It was a hot day on the rocky island of Koz, and I was there on business. We had come to dig and find some lost historical treasures. We set up our tents and with our white sun hats on, we began to pull up the dry earth from behind us. It was a hard job, but we knew that if we found the ancient treasures, we would all become very rich. We were explorers, and we loved every moment of it, even when we were tired and hungry.

The afternoon arrived and we stopped for a morsel to eat. Just as I was biting into my lettuce sandwich I felt a huge gust of wind and grabbed a hold of my hat. It was a big, burly bird. With the wings of an eagle, this strange bird had swooped right over my head and landed right next to me. The bird was doing everything to make sure it got my attention. Naturally, I bent down. Perhaps the bird was hurt. Kneeling down, I got a clear glimpse of a piece of paper, neatly rolled inside it’s beak. Eagerly, the bird delivered the message to me, then without a moment to say goodbye, she was gone. 

My friend Stevenson had seen the entire thing. He was puzzled and told me to hurry up and read the message. I unrolled the tiny piece of paper and squinted my eyes to make out the scrawly handwriting. 

“VOLCANO READY TO EXPLODE, THREE DAYS BEFORE LAVA, MUST ACT.” As I read the note out, I realised that the birds had seen what the humans could not. They had noticed the tiny rumbles and wisps of smoke and the dear birds had warned the group. 

“What can we do?” said Stevenson in a worried voice. 

“We need to make a plan, we need to get everyone out of this village,” I answered. 

“But how, there are thousands of people living on this site. The volcano hasn’t erupted for five hundred years, how can we believe this strange note?” Stevenson doubted, but I had a feeling that this message was true. 

We gathered the rest of the team and told them the problem. The team leader laughed, but when he saw my serious face he knew our group needed to act. We decided to pack up and head up towards the volcano. We climbed and climbed, but eventually the path got so thin that we had to stop. As sure as the bird had said, we felt the volcano and the tiny rumbles were beginning. 

We had to work quickly if we were going to get everyone out of the village before the volcano eruption. I drew out the plans with Stevenson and we began gathering the villagers and spreading the word. The crowd of villagers was very large, because every man, woman and child knew the danger of the volcano and packed up quickly. 

“If we can get to the other side of the great river, we will be safe” explained Stevenson. 

Off we went, we led the group in the direction of the river. After a whole day of walking, the great river was in sight. The ropey bridge wobbled as the villagers came across it. This really slowed the group down, and we all knew the clock was ticking. How long would we have until the volcano would begin to spit out it’s fire? The last few women and children passed over the bridge and the villagers all breathed a huge sigh of relief! We had done it! We were safe! One man gasped and pointed. Each head turned and watched with their eyes wide as the last of the red lava bubbled towards the great river.  The lava dolloped into the river and burnt out, the current of the river was so fast that the lava had no chance of passing. We helped the villages to build new wooden huts and soon they were settled back into their steady lives. I guess we weren’t going to become rich after all, but we were happy to know that lives had been saved!  

The bird was the hero that day, and we were forever grateful.