By Daniel Chang Yi Zheng
It was not an ordinary day…
I was brushing my teeth when I saw something sticking out from behind the mirror. I stretched my hands to reach for it, an old paper folded together that was squeezed behind the mirror.
“Did Mummy and Daddy hide it there to surprise me? But my birthday is 3 months away,” I thought to myself.
Slowly, I unfolded the old paper. The red, bold words on the map reads, “Secret Map to the Land of Toys”.
“This must be the best day ever!” I shouted. According to the map, I must go to the Golden Castle first and to get there I must touch the picture of the Golden Castle.
Without hesitation, I touched it and immediately I was standing before the Golden Castle. Woah, what a way to travel!
At the gate of the castle was the King Zahav. He stood there smiling broadly. I could immediately feel a sense of warmth in his fatherly voice.
"Welcome to my castle," the King invited me. "Please come in to stay for the night."
During dinner, spaghetti and cakes were served but they did not look like the ones I would usually eat. The spaghetti was made of gold and the cakes were pearl. I took a bite but immediately spitted it out.
“How could anyone eat this?” I thought. Then, I was brought to my room by one of the golden servants. When I was taking my shower, instead of water, pearls rained down on me.
“Ouch!” I shouted.
When I climbed on top of the bed, I found that it was made of gold bars. I didn’t sleep a wink - the bed was too hard and cold.
The next morning, King Zahav saw me and I greeted him politely. “Thank you dear King for the hospitality shown. You truly have a heart of gold.”
The king smiled and said, “I thought you would whine and complain but you certainly did surprise me with your response. You have passed the test! You may proceed to the Land of Toys.”
In a split second, I arrived at the Land of Toys. I could not believe my eyes. I saw a gigantic, toy castle filled with different types of teddy bears like Grizzly which is my favourite, Polar, Moon Bears, Spectacled Bears among many others.
Then, I saw houses made of sweets and filled with pillows. Pillows, pillows, pillows. Pillows everywhere! Lollipops that looked like teddy bears, licorice spiders and spider webs made of candy floss.
There were mountains of story books. As I was enjoying myself, suddenly the King of the Land of Toys appeared. “Would you like to stay here forever, little boy?”
I bowed and answered, “I would love to but I will miss my Daddy and Mummy. I don’t want them to miss this wonderful time. Please may I bring them here?”
The King was pleased with what he heard. Immediately, Daddy and Mummy were standing next to me. Then, the king said to my parents, “Welcome to the Land of Toys, your son brought you here. He thought of you first before his own enjoyment. Have a great time in my Kingdom.”
To find out what happened to Romeo, purchase Daniel Chang's next book, titled "The Adventures of Romeo Wulff." The book will be published in 2030 as Daniel is only seven years old when he wrote this article.