The door opened. Annie pulled Priscilla over to the hearth.
“See!” said Annie. “The turkey fell into the fire! It burned up!”
“I did it,” Jack confessed.
Priscilla just stared at the burned turkey in the wet, messy hearth. Then she looked at Jack. He looked away from her.
“Ah, Jack,” Priscilla said softly. “Thou looks sad.”
He nodded.
“I ruined everything,” he mumbled.
“No, thou did not,” said Priscilla. She reached out her hand. “Come.”
Priscilla led Jack and Annie out into the bright autumn light.
“Look,” she said.
Jack saw Pilgrim women and kids walking to the tables. They all carried wooden platters piled with food.
“In the other houses, there was cooking also,” said Priscilla.
Jack saw roasted ducks, turkeys, and deer meat. He saw baked fish, lobsters, eels, clams, and oysters.
He saw pumpkins, beans and corn, dried plums, berries and roasted nuts, steamy pots of soups and puddings, and loaves of baked breads.
“We had a very good harvest this fall,” said Priscilla. “We stored many vegetables. We salted our fish and cured our meat. And today, our Wampanoag neighbors brought back five deer from the forest for our feast.”
Jack was relieved to see all the food.
Priscilla knelt down and looked him in the eye.
“See, thou did not ruin anything, Jack,” she said. “Thou and Annie have helped me a lot this day. You have both made me laugh. And you have both acted with kind hearts.”
Jack was amazed. He thought he’d been no help at all.
“Come,” said Priscilla. “Let us join the others. Art thou hungry?”
Jack nodded. Seeing all the platters of food had made him really hungry.
He and Annie followed Priscilla.
In the golden glow of autumn light, Jack and Annie joined the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at the long tables.
Priscilla gave Jack and Annie wooden plates. She gave them big white cloth napkins. Then she served them plenty of food.
Before they started to eat, Governor Bradford stood up to speak.
“Those of us who came here on the Mayflower did not know how to live in this land,” he said. “But Squanto came to help us. And today, we give thanks for him, and for the peace we share with his people, and for all our great blessings.”
Governor Bradford looked at Jack and Annie.
“Welcome to our feast,” he said. “At this moment, three worlds—your world, our world, and the world of the Wampanoag—are not three. They are one. ’Tis the magic of community.”
“Indeed!” said Annie. She clapped her hands and looked at Jack. “We did it,” she whispered.
Did what? thought Jack.
Governor Bradford then put his napkin over his shoulder.
“Now!” he said. “Let us feast till our bellies are filled!”
As everyone started to eat, Annie leaned close to Jack.
“We found the special magic,” she whispered. “The magic of community. Remember the rhyme?” She repeated Morgan’s words:
“To find a special magic,
When work and toil are done,
Gather all together,
Turn three worlds into one.”
“Oh, man,” said Jack. He’d forgotten all about it.
“We can go home now,” said Annie.
“No way,” said Jack. “We have to eat first.”
Jack and Annie used their fingers to pick up their food. And they ate and ate and ate. Jack tried everything on his plate—except a little bit of eel and two clams. Everything he did eat, he liked—even the turnips.
Food really tastes good, he thought as he chewed, when you eat it outside, on a beautiful day, with lots of nice people.
Slowly the feast came to an end. The guests wiped their plates with their last bits of bread. Then they wiped their hands and faces with their napkins.
Jack and Annie stood up.
“We have to go home,” Annie said to Priscilla.
“Ah, thou must go back to thine own community now,” said Priscilla.
Annie nodded. Then she kissed Priscilla on the cheek.
“Thanks for everything,” Annie said.
Jack wanted to kiss Priscilla, too, but he was too shy.
“Thanks, Priscilla,” he said.
“I thank thee, Jack,” she said. Then she leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Jack felt his face grow red.
“Excuse me, sir,” Annie said to Governor Bradford. “But we must leave now.”
“Oh, but we have not yet taught thee how to grow corn!” said the little girl Mary.
Squanto stood up.
“Come,” he said. “I will walk Jack and Annie back to the forest. I will teach them.”
“Oh, thou does not have to do that,” Jack said quickly. He feared that once they were alone, Squanto would figure out they’d never met before.
But Squanto only smiled and waited for them to follow.
“Bye, everyone!” said Annie, waving.
Jack waved, too. All the Pilgrims and Wampanoag waved back at them. The skinny dog barked.
