The Blue Letter L
by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Michiko Cayce
The Letter L lived in the Land of Words.
He sailed the seven seas on a pirate ship with his crew of dashes.
His job was looking for treasure, but he never found any.
He was the saddest of all the letters.
He felt blue even when the sun was shining.
All the things he tried to cheer himself up never worked.
He tried fishing, but all he caught were blue fish, and he felt bad for them, so he threw them back.
He tried shooting bubbles out of his cannon, but they never lasted long before popping.
He even wore an octopus as a wig to make himself laugh, but there was nothing funny about getting octopus ink on himself. It stains.
Then one day he found a hidden treasure map inside a bottle.
With a map, he might actually find treasure!
He and his crew sailed to a small island to find the treasure.
On their way, they came across a large sea monster!
The Letter L knew what to do.
The dashes made a big net, and he set it in the water.
The nearby blue fish (who were grateful for having been let go) took the net and trapped the sea monster inside!
So Letter L sailed his boat around the sea monster and reached the island.
He was so excited when they hopped on shore.
The map led them to a deep ravine, but the bridge was broken.
So the dashes formed a chain, and the Letter L used it to swing across the ravine.
To get to the treasure, they had to pass through a waterfall and go inside the cave behind it.
When they arrived, they saw that a river monster was guarding the entrance to the cave!
The Letter L thought of a plan once again.
He took a coconut and set it on top of a small palm tree.
He pulled the tree back until it almost touched the ground, and then he let go.
The coconut was flung through the air and hit the river monster on the head.
“Owwwww!” said the river monster, “Why did you do that?”
“We need to get inside the cave behind that waterfall,” said the Letter L.
“Why didn’t you just ask? Go ahead,” said the river monster while he rubbed his head.
The Letter L thanked the river monster and apologized for his mistake.
When he got inside the cave, he found the exact spot where the treasure was, and he started digging.
He and the dashes dug for hours and hours until finally they heard a CLUNK!
They had found the treasure!
They opened up the treasure chest to see what was inside.
Instead of gold and rubies and gems, they found another map.
“It’s another treasure map,” said the Letter L.
The dashes got excited. They liked looking for treasure and thought it would be fun to go looking for more.
The Letter L agreed.
“We’re off to find the treasure!” he said with a smile.
In the Land of Words, the best way to enjoy life is to live it.
