Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve

It all started on a Halloween. When Jack and Annie were talking about which clothes they should wear for the Halloween occasion, a raven swooped down to the ground and threw a cue for them to quest for Merlin, who was an old magician in Camelot. When they met Merlin, he gave them a mission to find and return the lost Diamond of Destiny to a duke. Teddy, a sorcerer and guide, was assigned to accompany and protect them on the way to the duke’s castle.

When they set off before long, they came to a village and met a villager, who used to work in the duke’s castle. They asked her how to get to the castle. She told them that there was a poem related to the castle. They followed the clues hidden in the poem and finally arrived at the castle of the duke. At that moment, they were caught by ghosts and put to a dungeon. When they were captivated there, they caught sight of a chessboard and the spinning wheel which were connected with the poem.

As the story develops, Annie found the secret of the ghosts. In fact, they were transformed from the duke’s family, including two boys, one girl, and a hound. The reason why they were transformed was because the Diamond of Destiny was stolen by the Raven King. To recover the Diamond and save the duke’s family, Teddy put his magic to good use, while Jack and Annie used their wisdom to get back the Diamond and defeated the Raven King. Consequently, Jack and Annie saved the duke’s family and also fulfilled their task.

When I first skimmed through the book, I simply thought that it would be merely a typical fairy tale, which predictably narrates how the protagonist defeat the enemy, what troubles the characters encountered, the moral lessons we should learn, and so on. However, the story has completely changed my stereotype thinking. There are many perspectives that are worth learning. One conspicuous example is a sentence said by Merlin, shown in “Proceed onward with courage, and you will come out into the light.” I like this quotation very much because it presents the courageous spirit which is important for humans to succeed. For instance, when we learned how to ride a bicycle in our childhood, we got hurt again and again; sometimes, we might even want to give up halfway. At this frustrating moment, it is exactly courage that braces our heart and gives us faith, support, and strength to confront the obstacles and our failure. Furthermore, it lets us not hesitate and fear when we face difficulties. If we do not have courage before doing anything, we will even fail to do a simple thing. Thus, courage is a consequential factor when we are in quest of success.

In this story, Jack is admirable because of the characteristics he displayed. For several times, Jack had an argument with Teddy when they discussed the strategies to complete the mission, but Jack still endeavored to rescue Teddy when he got caught by the Raven King. He did not hold any grudge against Teddy at the dangerous moment. Compared with Jack, in modern society, some people who do not reach out to those in need are rather indifferent. For example, there are some news reports that passersby, not wanting to get into trouble or simply feeling it vexatious, did not help a wounded person lying on the road, and finally the wounded person was run over by other vehicles to death. If we have sympathy for people and things around us, the world will become a better place to live in, which is a thematic concept woven in the plot. Therefore, the forgiveness and unselfishness which the characters presented and the joint effort among partners are what make the novel deserve careful perusal.