Squanto led Jack and Annie away from the village toward the autumn woods. As they passed the cornfield, the dried stalks swayed in the breeze. They made shushing sounds.
Squanto stopped walking. He pointed to the field.
“You must plant corn in the spring,” he said. “Put the seed in the ground when the oak-tree bud is as small as a mouse’s ear.”
“Oh, wait, please,” said Jack. He slipped his notebook and pencil out of his bag. It was the first time he’d had a chance to take notes all day. He wrote:
Then he looked up at Squanto and nodded.
“Dig holes and put two rotting fish in each hole,” said Squanto.
“Rotting fish?” said Annie, making a face.
“Yes, rotting fish is good food for the soil,” said Squanto. “On top of the fish, place four corn seeds. Then cover them with dirt.”
Jack quickly wrote:
“Got it,” he said, looking up.
“I give you these corn seeds to take home,” said Squanto. He held up a small pouch.
“Thanks,” said Annie, taking the pouch.
“Thanks a lot,” said Jack. “Well, good-bye.” Jack was eager to get going—before Squanto could ask them questions about the past.
“Wait, I have a question,” said Annie. “Squanto, why did you say you remembered us?”
Squanto’s dark eyes twinkled. “I did not say I remembered you,” he said. “I only said I remember.”
“What did you remember?” asked Annie.
“I remembered what it was like to be from a different world,” said Squanto. “Long ago, I lived with my people on this shore. But one day, men came in ships. They took me to Europe as a slave. In that new land, I was a stranger. I felt different and afraid. I saw the same fear in your eyes today. So I tried to help you.”
Annie smiled. “We thank thee,” she said.
“And now you must always be kind to those who feel different and afraid,” said Squanto. “Remember what you felt today.”
“Indeed,” said Jack.
Before closing his notebook, he added one last thing:
Squanto bowed.
“Good day, Jack and Annie,” he said.
“Good day!” they said.
Squanto turned and headed back to the village. The sun was setting. All of Plymouth was lit with a fiery light.
“It really was a good day,” said Annie.
“Yeah, it was,” said Jack.
Annie sighed. “Ready to go home?” she asked.
“Indeed,” Jack said.
They started running through the woods. Their feet crunched through the red and yellow leaves. They scrambled up the rope ladder into the tree house.
From the distance came the sounds of the Pilgrims singing a hymn and the Wampanoag
beating their drums. Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book. She pointed at a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“I wish we could go home!” she said.
“Good-bye, Priscilla!” Jack called.
“Good-bye, Squanto!” said Annie. “Good-bye, everyone!”
The wind started to blow.
The wind blew harder.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack opened his eyes. He sighed. They were wearing their own clothes again. His leather bag was a backpack.
Sunlight slanted through the tree house window. As always, no time at all had passed in Frog Creek.
“Home,” said Annie. She held up the pouch of corn seeds. “Proof for Morgan we found a special magic.”
“The magic of community,” said Jack.
Annie placed the pouch on the floor—next to the scrolls from Shakespeare and the twig from the gorillas of the cloud forest.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Jack took the research book out of his pack. He left it under the window. Then they climbed down the rope ladder.
As they started through the woods, a warm wind blew, rattling the leaves. Jack felt happy. He was looking forward to visiting their grandmother today and seeing their cousins and aunts and uncles.
“You know, Pilgrim kids had a really hard life,” said Annie.
“Yeah. They did as much work as the grown-ups,” said Jack. “Maybe more.”
“Worst of all, lots of their friends and family members died,” said Annie.
“Yeah,” said Jack.
Both were silent for a moment.
“If they could be so thankful,” said Annie, “we should be really thankful.”
“No kidding,” said Jack. “Really, really thankful.”
And they were.
MORE FACTS FOR
JACK AND ANNIE AND YOU!
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed it to the fourth Thursday in November—in case there were ever five Thursdays in the month.
Wampanoag means “people of the first light.” When the Pilgrims arrived, the Wampanoag people had lived in southeastern New England for thousands of years. They were experts at hunting, fishing, and planting.
Squanto’s real name was Tisquantum. He was a native of the Patuxet people, which belonged to the Wampanoag federation of tribes. The Patuxet had lived in Plymouth before the Pilgrims arrived. But when Squanto returned to Plymouth in 1619 after being kidnapped as a slave, he discovered that all his people had died in a plague in 1617. Since Squanto knew English as well as the language of the Wampanoag, he helped negotiate a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and Chief Massasoit.
