Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden

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Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden Page 1

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat




  READ ALL THESE

  NATE THE GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES

  NATE THE GREAT

  NATE THE GREAT GOES UNDERCOVER

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE LOST LIST

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PHONY CLUE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE FISHY PRIZE

  NATE THE GREAT STALKS STUPIDWEED

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BORING BEACH BAG

  NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSICAL NOTE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STOLEN BASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE TARDY TORTOISE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE CRUNCHY CHRISTMAS

  NATE THE GREAT SAVES THE KING OF SWEDEN

  NATE THE GREAT AND ME: THE CASE OF THE FLEEING FANG

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MONSTER MESS

  NATE THE GREAT, SAN FRANCISCO DETECTIVE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BIG SNIFF

  NATE THE GREAT ON THE OWL EXPRESS

  NATE THE GREAT TALKS TURKEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HUNGRY BOOK CLUB

  AND CONTINUE THE DETECTIVE FUN WITH

  OLIVIA SHARP

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat illustrated by Denise Brunkus

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PIZZA MONSTER

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PRINCESS OF THE FILLMORE STREET SCHOOL

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE SLY SPY

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE GREEN TOENAILS GANG

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 1997 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover art and interior illustrations © 1997 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2006 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2006 by Jody Wheeler

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-440-41302-8 — eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37683-9

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  This book is dedicated to the

  King of Sweden,

  who, would you believe,

  I do not know,

  but I think I would like to know,

  provided he is grateful

  that I kept Rosamond

  from knocking on his palace door.

  —M.W.S.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Authors

  I, Nate the Great, am a

  detective.

  My dog, Sludge, helps me.

  I solve easy cases and hard cases.

  Sometimes I solve strange cases.

  Especially for Rosamond.

  But this summer Rosamond was

  in Scandinavia.

  There would not be any

  strange cases to solve.

  That is what I, Nate the Great,

  thought until I looked

  in my mailbox.

  I found a big picture postcard

  from Rosamond.

  The picture was of a palace.

  So far, so good.

  There was a message from

  Rosamond.

  Dear Nate,

  I was in Norway.

  Now I am in Sweden.

  I was in this palace today.

  I did not see the king.

  I did not see a detective.

  I lost something on my trip.

  I don’t know where.

  I need your help.

  If you don’t help me,

  I will have to ask

  the King of Sweden

  to take the case.

  Rosamond

  P.S. What I lost is very tiny

  and works only at night.

  It lives in dark places.

  It looks smart like you

  and thinks hard like you

  but it has a very long nose

  so it probably thinks

  through its nose

  instead of its head

  but I’m not sure about that.

  Rosamond was even stranger

  in Scandinavia

  than she was at home.

  I, Nate the Great,

  could not take a case

  that was thousands

  and thousands

  and thousands

  of miles away.

  I threw Rosamond’s card

  in the wastebasket.

  The next day I got another card.

  Here are the rules:

  If you don’t take the case,

  call Sweden. Ask for Rosamond.

  If you take the case,

  you don’t have to call.

  Rosamond

  P.S. If you don’t take the case,

  I will hire that king.

  I will call him up.

  I will send him cards.

  I will knock on his palace door.

  I will get him.

  I stared at Rosamond’s card.

  There was a nice stamp on it.

  There was a man’s picture on the stamp.

  He looked like a king.

  He did not look like anyone

  who would want to be hired

  by Rosamond.

  I began to think.

  This could be my biggest case yet.

  It was international.

  Rosamond had lost something

  in a foreign country.

  Maybe in a palace.

  Maybe I could even save

  the King of Sweden

  from Rosamond.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  This case was a big blank.

  Rosamond had not sent her address.

  I did not know what she lost

  or when she lost it

  or what country she lost it in.

  How could I even begin?

  I decided to start at Annie’s house.

  Annie and Rosamond are good

  friends.

  Sludge and I went to Annie’s house.

  Annie was out front

  with her dog, Fang.

  “I am on a case,” I said.

  “Rosamond lost something

  somewhere in Scandinavia.

  What do you know about

  her trip?”

  “I helped her pack,” Annie said.

  “What did she pack?” I asked.

  “Was it anything that looked smart

  and had a long nose?”

  Fang looked up.

  He thought I was talking about him.

  Annie said, “Rosamond took
/>   clothes, shoes,

  boots for hiking in the mountains,

  toothbrush and paste,

  a hairbrush,

  and toys for her cats.”

  “Rosamond took her cats to

  Scandinavia?”

  “Yes, she said that the fish

  taste better over there.”

  “What she lost does not sound like

  anything that she packed.”

  “She packed in a strange way,”

  Annie said. “She had a special

  place for everything.

  She put her left boot

  on the left side of her suitcase,

  and her right boot on the right side.

  She put her cats’ toy mice in

  her shoes.”

  “Why?”

  “She said her shoes could be

  like mice holes for the mice.

  Their home. Want to hear more?”

  “Not if I can help it,” I said.

  “Tell me, has Rosamond written

  to you?”

  “Well, last week I got

  this photo from Norway.”

  Annie pulled a picture

  from her pocket.

  I looked at it.

  I saw Rosamond and her four cats.

  They were standing in front

  of a store.

  It looked like a gift shop.

  There were T-shirts and mugs

  and little figures

  in the store window.

  Rosamond and her cats

  were all wearing T-shirts.

  Printed on every shirt was

  NORGE KJERLIGHET ROSAMOND.

  I turned the picture over.

  On the back Rosamond had written,

  “This means Norway Loves Rosamond.”

