45-year-old Captain Thonges lived in a huge mansion with his wife Mary and daughter Veronica. The mansion was at the edge of the town. Veronica loved partying, and no matter how many times the Captain and Mary tried stopping her, she didn’t listen. Whenever they tried scolding her, she would cry and throw tantrums.

One glorious morning, Captain Thonges was sitting on an armchair and sipping tea from his favourite teacup. He was about to get up for a stroll when a huge eagle swooped down on him. “Aaaahhhhh!” He screamed and ran into his house. Mary rushed to him.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Eagle. A big one,” the Captain replied. “So scary!” he trembled. Mary calmed him down.

“Why don’t you sit inside and read a book?” she said. Captain Thonges nodded. Just as he sat to read the book, a loud noise boomed. It was Veronica, partying again. He couldn’t read with all the noise.

The Captain got up from his chair. “Mary, I am going to visit my gurukul,” he called out.

“All right,” she replied.

In the gurukul, Captain Thonges’ teacher saw that his student approaching with the power of his inner eye. He decided to test his student’s courage. When the Captain reached the gurukul, his guru had his back turned to him.

“I will tell everyone that there is a deer with a pink tail who can smell gold,” the sage said. Captain Thonges heard this. He went away without talking to his teacher, who smiled. The day passed, but the Captain couldn’t forget what his guru had said.

Finally, “Mary, pack some food,” he said. “Make sure it lasts for a few days.”

The next day, he woke up early and called some of his servants. “We are going to search for a pink-tailed deer,” he told them. Soon, along with them, the Captain set off towards the jungle. Hours passed, but they didn’t find any deer.

“Sir, shall we go home?” one of the servants asked. The Captain too was about to give up when he saw a pink tail. To his wonder, it was the deer!

“There! I see it!” Captain Thonges exclaimed. He followed the animal, right into the heart of the jungle. The deer stopped outside a lion’s den, stood there for some time, and picked up a long stick.

With the stick, it wrote, “The treasure is buried in the lion’s den,” before going away. Captain Thonges read it.

‘So the lion has to come out of the den so we can get the treasure. But how?’ he thought.

The Captain’s servants had followed him there, and after thinking for a long time, they decided to eat their lunch. One of the servants took out some meat. At that moment, the Captain had an idea. He took some pieces of the meat and kept them in front of the lion’s den. He waited for some time, and soon, the lion came out, attracted to the meat.

As the beast ate the food, Captain Thonges slipped past him and went into the den. He searched for the treasure. He finally found a cross mark. After digging up the treasure, he put it into a bag and went out just as the lion entered the den. Excited, he went back home, accompanied by his servants.

“Mary, Veronica!” he called out to his family. “Look what I have here!” he exclaimed. He told them the entire story. Suddenly,  there was a knock on the door. It was the sage. “Guruji?” the Captain said.

“Well done, my child, you have passed my test of courage.” the sage said. “Not only are you brave, but clever as well.” the sage said.

“Thank you, Guruji!” Captain Thonges bowed.

In the end, everyone rejoiced!

This story was written as part of the Tinkle Story Creation Workshop. You can also learn to write stories with the help of the Tinkle team, among other fun workshops we conduct. Click here to sign up for one of our workshops today!