Hello cool pandas! 

Since Friday of last week there have been some rather rude and loud pirates in Panfu, and they have some bad manners! Have you seen them? They are everywhere in Panfu sneering and jeering at you!

Captain Cod and his team could behave a little better, I think! After all, they are visitors in Panfu only to top up on new provisions before they sail on. I don’t trust them at all, especially since they kidnapped and left my uncle Hans on that deserted island!

But now the question is where are Captain Cod and his motley crew! They certainly are not standing around making rude comments anymore! (Personally I’m glad they are gone but the weird thing is they seem to have vanished without a trace! And their boat is still capsized near the beach!) 

Don’t worry, Ella,  I’ve got everything under control, because I’m Max, the super agent! 

I do not know, I think we are in store for a few adventures, Max! Something tells me that this is not a good sign… 

Ah, don’t panic, Ella! 

What do you know on this matter? Have you any ideas what’s going on?

By the way, have you seen our new newspaper? It has had a new revamp, check it out!

Max & Ella

*******   News just in!  *******

I woke up very early this morning because there was a lot of noise outside. I went to the window and looked through my binoculars in the direction of the beach (that’s where the majority of the noise was coming from). I focused my binocular onto the horizon and although it was a little blurry I could just make out the image of a big ship!

Then the sun came out and I could see a little better and then I saw it!

Yes, what he saw was the biggest ship ever! It had big black sails and guess what it had painted on the sail?

Ella! I’m telling this story!!! Anyway, it had a big skull and crossbones symbol on the main sail! Then I knew immediately that this was the infamous ship of Captain Cod, who recently kidnapped sea-traveller, Hans-Peter Risotto and left him on a deserted island!

So the first thing I  did was to tell me mum and then Ella! Why on earth are pirates coming to Panfu?

Ok, this is what we know: The mighty ship is called “The Mosquito” and since the pirates don’t have any internet on their ship, we have not been able to make any contact with them yet. I guess we have to wait until they arrive! (I’m both scared and excited at the same time!)

Me too!

Read the Panfu news for further details and stay tuned to the Blog for further developments!

Until next time, beware pandas!

Hi Pandas,

We bet your dying to know what happens at the end of that pirate story we told you about a few days ago…. Well, here is the second part.

Enjoy! 

Simm located his little rowboat tied in the port next to the big pirate ship belonging to Captain Knut. His quietly slipped into his rowboat and paused for a moment. Which way was this strange, hidden, foggy island that the Captain used to hide his loot?  He looked around and thanks to the bright stars he could see a faint fog lingering in the distance. There was fog nowhere else on the horizon so Simm thought that that must be the island.

In the distance a clap of thunder broke and Simm wished he were at home in his warm bed with the blanket over his head. But he had started this adventure and he had to finish it! He had to save those poor Bollys!

Simm was glad that the moon was shining bright but he had to be quick before the storm clouds covered it and the night sky got even darker. He started rowing, and sooner than he expected, he could see the shore of the island getting closer. He pulled his little boat onto the beach and looked around. It was still quite dark even though the full moon shone. Simm could just make out the silhouettes of some palm trees and started to head in their direction. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination but he thought he heard some noise coming from the trees.

As he got closer he heard a twittering kind of noise. At first, Simm thought it was pirates on guard of the treasure. His heart skipped a beat at this thought for he knew what his fate would be should pirates catch him near their treasure! But then, the twittering sound was so faint and sweet that Simm thought; “surely such a lovely sound could not be pirates! They only laugh raucously and say, Arrrrrrrrrr!”

So Simm ventured closer. Now he could hear twittering and a cheep, cheep sound. You must remember that at this time, Bollys were very rare, in fact Simm had only seen one Bolly and that was Hark, the Captain’s companion. Simm had no idea what wild Bollys sounded like so he did not realise that what he was hearing could be the trapped Bollys.

As he approached a clearing in the trees Simm saw a most amazing sight, many, many birdcages with beautiful, colourful yet sad little Bollys inside. When Simm got closer the Bollys started flittering nervously and twittering in fright. They thought the pirates were back to sell them off.

Simm reassured them, “Shh, shh, I don’t mean any harm. I am not a pirate. I’m just a panda-boy. I’ve come to free you!”

When the Bollys heard this they became excited and started twittering and cheeping louder. “Shhh! You must be quiet Bollys in case the pirates hear us and we all get put in cages”, whispered Simm as he started to unlock each cage. It took him some time to unlock all 12 or 13 cages.  The Bollys scurried out, each one flapping their colourful feathers about.

“Now, we must leave quickly before the pirates realise that I’ve gone. I can take you across on my rowboat and hide you in a safe spot in Panfu where no harm will come to you.” Simm started helping the Bollys into his little rowboat. When he had helped the eighth one in, the boat started to tip!

“Oh no! You won’t all fit in! I will have to take 7 or 8 of you at a time but we must hurry before the storm gets too wild.” The sky had darkened and rain started to pour. Simm rowed harder than he ever had. He rowed until he thought he could row no more and then he rowed even harder.

The sun was coming up and the storm had passed just as he transported the last lot of Bollys to the safe hiding spot behind the Panfu waterfall. It had taken him 8 trips back and forth to save each of the 57 Bollys!

Exhausted, Simm sat down under a tree with all the thankful little Bollys around him. He was so tired but happy that he had managed to get every Bolly across from the island safely into Panfu.

His work was not over yet, Captain Knut and his pirates would soon stumble out of the tavern and realise that the Bollys were gone.  They would certainly be angry and search high and low for them. Simm had to think of a plan.

