A Crazy Day for Cobras is the forty-fifth installment to the Magic Tree House series and the sixteenth of the Merlin Missions.
Summary[]
The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie back to India during the Mogul Empire in the 1600s to search for an emerald needed to break a magic spell.
Chapters[]
- A Terrible Mistake
- The Red Fort
- Complete Respect
- The Great Mogul
- Not Funny
- Morning Breeze
- Something Very Weird
- SHHHHHH-WISSSSSST!
- Camouflage
- Caught in the Wild
- Heart to Heart
- The Meaning of the Emerald
Plot[]
One day after school in May, Jack and Annie were outside talking, the teacher loved Jack’s story about the magic tree house. Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, then Teddy and Kathleen arrived with terrible news. Teddy accidentally turned Penny into a stone statue! He and Kathleen were in Morgan’s library, he was looking up spells and tried this simple one despite this act as disobedience from Morgan. He quickly did it to a few objects and was going to do it to a walking stick, but Penny got in the way. Right now, Merlin and Morgan were both in Avalon for the Festival of May, Kathleen and Teddy were afraid that they might banish him for what he’d done. After all, Penny has become the heart of the kingdom ever since Jack and Annie brought her there. Fortunately, Teddy and Kathleen found a rhyme that could reverse the spell. Unfortunately, it was written in an ancient language, they only translated eight lines for far:
Ye say that ye wish your spell be reversed?
Four things ye must find. Here is the list:
In the shape of a rose is an emerald stone
that uncovers the heart of one who's alone.
Jack and Annie will have to look for the ingredients while Teddy and Kathleen translate the rest of the rhyme. After some research, they belied they must visit India’s Mogul Empire four hundred years, one of its emperors had the largest collection of gems, he also had stonecutters that can give them a share. They must pretend to be ambassadors to receive this gift, and Annie will pretend to be a boy as girls weren’t allowed to show their faces in public there, she was getting used to that. Teddy and Kathleen didn’t know much about ambassadors, they told them they were the ambassadors and gave them a research book and a potion that would make them small like in Ireland.
The tree house had landed in a row of tall dark trees next to a red fort with a moat, a drawbridge, and massive red battlements. They saw elephants, carts, and people in the street, it was a bazaar like in Baghdad. The research book said that at this time, India was still covered by wilderness, which had wild animals like tigers and cobras. Luckily, they were near where the Great Mogul lived, but they should stay away from other ambassadors just in case they suspected they were fakes. They managed to convince the guard they were with the ones from Europe and were very learned. However, they also needed a beautiful gift, Annie claimed that they had one without showing him. As they followed the others to the Hall of Public Audience, Annie clarified to Jack that he could give the Great Mogul his story, it was made after computers and sparkle pens were invented!
A burly guard put Jack and Annie with the other ambassadors as they watched the Peacock Throne silently. Jack was worried, if they messed up bowing and talk, they won’t laugh like in Vienna, they’ll kill you! He thought now was a good time to leave, but it was too late, Shah Jahan, the Great Mogul of India, arrived. Each ambassador gave the Great Mogul their gifts, but he just gave them to a servant without changing his expression. Nonetheless, he accepted the story, but his servant presented jewels to Jack, he couldn’t find any emerald roses, but Annie did. Once the Great Mogul left, everyone was relieved to talk again. They were not done yet, however, a guard said Jack and Annie were now required to view a parade in their honor.
The guard gave them clothes to change, Jack really wanted to leave but Annie wasn’t worried. She said they could use the potion to escape, but Jack said they’d probably be squashed by the Mogul’s guards. The parade was nice, there were many musicians and animals, but one elephant sounded sick. Annie asked a guard what was happening, he explained that she was being punished for trying to escape. This made Annie accidentally raise her voice, which made everyone stare at her, including the Great Mogul! Annie went so far as to ask him if he loved anything, the Great Mogul had decided to give the elephant to Annie to take her home. Her name was Morning Breeze, the guards told them to leave before the Mogul decided to kill them after all.
As much as Jack wanted to leave, he decided to help Morning Breeze with Annie. It was hard, though, the elephant ended up causing destruction to the bazaar. Once they got back to the wild, Morning Breeze just dumped Jack and Annie off. This caused Jack’s bag to fly off, the emerald rose was missing. Annie found it by what appeared to be some earth and leaves, but it was actually a king cobra! They quickly got away and realized that they needed a plan to get the gem back. The research book said they are very protective of their nest, they can feel vibrations, and a single bite can kill twenty men. Jack realized that their only chance was to use the potion to make themselves small. They drank two sips of the potion, that gives them twenty minutes; they were about seven inches tall. It was pretty, except for some of the giant bugs.
An emerald cut in the shape of a rose.
Jack had decided to use camouflage to get the emerald back. He and Annie decided to hold dead leaves like shields, poking in holes in them so they could see, and went slowly. Just as they were close to the emerald, another cobra entered the scene, it was the dad. The kids made a run for it and they got separated. Jack saw Annie riding the trunk of Morning Breeze, he managed to get the emerald before he and Annie got back into the carriage and grew back to normal size. A baby elephant came out of the wild, this is why Morning Breeze tried to escape earlier, they took her away from her baby. Jack and Annie took all the stuff off of Morning Breeze and petted her baby. It was time for them to go, but it was hard to get back to the tree house. However, they then noticed a farmer talking to the guard that escorted them, he demanded them to come with him or be sentenced to life in prison.
As the carriage they were in moved, Jack was extremely worried. Soon after they got off beyond a white dome, the Great Mogul arrived alone. He had actually come to compliment them on the story they gave him about their past adventures in the magic tree house. The Great Mogul really liked the pictures that Annie drew, but what he really liked was the heart of it all. He confessed he had always loved his late wife; he just couldn’t show it in front of his guards and guest. He also revealed that the dome was made to honor her, it was the Taj Majal! It is made out of jewels cut by the stonecutters, despite its outside beauty, inside is a lonely heart. He understood about Morning Breeze, she reminded him of his wife. He took the back to the magic tree house and said farewell, saying the rose was his wife’s favorite flower and emeralds stand for love. Jack realized that this is what the rhyme meant. When they got back home, they decided to keep the emerald there until they saw Teddy and Kathleen again. Annie also realized that they went on this mission because everyone loved Penny, even the cobras loved their babies.
Notes on time and place settings[]
Trivia[]
- At the beginning of the book, a quote by Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel laureate poet from West Bengal, is shown. "Only let this one teardrop, the Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever."
- The story Jack and Annie gave to the Great Mogul contained many of their adventures in the magic tree house, all of them coming from different books. The Great Mongul mentioned that they saved a huge octopus, helped Leonardo da Vinci, rescued children from giant ocean wave, saved a baby gorilla and baby kangaroo, helped William Shakespeare, and rescued children also from a sinking ship.