Scarab Necklace Teacup Travels

'Here they come, my two intrepid explorers,

'Charlotte and Elliot.

'I'm their Great Aunt Lizzie, you see,

'and I wonder which one is coming to see me today.

'Ah, so it's Elliot's turn.

'Here he comes, racing to hear another tale

'from an epic adventurer.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

'And what wonderful adventures they were.

'So long ago and so far away.

'I collected a few souvenirs along the way.

'But my most precious possession of all

'is my extraordinary collection

'of teacups.'

You've still got your coat on, Elliot. Come on.

No time to count the clouds, we've got stories to tell.

Now...

let's have a lovely cup of tea.

But first, we need...

A teacup!

But which one?

That one.

Oh.

The Scarab Necklace.

What a choice, Elliot.

I do really love that story.

This will be just perfect to drink now.

So...

-are you ready?

-Ready.

Then let me tell you the story

of Great Aunt Lizzie

And The Adventure Of The Flying Scarab Necklace.

A-ahem.

Oh, yes, of course.

Let me tell you the story of Elliot

And The Adventure Of The Flying Scarab Necklace.

It all began long, long ago

in ancient Egypt,

where towering pyramids

and gigantic limestone statues

graced the golden sand dunes.

After journeying for days across the Egyptian kingdom,

past magnificent temples,

through the dusty desert valleys,

under a blue and cloudless sky,

Elliot eventually arrived in a humble village.

Among the mud brick houses, outside a row of shops,

he found a jeweller called Ketty

going about the tricky business of threading beads onto a string.

This is no good. I'll never get any necklaces made at this rate.

It was a tricky job.

Elliot watched as, again and again,

Ketty struggled to thread those beads.

Oh!

This is hopeless. These glass beads are just too small.

I keep dropping them.

My fingers are too big.

Elliot looked at the beads and thread,

and looked at the size of his own hands.

He was sure he would be able to help the man out.

Excuse me, would you like some help?

Do you know how to thread beads?

Not really, but you could teach me.

Well, what you have to do is...

pass the thread through the bead, like this...

and, in no time at all, you should have

a long string of them.

Ketty just couldn't get the hang of this bead threading.

Elliot, on the other hand...

Like this, you mean?

Excellent, young man! Excellent!

And so Elliot helped Ketty thread beads by the dozen

until there was not a single one left.

Thank you SO much for your help, Elliot!

That's OK. It was really fun.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Elliot set off once more

to explore the little village.

It wasn't long before he saw two women

deep in conversation in their house.

He stopped to have a look.

Kenza, as you are now a young woman,

I want to give you my flying scarab necklace.

-Oh, thank you.

-My mother gave it to me

-and I am passing it on to you.

-It's beautiful!

I hope this flying scarab beetle will bring you good luck.

-Wear it with pride. I

-will.

-No climbing palm trees.

-But...

-Now you're a grown-up, you shouldn't be so boisterous.

-Yes, Mother.

-Grown-ups don't go about being as noisy as you do.

-No, Mother.

-Grown-ups sits nicely in the shade.

-Yes, Mother.

But as soon as her mother left,

all happiness fell from Kenza's face.

Excuse me, are you OK?

-You seem a bit sad.

-I am a bit sad.

My mother gave me this beautiful necklace.

-That shouldn't make you sad.

-I love the necklace,

but it's delicate, so I have to be calm and quiet

instead of loud and energetic, like I normally am.

Maybe you could be both.

-Sometimes quiet and sometimes loud and energetic.

-That's a great idea!

I can be quiet with my mum and loud the rest of the time!

-Kenza liked this idea so much...

-Oh, thank you.

..she forgot just how fragile the necklace was.

Oh, no! It's broken.

I've broken the flying scarab necklace!

The poor girl was devastated.

Her mum had only just given her that necklace

and already she'd broken it.

But Elliot remembered the jeweller whom he'd helped only that morning.

Maybe the jeweller Ketty can fix it.

-I could take it.

-Really?

Oh. Thank you.

