Magic Tree House #33: Carnival at Candlelight by Osborne Mary Pope & Sal Murdocca

Author:Osborne, Mary Pope & Sal Murdocca [Osborne, Mary Pope]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Kids
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-03-20T07:00:00+00:00

“So what?” said Annie. “Maybe he can help us.” She tapped on the glass.

The boy looked up. He carried his candle to the window and opened it. He had reddish brown hair and big eyes. “Hello,” he said. “Are you looking for someone?”

“I'm Annie, and this is my brother, Jack,” said Annie. “We're visiting Venice. And we were hoping to find a painter named Tiepolo.”

“You have just done so,” the boy said. “My name is Lorenzo Tiepolo.” Lorenzo had a very serious manner.

“You're a painter, too?” asked Annie.

“Yes. As you can see, I am painting right now. I help my father and my older brother with their paintings,” said Lorenzo. “And when they are gone, I paint my own. I will even miss the last night of Carnival to paint. But why are you not there?”

“We're on a mission,” said Annie. “We just escaped from the palace prison. We got caught looking for the Ruler of the Seas.”

“The Ruler of the Seas?” said Lorenzo. “Why were you looking in the palace? The Ruler of the Seas is right here.”

“What?” said Jack. “The Ruler of the Seas is here?”

Lorenzo smiled. Then he walked to a large covered canvas propped against the wall. He pulled off the cloth cover. He held up his candle to show a painting of a beautiful woman resting her hand on the head of a golden lion. A man was giving coins to the woman. The man had a bare chest, a rugged face, long dark hair, and a white beard. Behind him was a three-pronged fishing spear.

“My father has been working on this painting for some time,” said Lorenzo. He pointed at the bearded man. “'Tis Neptune.”

“Neptune?” said Jack. “He's one of the gods in Roman mythology, right?”

“Yes, the Ruler of the Seas,” said Lorenzo.

“Ohhh … We thought the Ruler of the Seas was the ruler of Venice,” said Annie. “We thought he lived in the palace on Saint Mark's Square.”

Lorenzo laughed. “Oh, no, the palace is just the home of our city's human ruler,” he said. “The true ruler of all the seas is Neptune.”

“Where does Neptune live, Lorenzo?” Annie asked.

“He lives beneath the water in a beautiful palace made of coral and sparkling jewels,” said Lorenzo. “But only a few people can actually see Neptune.”

“Like who?” asked Annie.

“Those with imaginations, like my father, my brother, and myself,” said Lorenzo. “We have heard the waves around Neptune roar like wild bulls. We have seen his fishing spear rising high above the surface of the sea, gleaming in the moonlight.”

“That sounds great,” said Annie.

“Yeah, great,” Jack said politely. “You guys must have really good imaginations. Thanks, Lorenzo.” He turned to Annie. “I'm going to look at the research book some more.”

Jack walked back to the bench and pulled out their book. He felt totally discouraged. Neptune wasn't a real person. They'd come to another dead end.

Annie stayed by the window. “Lorenzo, one more question,” she said. “Why is Neptune giving a gift to that lady?”

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