Far away in the mountains stood a small cottage. An old man and woman lived there. Every vacation, their beloved grandson Jake would visit them. He loved it there because the place was magical to him. No day in this cottage was ever ordinary.
One day, Jake decided to help his grandparents clean the attic. He thought that he would find some treasures there that would come in handy. And indeed, there were lots of things there. He took some of them away, washed some so they could still be used, and put others in a new place.
When he suddenly lifted an old blanket to dust it off, he was surprised by what he found underneath it. It looked like an ancient chest.
“Grandma, Grandpa, what’s inside? Can I open it? Is there a treasure in there?” Jake asked impatiently. His grandparents just smiled and nodded for Jake to open the chest. The boy was beside himself with excitement. He slowly unlocked the lock on the lid and then carefully lifted it. He immediately peered into the first crack that appeared.
When he opened the chest wide, he gasped quietly in surprise. He found a knight’s outfit, a helmet, and a sword, but there was something else. A mysterious diary. Jake pulled out the notebook. It was not much bigger than his palm. Its yellowed pages were bound in leather and the cover looked like it was made of wood.
Jake looked at it and turned it over in his hands from all sides. He wanted so much to open it, he wanted so much to know what was written in it.
“May I?” he asked his grandmother and grandfather.
“It’s mine, Jake. I wrote it when I was just a little older than you. Just take a look at it. But be careful! You must never tell anyone what you learn from it,” his grandfather explained, smiling slyly.
“Oh great, a book of secrets” thought Jake, and immediately began to untie the knots on the bound leather. He was completely absorbed in the diary. He devoured every word. His grandfather recounted how he went to the forest every day, what he found there, what animals he encountered. He also recounted his expeditions to the mountains and caves, how he was sometimes afraid because the eyes of various animals shone at him from the dark corners of the forest.
Everything Jake read about his grandfather was so thrilling, so exciting. But then he found something else in the diary. A painted map. Jakub knew the places marked on the map well. He knew where they were. Without hesitation, he ran into the forest with the diary in his hand to find out where the map would lead him and what was hidden at the destination. He followed the picture exactly.
After a while, he reached the marked destination. There was a large stone there and soft clay underneath it. Jake immediately began to dig up the soil and after a while he really did find something. There was a small box hidden there. Jake took it out, opened it, and found a treasure inside. His grandfather’s treasure. There was his carved pocket knife, a compass, the scarf he wore, and handmade friendship bracelets that his grandfather had made himself from leather.
Jake was thrilled. Such treasures! He immediately took the box and hurried with it to the cottage. When he appeared in the doorway, his grandfather just smiled and said, “Did you find it, Jake?” “Yes, I did. I followed the map exactly and also read what you wrote in your diary, what animals you recognized and how you discovered the caves. Grandpa, Grandpa, please, can I keep the treasure? And will you tell me everything? I want to know everything you experienced back then,” Jake begged his grandfather.
That evening, the fireplace was lit in the cottage. Jake sat by it with his grandfather and grandmother. The boy held his grandfather’s notebook, which he had found. The fire in the fireplace blazed nicely, and his grandfather told stories, his own stories. Just as Jake had wished. And that was the most his grandfather could give his grandson: a piece of his time and a piece of himself. Jake still remembers that evening to this day.