Pirotins treasure

Pirotins treasure. Liana Castello, writter from Argentina. Ilustrated and translate by: Elizabeth
Segoviano.

There are many stories about pirates and treasures. pirates with an eye patch, scarfs on their
heads, wooden legs and talking parrots. And they all are great treasure seekers. But this isnt
a story about any pirate, this is the story of a little tiny pirate called Pirotin. Pirotin was the
son of the greatest treasure seeker ever known by history.

His Dad was famous for chasing down and finding every single treasure laying in the seas.
It didnt matter how far or how hiden it was. Pirotin grew up watching how his dad and his
fellow pirates embarked over and over again to chase the latest reward. Pirotin noticed that
his mom, his little brothers and himself were left alone for really long time and he didnt like
that.

And the same thing happen to his little friends, who were the sons of the other pirates; but
the worse thing was that when his dad came back, he was so tired that he didnt talk to
anybody, and didnt play with his kids either. What Pirotin disliked the most was that the ship,
and even the little talking parrot returned hurt, with the scars of the battles and their aching,
worn out and dirty bodies, and if for some reason they came back empty handed, to make
things worse they were incredibly grumpy.

Our little tiny pirate admired his father because he was strong, courageous and determined,
and when he thought of those things he believed that when he grew up he was going to be
a great pirate too, even greater than his dad.

But some other times when he felt alone and saw her mom feeling the same way too, he
used to think that being a pirate was not one of the best ideas.

but if Im not a pirate, what could I be? Pirotin asked himself

In a world of pirates there were not too many alternatives. One day, as many other days the
big ship returned loaded with a huge treasure, Pirotin came close to his dad who was still
soaking wet and tired and he asked:

Did you bring some treasure daddy?

Yes my son, as usual!!! answered with pride his dad

Does it has the same things as usual?

Of course! What else if not?lots of jewelry and gold and silver coins.

And, what are those things for?

 Well to have more money my son.

And are those things useful to be happier? Are they useful to spend more time together?

Well they are useful to have more repited his dad

Pirotin did not like that answer, not one bit. He thought that if treasures were so valuable and
so desired they should be something that bring joy, otherwise what it was worth all that effort?

Then he decided he would look for his own treasure, he didnt really know what sort of thing
he wanted to find, but he imagined that there had to be other kinds of things in life that were
not gold and silver coins or jewelry.

He fixed his scarf on his head, he tied up his thick buckle belt, and because he didnt have a
parrot he lay on his shoulder a little green worm who could not talk like the parrot but to his
surprise the little worm could sing, bad, but he could sing. And because Pirotin did not have
a ship, or a boat, or anything, he built a little raft in wich only fitted he and his wormfriend.

Determined to discover what other things lay in the seas that were not precious metals and
jewels he departed on his little raft, but not before giving a huge kiss to her mom, and not
telling her anything else. And so he sailed away with the little worm who sang lullabies to him,
not presicely because he had to sleep, but because those songs were the only ones that the
worm knew.

Hush hush over here hush hush over there, anyway, Pirotin ended up getting used to that
repertory. Pirotin was passing through an island and he stop there because he was tired and
was hungry. He came close to some village and saw their inhabitants. They lived in very
humble huts and none of them was wearing any jewel , their clothes were nothing but tunics,
so large that almost touched their feet and some of them were torn. Reality was very different
from the place were Pirotin came from.

Nevertheless, he noticed something that cought his attention more than anything else. He
say all of the families together, and they were happy, and they lived from fishing and nobody
went away to look for anything else. The dads were with the moms and they all were playing
with their kids. And because they were so generous they fed Pirotin and they let him spend
the night in one of the huts, and in the morning Pirotin left the village very grateful and went
away with his little worm on his shoulder. What Pirotin had seen in that village made him a
little sad.

He knew he had good fancy clothes, a big house and they didnt lack anything, but his family
was not exactly very happy and they were not very close to eachother either. On each island
Pirotin visited he saw the same thing, humble people who were not looking for any treasures,
but they were together and they were happy. Pirotin was really sad, and he decided to get
back. He was so sad that his little worm improvised some cumbia melody to see if he could
cheer him up a bit, but he didnt succeed.
The little worm thought it was because he sang really bad, but even if that was true he knew
Pirotin had other reasons to be sad. Pirotins journey had shown him that the real treasure
was in the union of the family and in being with the people we love the most, and not in
persuing richness that are useful only to get richer and not to be happier.

Pirotin could understand it now, but, how could he make his dad and the other pirates
understand that? How could he, a little tiny pirate with a little worm on his shoulder (who also
sang so terribly ugly) change things around? When Pirotin came back, his mom, who had
being so worried became really really happy to see him healthy, but she corrected him for
having ran away. She asked him why had he done such thing, making everyone worried.

And then Pirotin told her the whole truth. His mom listened to him very carefuly, and to our
little friends surprise her mom said:

You have no idea what have you done baby boy!!!

I know mommy. I deserve to be punished, I accept that answered the little pirate with
resignation

To be puuuuunished!!!??? You deserve an award, now go and tell your dad what you have
done.

My dad dint leave? He did not traveled? Are you sure mom?

Without understanding why her mom wanted to give him an award for having ran away,
Pirotin went to talk to his dad, feeling very scared, by the way.

The little worm was not singin anymore, in fact he had hidden under the scarf the little one
was wearing on his head. To the surprise of both friends the big pirate held so so tight his
son that almost made the little singing worm jumped on the air.

The dad also asked Pirotin why had he gone away and Pirotin once again told the truth, he
talked about everything he saw and how he felt. What Pirotin did not know was that when his
dad found out his little boy was missing, he also realized of many things, for example he
discovered there was no treasure in the world that could match to have his son by his side.

The great pirate felt really small and a little ashamed for always having persued richness
leaving feelings behind. But it was not too late to change, the abscence of his son and
everything that Pirotin said had made him to reflect. From that day on everything changed in
the city of pirates.

The jewelry were sold to other cities, and with that money they began to make tunics, and
fishing lines, and forniture. And no dad ever went away too far or for too long, and when they
did traveled they only did it to provide other humble villages with the things they made.
Everyone were happy, even the little singing worm had wided his repertory and he could sing
a lot better now that he was happy.
The brave fearless pirates had learned that the greatest treasure of all reside in the affection
that lives within our hearts, and in the people we love and loves us back, not in jewelry, or
precious metals, and I can assure you that they never felt richer.

The end