The Harp

Editor’s Note:  The following story was written by my 10 year old daughter.  It was an assignment for her Writing class inspired by Chris Van Allsburg’s art “The Harp” featured in “The Mysteries of Harris Burdock.”

I was so proud of her accomplishment, that I thought it should be published for all to enjoy.  Not bad for a little girl whose only been speaking English for 3 years.  :)

 

The Harp

By

Sole Velazquez

So it’s true he thought, it’s really true.

Something very strange happened to Jonas Rivera on a Monday morning. He walked into the school and everybody stared at him. He sat at his desk. Lucy leaned over and asked, “What happened to you on Saturday?” Jonas didn’t answer.

Recess came. He was too tired to do anything so he walked up to Lucy and said “Sorry I didn’t answer you this morning.”

Lucy said, “That’s okay.” Jonas told her what happened.

The next day, there was a rumor going around school about a magical harp. After school Jonas took a walk through his backyard. Then he heard harp music. He went back inside and called Lucy. He told her to come over to his house. Lucy came panting with her face all red from running. They both went outside. Jonas’ dog followed. They didn’t hear any music. All three of them sat on a rock waiting and waiting.

Then it started again. “There it is.  You hear it?” Jonas asked. Lucy’s mom called. Lucy went home. Jonas spent all night thinking about the music.

The next morning, Jonas woke up really early.  He went to the same place he was the day before. Then he saw it. He saw the harp. So it’s true, he though, it’s really true.

The next day he got to school and told Lucy he saw the harp. Together, they planned to camp out in Jonas’ backyard on the next Saturday.

That Saturday afternoon, the two of them sat in Jonas’ backyard. Then they heard the music again. Jonas told Lucy to follow him into the woods. “Do you hear it?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.  They saw the harp. The harp’s wooden frame was chocolate brown, and the strings were shiny gold. “It’s beautiful,” said Lucy.

The next day they woke up to harp music.  Jonas stood up and climbed out of the tent where they had been sleeping.  He tried to touch the harp, but when he was an inch away from it, the harp vanished. He called Lucy over. They sat there again waiting and waiting. Then as the day grew later and later they heard harp music again. They didn’t see the harp though.

The next day all of these wonderful things started happening to Jonas.  First, when he woke up in the morning he got a new bicycle. He also got to go to the summer fair, for free! He went back home to relax for the rest of the day. In the middle of the night he heard the harp playing the Blues. It sounded sad.  He went outside and saw the harp. It was black, covered in mud, strings frayed, some even gone. “What happened?” he asked.

The harp communicated to Jonas in such a way that he understood.  Though it spoke no words, Jonas knew the legend of all magical harps. He knew that if one were to be abused then all other magical harps would vanish, as if they had never existed. Jonas could see that this particular magical harp could not be repaired.  He immediately visualized his dog playing with it.  It was being bitten and scratched until the harp managed to startle the dog. Jonas knew it was time to let it go. The harp vanished once again. No one knew were the harp vanished to.

Jonas looked and looked to see where it went and finally….