Long ago in a village near the sea, there lived a young boy named Peewee. As you might guess by his name, he was quite small. He often told big lies to make people notice him. Of course, it wasn’t long before everyone in the village stopped believing him. His two older sisters warned him that telling lies could be dangerous, but Peewee would not listen. He liked to get attention, and telling lies made him feel important.
One day, he got a bright idea. He knew that everyone wanted to be rich, so he made up a story about knowing where a treasure was buried. He even drew a map of the place and showed it to his sisters. They laughed, of course, and warned him about lying again. But Peewee wouldn’t listen and began telling everyone in the village about the treasure.
It so happened that two pirates overheard his story. They decided to kidnap him and force him to take them to the treasure. They grabbed him, carried him aboard their ship, and set sail. Peewee tried to tell them that he had made up the story, but they would not believe him.
Meanwhile, several of the villagers ran to Peewee’s sisters and told them what had happened. One thing was certain. They had to think fast or Peewee would never be seen again. They remembered from Peewee’s map where the treasure was supposed to be buried. It was a point on the beach ten miles down the coast. It could be reached quicker by land than by water.
The sisters came up with an idea. They quickly ran to the attic of the house and got an old trunk and as many padlocks as they could find. Then they hurried, by horse and wagon, down the beach to a spot under the tallest palm tree. The pirate ship was nowhere in sight. The sisters quickly marked the letter X on the tree as Peewee had described on his map. They filled the trunk with rocks, tied it with chains and many padlocks, and buried it beneath the sand.
The pirate ship soon arrived with Peewee, who was quite frightened. He knew what would happen when the pirates did not find a treasure. But as they arrived on the beach, there stood the tallest palm tree marked with the letter X. Peewee was taken by surprise. And as the pirates began digging, up came a heavy trunk with many padlocks! Peewee could not believe his eyes. The pirates could not open the trunk and decided to take it back to the ship. They left Peewee alone on the beach, where he remained speechless from such a surprise.
Peewee couldn’t wait to get back home to tell his sisters. When he finally arrived, the girls pretended they did not know what had happened. Peewee tried to tell them his fantastic story about the pirates and the buried treasure, but they wouldn’t even listen. He became quite upset because they would not believe his true story. He didn’t know what to do. Finally, he told them that if they would believe him just this one time, he would never tell another lie. But guess what? They wouldn’t believe that either.