  Annie said, “Rosamond told me

  that she was going to buy

  T-shirts and have something

  printed on them.”

  “Aha!” I said. “Since Rosamond

  didn’t lose something she packed,

  she must have lost

  something she bought.

  Do you have her address?”

  “No, she keeps moving around.”

  “May I borrow this picture?”

  “Sure,” Annie said. “Can you find out

  why Norway loves Rosamond?”

  “I, Nate the Great, would need

  a million years to find one clue.”

  Sludge and I went home.

  I got my magnifying glass.

  I looked at the photo

  Annie got from Rosamond.

  I looked at the little figures

  in the store window.

  They were trolls.

  They had very long noses

  and hair like a mop.

  Hmmm.

  Rosamond had written

  that what she lost

  looked smart like me

  and had a very long nose.

  I was getting a clue

  that I did not like.

  Rosamond had lost a troll.

  I, Nate the Great,

  do not look, think,

  or act like a troll.

  Actually I did not know

  what trolls thought

  or acted like.

  But I was pretty sure

  that they

  were not detectives.

  They did not eat pancakes

  or have a dog named Sludge.

  I needed more clues.

  “We must go to the library,”

  I said to Sludge.

  Sludge had to wait outside.

  I looked up Trolls.

  There was a lot to read.

  Most of it was folklore.

  I read that trolls live in the

  mountains and caves

  and under bridges in Norway.

  In dark places,

  just like Rosamond had written.

  They love to eat

  all kinds of berries.

  They have dark hair

  and they never cut it.

  I left the library.

  Sludge and I walked home.

  I had been right about one thing.

  Trolls do not eat pancakes.

  But I, Nate the Great, do.

  At home I made pancakes.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  He ate part of it.

  Then he took the rest

  in his mouth

  and went to the door.

  I let him out.

  He walked around the yard.

  I knew what he was doing.

  He was looking for

  a special place

  to bury the rest of his bone.

  I ate my pancakes

  and thought about the case.

  I knew that Rosamond had lost

  a tiny troll.

  Did she lose it in the palace?

  I needed to know more.

  I got Sludge.

  “Come,” I said, “we must

  go to Esmeralda’s house.

  Esmeralda always knows things.”

  Esmeralda was in her yard

  reading a book.

  “Esmeralda,” I said,

  “I am on a case.

  Do you know why someone

  would take a troll to a palace?”

  Esmeralda didn’t blink an eye.

  She said, “Is the someone

  Rosamond?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I am looking for clues

  about her trip.”

  “Well, I know she was going

  hiking in Norway,

  and then shopping for presents.

  Then she was going to Sweden.

  She wanted to see a palace there.”

  “In that order?”

  “Yes. She was saving the palace

  for the last part of her trip.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Along the way she was going to

  go to smorgasbords

  with her cats.”

  “Have you heard from her?”

  “Yes, she sent me her picture

  taken in the palace.

  She’s holding something

  with long, dark hair.”

  “Aha. Trolls have long, dark hair.”

  “Here’s the picture,” Esmeralda said.

  “I’m using it for a bookmark.”

  I looked at the picture.

  There was Rosamond in the palace.

  And she was holding something

  with long, dark hair.

  Lots of long, dark hair.

  My case was solved!

  Rosamond had lost

  the troll in the palace.

  She had written to me

  after she had been

  in the palace.

  She had the troll there

  and then she didn’t

  have it anymore.

  Now all she had to do

  was get that troll back.

  I, Nate the Great, knew that

  when Rosamond came home

  I would have to tell her

  that she had lost the troll

  in the palace.

  I knew that she would write a card

  to the King of Sweden

  and ask him to look for the troll

  and send it back.

  I knew that Rosamond would write

  a very strange card.

  I, Nate the Great,

  felt sorry for

  the King of Sweden.

  But a case is a case.

  “I have solved my case,”

  I said to Esmeralda.

  “I never thought

  that I would solve a case

  in a palace.”

  I looked at the picture

  one more time.

  There was something about it.

  Something in it.

  Something tiny, glittering, and green.

  Like a cat’s eye.

  I
looked closer.

  It was a cat’s eye.

  Rosamond was not holding the troll.

  She was holding one of her cats!

  I gave the picture back to Esmeralda.

  “My case is not solved,” I said.

  Sludge and I went home.

  Sludge went out

  to look for his buried bone.

  I watched him look.

  He could not find it.

  He had not been much help

  with this case.

  It was time for more pancakes.

  And more thinking.

  What had I learned?

  Was there a clue that I had missed?

  I had learned from Annie

  how Rosamond packed her suitcase.

  I had also learned that Rosamond

  bought presents.

  And I had figured out that

  one was a troll.

  And that’s what she had lost.

  But what if Rosamond

  didn’t lose the troll?

  What if she put it someplace

  and forgot?

  Where would Rosamond have

  put the presents?

  In her suitcase, to bring home.

  But Rosamond was moving around,

  packing and unpacking.

  So if she put the troll in the suitcase,

  wouldn’t she have seen it?

  Now, what had Esmeralda told me?

  That Rosamond went

  hiking and shopping and

  to the palace and to smorgasbords.

  What was important

  and what wasn’t?

  I heard a scratch.

  Sludge was at the door

  with his bone.

  I let him in.

  I looked at him and his bone.

  Suddenly I knew

  what was important

  and what wasn’t.

  I said to Sludge,

  “You were trying to help

  with the case

  when you went looking

  for your bone

  in a special place.

  You were trying to

  tell me something.”

  Sludge wagged his tail.

 

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