He found an empty water bottle in his rowboat and wrote a note on a piece of paper which read:

Dear Captain Knut,

I know where your Bollys are! Last night on my way home from the tavern, I saw a large sailing ship filled with the colourful Bollys sailing towards Patagonia. If you hurry, I’m sure you can catch up with them. After all, you are a very clever pirate!

Your number one fan,

Simm

Simm rolled the message into the bottle and sealed it with a cork. A blue Bolly who could swim extremely well took the bottle straight to the Old Port and left it bobbing in the water next to the Captain’s great pirate ship.

It wasn’t long before Captain Knut and his pirates discovered the missing Bollys and the message in the bottle.

Captain Knut ordered the anchor to be pulled up as fast as possible and with a mighty “Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” set sail in the direction of Patagonia after a sailing ship that didn’t exist!

Captain Knut, his Bolly Hark and their rough crew of pirates were never seen again in Panfu. No one knows how long they chased that phantom ship but reports say that they are now breeding bees off an island in Tahiti and have completely abandoned their pirate ways!

The Bollys lived happily on the island where now they are not quite as rare as they used to be but still just as lovable!

We hope you enjoyed this story!

Perhaps you want to read it again?

See you in Panfu!

Hello pirate pandas!

Professor Bookworm has found some exciting and interesting facts in his old history books about Panfu! He told us that pirates once lived in the Old Port. Here is a story he told us which we wanted to share with all pandas (after all, it’s important to know the history of where you live!).

Long ago, the sea was stormy and wild and pirate pandas roamed the lands. There was a popular tavern called “The Gilded Canon Roar” (the building still stands today with its famous lantern on the front!). It was in this tavern where pirates liked to come and meet and boast about their adventures of robbery, treasure and the wild seas. They came here to drink their favorite brewed hot chocolate and sing rowdy sea-faring songs.

One pirate in particular was well known for being the toughest and roughest, his name was Captain Knut, he was an unusually large panda with a wooden leg. Legend has it that he lost his leg as a child when he was sailing in his father’s ship and a whale breached out of the water and bit off his leg in one bite! His only companion was a green Bolly called Hark, who was so loyal that he saved the captain from drowning that fateful day as the green Bolly was an excellent swimmer.

Both the captain and his Bolly wore eye-patches and rumour has it that they both lost an eye in a friendship pact they made together. They decided that they would forever be companions and tore out each other’s eye as a sign of that solid friendship!

One stormy night Captain Knut, his Bolly and their crew were sitting at their regular table in the The Gilded Canon Roar and everyone was in a very good mood. He and his crew had had a successful day on the seas. Their loot for the day consisted of twenty-three barrels of bamboo lemonade, a chest of timeless jewels and crowns and fifty-seven colourful Bollys! Their victim that day was a large cruise ship full of rich passengers sailing around the coast of Patagonia.

Tonight was a night of real celebration for the Captain and his crew. His Bolly, Hark was especially enjoying himself because back in those days, Bollys were still quite rare and very expensive (worth as much as gold). They were sometimes kept in gold-cages, much like a songbird by high-society lady-pandas. Hark was thrilled to have some more Bollys around.

“Harrrr Arrrrrrr!” laughed the Captain as he held a toast with his crew sitting along the long wooden table in the tavern. “The little beasts may be small but we’ll sell them for hundreds and hundreds of Panfu coins each and live like kings! Soon we’ll buy another big ship and sail the seven seas causing more fear and terror! Arrrrrrr!”

Listening to all this was a young panda-boy of 11 years old called Simm. He was the beer-boy at the tavern and mostly no one took much notice of him. He was horrified to hear that the Captain was planning to sell the poor Bollys to only be kept in cages but rich pandas. He had heard so much about the rare Bollys and believed that they should never be locked away.

So Simm planned to free the Bollys from a fate of living in narrow, small cages but he needed to be clever. Simm knew that pirates loved to be flattered. He said to the Captain, “Captain Knut, you are so brave and have such an adventurous life. I want to be just like you when I grow up – a big, brave pirate!”

Of course this pleased the Captain very much to hear such compliments. He invited Simm to come and join his party at the long wooden table and even gave him a few Panfu coins in tips. Simm kept filling all the pirates’ cups full of chocolate beer.

After an hour of getting to know the pirates Simm asked the Captain, “Captain Knut, tell me, if I want to be a pirate like you I would need to have a good hiding place for all my treasure. Can you give me a tip on such a hiding place?”

“Arrrrrrrr!” cried the now quite drunk Captain Knut, “Yes indeed you need to be shrewd to be a good pirate like me. I have the best hiding place in all of Panfu, a place that only my crew and I know about”, and he took another swig of his beer. “In fact”, slurred the Captain, “it’s not too far from here. A small island that no one knows or visits because it is always covered by thick fog. That’s where we’ve kept the Bollys we stole today! Haaaaaaaa! Arrrrrrrrr! Hiccup!”

Simm smiled at this useful information and simply poured more beer for the Captain and his crew. The pirates continued partying and Simm crept out of the tavern into the dark night.

The stars were shining brightly although Simm could hear that a storm was coming. But he kept walking. Somebody had to free those poor Bollys before the pirates had time to sell them off as cagebirds…..

TO BE CONTNUED

Pandas, that’s the first installment of this story. We’ll tell you the second part soon. Be sure to check the Blog.

For now, we’re off to the beach to play pirates! See you!