MTH 38

MTH 38-1. Old Friends

It was the first day of a new school year, and Jack was making ready for school.
Annie rushed into and said that let's go hurry.
Jack and Annie walked quickly to the woods.
The Magic Tree House was back on the tallest oak.
Teddy and Kathleen were also there.
This time they will travel back to Florence, Italy, five hundred years ago.
And surprisingly to find the secret of happiness, they will spend the whole day helping Leonardo da Vinci.
Teddy and Kathleen gave them a wish for good luck.
Jack and Annie left for Florence, Italy with the wand of Dianthus.

 

MTH 38-2. Looking for Leonardo

The Tree House had landed in a tall tree in a garden.
Beyond it was red-tiled roofs, a huge eight-sided dome, and a stone tower.
Their research book said many artists and craftspeople lived in Florence in the early 1500s.
They started to look for Leonard.
They asked a flower girl, a weaver woman, a baker, a cheese man, a blacksmith, where did he go.
But all of them said that Leonardo just left.
The blacksmith said that Leonardo headed for the market.
Jack and Annie ran to the market but it was too huge.
So they decided to use their wand and Annie said the five command words.
"Help Us Find Leonardo Now."
But nothing happened.
Just then, Annie found a bird who was singing in a birdcage.
She felt that the bird wanted to free so she unlatched the door.
The bird seller pressed them to pay for the bird.
A man who looked exactly like the man on the cover of their book appeared behind them.

 

 

MTH 38-3. Ten Types of Noses

Leonardo told Marco that let the boy go, and Marco asked for money.
Leonardo took care of it, and then he was going on his way.
Annie asked that Jack and she wanted to help him all day, and he accepted the ask.
She told Leonardo that they were looking for the secret of happiness.
Leonardo said that the secret of happiness is fame.
Jack and Annie followed him into a square, and there were a lot of people.
Suddenly, he found an angel and drew her.
But he tore the page because he needed more observation.
He was always studying, observing, and gathering many kinds of information - noses, mouths, people's expressions, gestures.
He asked them what do clouds dotted the sky looked like to them.
Annie answered they were a castle and a dog's head.
Jack answered it was a boat.
Leonardo said he got ideas for his paintings from everything.
And he walked quickly through the streets of Florence.

 

MTH 38-4. Battle scene

Leonardo led Jack and Annie to the great council.
He was hired to paint a fresco in there.
He invented a special oil paint that dried very slowly, but Neither the plaster nor oil paints were dried at all.
He led them to the council hall.
There was a giant painting of a battle scene on the wall.
The apprentices gathered wood in two large iron pots, and Jack and Annie helped Leonardo bring some kindling.
The apprentices moved them onto the platform by ropes and placed them in front of the fresco.
And then Leonardo let Zorro who was one of the apprentices lighted the fires.
The wood in the pots began to blaze, and the room grew hotter.
The fires blazed, and smoke curled through the air.
The helmets of the warriors in the fresco were melting down.
Leonardo cried that kill the fires.

 

 

MTH 38-5. Knock, Knock

All people moved buckets with water from the fountain to the fresco.
But the painting was already ruined.
Leonardo was frustrated and went out.
Annie and Jack were after him with his basket.
Leonardo kept going, and they missed him.
Annie asked two women who were leaning out of windows.
The one told them that he went to his home.
Jack and Annie went to his home, and he was there.
Jack didn't want to bother him, but Annie knocked on Leonardo's door.
She gave him his basket and said that she wanted to help him.
But Leonardo was angry at them and shouted.
Annie said sorry. 
She just wanted to help him. 
Jack and she turned to go.
Leonardo apologized to them and told them to come in.
She and Jack stepped inside Leonardo's studio.

