ladder, Jack put Teddy into his pack and climbed up.
Annie carried the lotus blossom as she followed them.
Inside the tree house, Jack picked up the Pennsylvania book. But before he made a wish, he looked out the window with Annie.
In the distance, they saw Saba and the other elephants bathing in the stream.
They saw Kah and Ko swinging on vines.
They saw the tiger sunbathing in the grass, licking his sore leg.
They saw tiny deer grazing.
They saw bright birds in the trees.
They saw the blind man sitting in front of his cave. He was smiling.
Jack opened the book. He pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“I wish we could go home,” he said.
The tree house started to spin.
The wind started to blow.
It blew harder and harder.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack opened his eyes.
Late afternoon sunlight shined into the tree house.
“Our third gift,” said Annie.
She put the lotus blossom beside the pocket watch from the Titanic and the eagle’s feather from the Lakota Indians.
“One more gift,” she said to Teddy, “and you’ll be free from your spell.”
The little dog licked her hand.
“Hey, tell me this,” said Jack. “How did you know Teddy wanted us to hide behind that rock?”
Annie shrugged.
“I just knew,” she said. “I think I saw it in his eyes.”
“You did?” Jack looked into Teddy’s eyes.
The little dog tilted his head and stared back at Jack.
Teddy’s eyes twinkled, as if they held many secrets.
“Who are you, really?” whispered Jack.
Teddy just smiled a doggy smile and wagged his tail.
“Come for us again soon,” Annie said. “Okay?”
Teddy sneezed, as if to say, Of course!
Jack grabbed his pack. Then he and Annie climbed down the rope ladder.
When they stood on the ground, they looked up. A little black nose was poking out the tree house window.
“Bye!” they called.
Arf! Arf!
Jack and Annie took off between the trees.
Birds sang in the twilight. Squirrels scampered playfully through the leaves.
The Frog Creek woods were very tame after the forest in India.
Soon they came to their street. As they walked to their house, the last bit of daylight was slipping away.
Before they went inside, Jack and Annie sat on their steps.
“I have two questions,” said Jack. “If the hermit couldn’t see, how did he know about the tree house? And how did he know that we had traveled all night with the elephants?”
“Easy,” said Annie. “The one great voice of the forest told him.”
“Hmm,” said Jack.
He closed his eyes for a moment and listened.
He heard a car going down the street.
He heard a woodpecker pecking.
He heard crickets chirping.
He heard a screen door opening.
He heard a mom saying, “Time for dinner, kids.”
All the sounds were like one great voice—the one great voice of home.
MORE FACTS FOR YOU AND JACK
1) Adult elephants are plant eaters. They feed for 15 hours a day and can eat more than 400 pounds of vegetation every day.
2) The average weight of an Indian rhino is 4,000 pounds.
3) A giant python can grow up to 30 feet in length.
4) India has 238 kinds of snakes, ranging from the giant python to the worm snake, which is just over 4 inches long.
The Sacred Langur
Hinduism is the main religion of the people of India. It is a religion with many gods and goddesses. One of its important gods is Hanuman, who saved a Hindu goddess named Sita.
Hanuman has the body of a man and the face and tail of a langur monkey. Followers of Hinduism believe that Hanuman’s spirit is alive in the langurs of India. Hindu temples dedicated to Hanuman treat all langurs as special guests.
Endangered Species
In the nineteenth century, there were more than 40,000 tigers in India. Today there are fewer than 4,000. For