“The Scavenger Hunt in Mirkwood” is a Moral Story written by Syeda Filza Mehdi. It is published on Storyious, the largest story-writing platform.
In the idyllic town of Mirkwood, there lived a young boy named Ronald. Being an eleven-year-old, he was pretty much intelligent and sharper than his age but was a very good boy. He always respected his elders and helped the needy; however, the only shortcoming in his personality was that he judged people on a superficial level. He was quick to put aside those who didn’t meet his standards of intelligence or beauty. His wise grandmother, Ester, often told him, “Ronald, if you keep judging a book by its cover, you may miss the story that is locked inside it.”
But Ronald would simply toss the words in the air, considering it nothing more than an overly verbose lecture.
An annual town fair was held on a rusty autumn morning. People of Mirkwood used to wait for it throughout the year. It usually included multiple games, food stalls, various shooting competitions, and book fairs, but the highlighted part of the whole festival was the “Scavenger Hunt”. The winning prize for this contest was a brand-new digital camera. Ronald also waited throughout the year. Finally, the day arrived, and he was eager to win the competition.
The rules required participants to join in pairs. By chance, Ronald was paired with Goyle, who belonged to the outskirts of the town and was his class fellow as well. Goyle was bullied by the students for his rough appearance and meagre look. His classmates used to ridicule him openly by calling him “Ragged Goyle”. Ronald displayed his disgust openly when the pairings were announced. His abhorrent facial expressions showcased his loathe for him being paired with Goyle. He lost his confidence, for he knew he was bound to lose now.
Goyle, on the other hand, wasn’t bothered. Rather, he was quite excited. He gave Ronald a smile and assured him of their best teamwork and win. Ronald tried to appear happy, but his face couldn’t offer a smile. In his mind, they had already lost.
The scavenger hunt began, and the first riddle was announced. The answer to the riddle was supposed to take them to their first location. The riddle was
“There is a thing that shines without light, moves without feet, and doesn’t change its path wherever it is found. What is that thing?”
Upon hearing the riddle, Ronald hastened to answer while Goyle was thinking.
“It is very easy. Of course, it is a mirror. What else would it be?” Ronald exclaimed.
“Let’s go to the Mirror shop near the bakery,” he continued.
Goyle, however, scratched his hair and, after a short pause, uttered, “I think the correct answer is water. It shines under the sun, and the movement of water does not involve any feet. Let’s head to the stream beside the fields.”
Ronald was quite sure about his answer, but he could not reject Goyle’s answer, for it seemed more… right. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to the stream. On reaching there, they started looking for clues. When they couldn’t come across the clue for some time, Ronald felt a sense of happiness: he was going to get proven right. Suddenly, Goyle shouted with excitement that he had found the clue.
The next riddle would take them to their next destination. It was a bit more complicated this time.
“I am like the colour of blood, but I don’t flow. Once I am cool, I am no longer red. Whoever tries to touch me with a finger gets a red finger. I am always hungry, and I should always be fed.”
Ronald triumphantly exclaimed that it was fire. Goyle agreed with the answer. However, their destination choices for looking for the answer to the clue were quite different. Ronald suggested a bonfire pit while Goyle proposed a blacksmith shop or a brick house. Ronald insisted on his answer. He wanted to win over Goyle this time.
They were supposed to work together, but Ronald found himself fighting two competitions – first, the apparent scavenger hunt and the second, concealed in his mind, a contest with his ego. He could not accept the fact that someone with a ragged experience like Goyle could actually defeat him intellectually. He wanted to win over Goyle, so he kept insisting on going to the bonfire pit.
“A forge is required to feed the fire, but the bonfire pits lack a forge. Moreover, the brick house is out of town, so we should head towards the blacksmith shop,” Goyle insisted.
Ronald wanted to defeat Goyle, but he also wanted to win the competition, so with a heavy heart, he agreed to act on Goyle’s hunch.
Though Ronald’s ego was broken, he couldn’t neglect Goyle’s intellect. He began to admire Goyle’s ability to think beyond the surface level, and the castle of his superficial judgment started to fall apart. His dislike for Goyle began to be replaced with appreciation for the boy’s creativity.
They reached the shop, and as expected, the blacksmith gave them the next riddle, which in turn led them towards their next destination, the library.
Finally, they reached their last location, the library, a place quite rarely visited by Ronald. The librarian confirmed that they would find their last clue there. So, Ronald started looking at the dusty shelves while Goyle found an old chest on top of a shelf. With the help of a chair, he took the chest down. It was locked, and according to the instructions, a key was hidden in a ‘violent space’. Ronald was disappointed as he could not get the clue while Goyle sat down and kept reading the riddle again and again.
Suddenly, he stood up and went into the history section of the library. Ronald followed. He started to look for the war literature and found a box hidden among the books. And inside the box was the key to the chest. Goyle’s face beamed up with happiness as they solved all their riddles.
“How did you know that out of all places in the library, the key would be here?” Ronald asked out of genuine curiosity. Goyle told him that it had occurred to him that the only violent thing in the library would be the war literature.
The two boys opened the chest and retrieved the token to claim their prize for winning the scavenger hunt, dashing to the open ground where the scavenger hunt administration team had its stall.
The jury declared their pair as winner, and the happiness beamed on Ronald and Goyle’s faces. They were awarded a digital camera and were photographed with the mayor of the town. The mayor even invited them over to dinner with their families at the Mayor’s Mansion.
After the ceremony was over, Ronald turned to Goyle. For the first time, he could bring himself to look at Goyle as he actually was – a thoroughly intelligent and good human being. He apologized for his rude behaviour and praised Goyle for his ability to think out of the box. Ronald also displayed his admiration for Goyle’s patience and creativity and promised never to make fun of him. Goyle smiled and simply said what Ronald’s grandmother always said, “People who don’t look past the surface level often miss the intricacies of life.”
From that day onwards, Ronald set his shallow judgments aside and started looking for the virtues inside people. He began to respect his classmates and strangers without dwelling on their appearances. He found kindness in unexpected places and thanked Goyle for teaching him a new lesson.
After several years, when Ronald became the Mayor of Mirkwood, he credited and thanked Goyle for his success as it had only been possible because of the lesson he had learned from his friend. He even passed this advice on to his children and grandchildren: “Never judge a book by its cover because you may miss the best story of your life.”
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