 

 

MTH 38-6. Thousands of Ideas

Jack and Annie sat down, and Leonardo brought some cheese and bread.
Leonardo thought of leaving Florence.
That was because he didn't finish the fresco at all and there were too many things he wanted to do, and there was never enough time.
He showed his wooden trunk to them.
It was filled with lots of books crammed with doodles and writing.
He wrote down thousands of his ideas, such as fossils, spider eggs, the moon.
He thought that there must be a way to use a natural force to help people.
Jack and Annie told him about a train and planes.
Leonardo had thought humans could fly like birds, and he would like to test it. 
Because Jack and Annie gave him courage.
He headed out and jumped into the house cart, and Jack and Annie sat beside him.

 

 

MTH 38-7. The Grand Bird

Leonardo had studied all about birds and bats, and he built his Great Bird.
The horse ran to the countryside, and Leonardo stopped it at the bottom of a steep hill.
He leapt down from the card and took long strides up the steep hill.
The Leonardo book said if he tried to fly with his Great Bird, he surely crashed.
Annie and Jack dashed to Leonardo to stop him.
But he leapt off the side of the hill into the air.
The wings moved up and down several times, but he crashed to the ground.
Jack and Annie worried about his safety.
Leonardo was hurt his heart.
All his life, he thought He failed his projects - the fresco, the towers and bridges, his scientific ideas.
He said he would burn his notebooks, his unfinished paintings, and inventions, and he would leave Florence and never return.
Annie who was listening to him said Leonardo could fly.
And she climbed into the cart and took out the Wand of Dianthus.


MTH 38-8. Wings!

Leonardo closed his eyes, and Annie said the magic five words.
"Make. Us. Fly. Like. Birds."
Their arms changed into feathery wings.
Leonardo was surprised.
Leonard, Jack, and Annie flew into the air from the countryside to the city.
Florence from up the sky looked so neat and orderly.
And they flew back to the countryside and glided down toward the ground.
When they arrived on the ground, their feathers disappeared, and their wings became arms again.
Annie couldn't explain what was happened.
Leonardo realized a bird had a spirit, just not a machine, and it mended his heart.
He said, "Fame isn't the secret of happiness. we must do what we do to satisfy our own hearts."
He remembered his appointment meeting his model at the studio.
They climbed into the cart and started to Florence.

 

MTH 38-9. The Smile

Leonardo said he would think about the secret of happiness.
He was worrying about Lisa didn't even smile even if he effort everything.
Shadows were falling, the cart entered Leonardo's courtyard.
Lisa was standing by the studio door.
Leonardo said sorry to her, and he brought his things from the studio.
Jack, Annie, and Lisa greeted each other.
Leonardo prepared his paints, and the canvas showed Lisa.
He found how to paint many thin coats over the ground.
Annie asked him how he found it, and he answered he always asked questions about everything.
And he got to know the secret of happiness.
It was the curiosity to everyone could choose to find happiness.
Leonardo, Jack, and Annie always had curiosities about everything.
Annie asked Lisa that why won't smile at Leonard.
She was afraid that if he will be done the portrait, he never thought of her again.
As Leonard said he would keep it, she smiled.
He called her name Mona Lisa.
A bird sang from the rooftop, and it was time to go.
Jack, Annie, Leonardo, and Lisa said goodbye to each other.
Leonardo thanked Jack and Annie for helping him.

 

 

MTH 38-10. Questions
Jack and Annie stepped back out into the street.
They passed the cathedral, market, and alley.
There was empty and all the shops were closed.
In the gray light of dusk, they arrived at the tree house, and climbed up the rope ladder.
Before they went home, they read their research book about Mona Lisa.
It said Leonardo took the painting of the Mona Lisa with him everywhere he traveled until he died.
Annie thought Leonard kept his promise.
Annie said the magic spell, and back to Frog Creek.
No time had passed in Frog Creek.
They were wearing their school clothes.
There was the sketch of Leonardo's angel in Jack's backpack.
They thought about the curiosity that Leonardo said.
Every time Leonardo was unhappy about something, his curiosity seemed to make him happy again.
And Jack put the sketch back into his pack.
They started walking to school.
They asked each other about school life.
All the questions about school didn't make Jack nervous anymore.
And they started running to the school.