I didn’t have time to rest for a bit, because the Neptunians took us with them into another room. There, we had our second challenge: The Riddle. The room was big and on the right side you could see a huge chair. It was similar to the ones the king and queens had at ceremonies. While I was looking at the chair, one big Neptunian walked heavily towards it and sat down. From there he was looking down on us, as if we knew nothing. When I saw his look, I got mad. Not only that he was huge, but he was also up on that chair with his nose high up in the air.
Lumi and Selfi walked closer to the chair, ready to hear the riddle. Selfi had her pen and notebook prepared. She always says that problems can be solved easier if you write them down. The big monster said something quickly in his usual whining voice and then stopped talking.
Was that it? That short? What type of riddle was this? But Selfi looked as if she had all the information she needed. She wrote something in her notebook and then she whispered something to Lumi. They kept on talking and whispering until they reached a conclusion. Then, Selfi whined something back to the monster.
As soon as the Neptunian heard what Selfi said, he quickly jumped from his chair and went to Selfi and Lumi. Initially, I thought that he would attack them, but instead he gave them a fluffy monster hug. From where I was standing, it even looked as if he was congratulating them.
“That was fast,” I said to myself, while Selfi and Lumi were coming towards us. I was very curious to find out what the riddle was.
“The riddle was weird, but simple at the same time.” said Selfi. “When my mother and I worked at the public library on Pluto, we read a lot about this subject. I am sure that you are curious to hear the riddle, right?”
“Yeees” we all yelled at the same time. Even I answered out loud. Luckily, no one heard me talk. They were all eager to hear what she had to say next.
“OK!”said Lumi. “Here it is:
In the dark night they appear,
Who called them is unclear.
In the morning and in the light
They go away without a fight.
“And we thought about what it could be,” continued Selfi. “It was obvious that it was something from space, because the sky is mentioned. They appear when it is dark, so in the evening, and no one calls them.Then, in the morning they disappear quickly. We thought about it and we realized that at night, all people in the universe see a lot of small and shiny things when they look at the sky. You can only see the stars during the night, because during the day, the sun shines brighter than them and they become invisible. So, they are in the sky during the night, and in the morning, when the sun rises, they disappear. The answer was simple: the stars!”
The answer was indeed very simple, but I would have never thought about the stars. All I could think about were my delicious food beans that Lumi or Color leave in my bowl every evening. “Yummy, Yummy!” They show up in the evening and in the morning the bowl is empty. Of course! I always ate them as soon as they hit the bottom of my bowl. I think that they made the right decision when they did not choose me for this challenge.
So far we had passed two out of three challenges. This was not as bad as I had imagined in the beginning. We only had the third challenge left. Then we will be able to take the sealed document and run back to the ship. We needed to be done with this as quickly as possible. I was hungry!!!
”Selfi, how can you understand what they are saying?!” asked Color suddenly and I realized that I was eager to know the same thing.
How was it possible that Selfi learnt the monster language so quickly?! Maybe she knew the language from before we went there. No… impossible.
What she did next amazed us. Selfi took her precious notebook and wrote down some random letters. They made no sense. I understood nothing! Can you understand something from this?
?wonk ot tnaw uoy oD
What?! My tongue was hurting. I tried hard to read the letters but I couldn’t. Lumi, Color and Music, also tried but they were also just making sounds. We all found it impossible to speak the Neptunian language. However, Selfi disagreed.
“Are you sure you cannot find a way to understand what it is written on the paper?” Selfi asked. “Ok. Let’s try this.” She took some transparent pieces of paper from her notebook and wrote the letters again.
It was still impossible to read. Then, she turned the paper around…. and then we all understood. It was very simple. You should also try to do it. Ask your mother or father to give you a piece of transparent paper or plastic. Then write down the letters “?wonk ot tnaw uoy oD” and then turn the paper or plastic around. You will be able to read it.
“?wonk ot tnaw uoy oD” = Do you want to know?
This is how we learned the language. Now we also understood why Selfi would write everything down, then turn the paper around and read everything. She is smart, isn’t she?
It looked pretty easy for us, but Color, who had to talk to them, looked terrified. For this reason I went to him and I did what I know best. I jumped on him, made him fall on the fluffy floor and played together for some time, until I could feel that he was not scared anymore. Then, he got up, looked at Selfi and said:
“Let’s pass the last challenge and go further.”
Selfi took his hand and they went for a walk on the big street in the town. Poor me… I was left there to wait for them… and I was still hungry!! I wished I could go back to the Ship and eat my favourite crunchy food.
While I was thinking about my food, someone started petting me. I did not look up too much, because in front of me appeared a marshmallow bowl filled with small white beans. One smiling monster was pointing towards the bowl, indicating that I can eat all of it.
In the beginning, I did not want to eat what they gave me. But after smelling those delicious beans I slowly took one and crushed it with my powerful teeth. I felt like I was home, on Pluto, sitting comfortably on my micinik pillow. They tasted amazing, like nothing I have eaten before. I ate so fast that I was done by the time Selfi and Color came back from their walk.
I wanted to show appreciation to the Neptuian who brought me food so I wagged my tail and moved my ears happily. But… I wished he could also understand that I wanted some delicious beans to take home with me. To my surprise,it seemed that he actually understood what I wanted.
Now that I was done eating, it was time for the third challenge. We had to win this one as well!!