Kenza gave the precious scarab necklace to Elliot.

Please be quick.

If my mother finds out I've broken it, she'll be so upset.

I'll be as quick as I can.

Elliot went as fast as he could back to the jewellers.

Excuse me, my friend's broken her necklace.

I was wondering if you could fix it.

He thought that getting the necklace repaired would be easy.

Well, it's certainly a lovely piece.

But, of course, it was never going to be as easy as that.

I'd love to help, but... I'm afraid I can't.

-You see, it's made of blue faience.

-Faience?

It's a special kind of pottery and I don't have any.

Where could I get some?

The only place I know is miles and miles away.

They make it in hot kilns, like big ovens, up in the hills.

My friend, Den, works there.

It was still morning

and he wondered how things had got so complicated.

Elliot had helped the jeweller thread his glass beads,

and he'd watched as Kenza's mother had given her the necklace.

-He'd never expected the necklace to be so fragile.

-Oh, no!

Now it turned out that the jeweller

didn't have the material he needed to mend it.

He couldn't take the broken necklace back to Kenza, could he?

There was nothing else for it but to set off to the hills

to where the hot kilns were, miles and miles away.

So off went Elliot

in his old, battered boots.

He crossed the desert peaks until...

when he was almost out of breath...

the path ran out.

There was only one way to get to the other side.

Elliot took a de-e-ep breath.

CREAKING

Safely across, Elliot set off once more

until, high on the hills, he could see a huddle of huts.

But there was no time to waste.

Elliot had to get that faience.

The afternoon sun was beating down

as Elliot made his way to a hut,

where the man the jeweller had spoken about

was scratching his head.

Excuse me, are you Den?

-Certainly am.

-Ketty, the jeweller, sent me.

Did he? How can I help you?

My friend broke her flying scarab necklace

and I wondered if you could make some faience to fix it for her?

I'd really like to help,

but I'm having trouble getting my kiln hot enough.

I've been trying all day.

Elliot was amazed that on such a hot day, the kiln wasn't hot enough.

I need more firewood to make the fire bigger.

I could get you some.

If you do that, I'll work the oven.

Elliot was hot enough to boil

as he set about gathering as much wood as he could carry

to where Den stoked up the kiln.

Armful after armful,

the faience-maker's kiln swallowed up the wood.

Here's another load.

That's it.

My goodness, it was a relief to sit still after all that hard work.

And as Elliot sat there,

Den created something amazing out of nothing but heat and sand.

Here we are.

A new flying scarab wing.

-Thank you.

-It's a pleasure.

-And thank you for helping me with the fire.

-That's OK.

-Thank you again. Bye.

-Bye.

Back came Elliot in his old, battered boots,

over the desert peaks and down the mountainside.

The day was nearly over,

but Elliot's quest wasn't finished.

He still had to make a visit to Ketty, the jeweller.

With the new faience, it didn't take Ketty long.

He made the necklace even stronger

so Kenza wouldn't need to be quite so careful.

As soon as it was done, Elliot hurried off to Kenza's house,

where the worried young woman was waiting.

-I've got it!

-Oh, thank you!

Look. The jeweller made it stronger than before.

-Good as new.

-Better.

-Now you can wear it and do what you want.

-Fantastic!

But after all Elliot had done for her,

Kenza realised she should take more care.

-Let's get a drink.

-Yes, let's.

And that was that, the whole kit and caboodle.

Elliot And The Adventure Of The Flying Scarab Necklace.

-What was the necklace made out of, again?

-Faience.

-Oh, yeah. It was clever how he made the faience in his kiln.

-Yes, it was.

And it was clever of you to help him.

After the jeweller fixed it, it'll be much stronger.

Strong enough for Kenza to wear and do everything she wanted to do.

Blow me down with a feather! Is that the time already? Come on.

Your mum will be here in a minute.

Your coat.

Now, how did that get there?

Home time now, Elliot.

Thanks, Great Aunt Lizzie!

Cheery-bye, Elliot!