Less than half of the original Pilgrims survived their first terrible winter. But after that, their numbers began to grow. More and more people came from England. Within ten years, the population of Plymouth Colony rose to almost 2,000.
Priscilla Mullins was the eighteen-year-old daughter of a shopkeeper. In the “general sickness” of the first year, she lost her parents and her brother. In 1623, Priscilla married another Pilgrim—John Alden, a barrel-maker. Priscilla and John had ten children.
The character of Mary was based on Mary Allerton, who was a small child when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth. She was the last survivor of the Mayflower’s passengers. She died at Plymouth in 1699, at the age of eighty-three.
Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #28
High Tide in Hawaii
Available now!
Excerpt copyright © 2003 by
Published by Random House Children's Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Jack and Annie were sitting on their porch, reading books. Jack was reading about gorillas. Annie was reading about Pilgrims.
Suddenly Annie closed her book. She looked up into the sunset.
“Hey!” Annie said with a smile.
Jack looked over at her.
“It’s back!” she said, jumping up.
“Oh, man,” breathed Jack. He knew she was talking about the magic tree house. Annie could always tell when it was back.
Jack closed his book and stood up.
“We’re going to the woods!” he called through the screen door. “There’s something we have to check on!”
“Be back before dark!” their mom said.
“We will!” said Jack.
He picked up his backpack. Then he and Annie headed across the yard. When they got to the sidewalk, they started running. They ran up their street and into the Frog Creek woods.
In the last light of day, they hurried between the trees. Finally, they came to the tallest oak. They held their breath as they looked up.
The magic tree house was back.
“Good going,” said Jack.
“Thanks!” said Annie.
She started up the ladder. Jack followed. It was nearly dark inside. But the sun-dried wood smelled like a summer day.
“What kind of special magic will we look for this time?” said Jack.
They glanced around the tree house. They saw the scrolls they’d brought back from Shakespeare’s theater. They saw the twig from the mountain gorillas and the pouch of corn seeds from the first Thanksgiving.
“There!” said Annie. She pointed to a book in the corner. A piece of paper was sticking out of it.
Jack picked up the book. Then he pulled out the paper and read:
Dear Jack and Annie,
Good luck on your fourth journey to find a special magic. This secret rhyme will guide you:
To find a special magic,
build a special kind of ship
that rides the waves,
both high and low,
on every kind of trip.
Thank you,
Morgan
Jack looked at Annie.
“A ship?” he said.
She shrugged. “Yep. I guess we have to build a ship. Where do we go to build it?”
She and Jack looked at the book’s cover. It showed palm trees, a beach, and a beautiful ocean. The title was:
A VISIT TO OLD HAWAII
“Oh, wow!” said Annie. “I love Hawaii!”
“How do you know you love it?” Jack asked. “We’ve never been to Hawaii.”
“Well, we’re going now!” said Annie. She pointed at the cover. “We wish we could go there!”
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
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And much more!
Guess what?
Jack and Annie have a musical CD!
For more information about
MAGIC TREE HOUSE: THE MUSICAL
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visit www.mthmusical.com.
Discover the facts
behind the fiction with the
Magic Tree House® Books
#1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK
#2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN
#3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING
#4: PIRATES PAST NOON
#5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS
#6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON
#7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH
#8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON
#9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK
#10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN
#11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME
#12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME
#13: VAC
ATION UNDER THE VOLCANO
#14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING
#15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE
#16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS
#17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC
#18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
#19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT
#20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME
#21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY
#22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY
#23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY
#24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING
#25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT
#26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS
#27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY
#28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII
Merlin Missions
#29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT
#30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE
#31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT
#32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD
#33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT
#34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS
#35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS
#36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON
#37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN
#38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS
#39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA
#40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN
#41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE
#42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS
#43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER
#44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME
Magic Tree House® Research Guides
DINOSAURS
KNIGHTS AND CASTLES
MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS
PIRATES
RAIN FORESTS
SPACE
TITANIC
TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS
DOLPHINS AND SHARKS
ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE
PILGRIMS
ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII
TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS
POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC
SEA MONSTERS
PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thanksgiving on Thursday Page 3
