Stallion at Starlight is the 49th book of the Magic Tree House Book Series.
Summary[]
Jack and Annie are magically transported to Ancient Greece to find the meaning of greatness. There, they meet the young Alexander the Great and take part in the famous story of how he tamed his horse, Bucephalus.
Chapters[]
- The Ring of Truth
- Keep Walking
- Big Thinkers
- The One-Eyed King
- The Race
- Warhorses
- Stallion at Starlight
- Night Riders
- The Truth
- A Place of Honor
Plot[]
On a warm day in June, Annie was reading over all their adventures in the magic tree house in Jack’s notebook. Her brother was not interested, but since he had just finished the book he was reading, he decided to join Annie biking to the library. However, on the sidewalk was Penny! Seeing her made them conclude the tree house’s return, they told their dad to put lemonade he made in the fridge for just a little bit.
Merlin was inside the tree house; he had been thinking about questions that wise humans wondered throughout history. He had been pondering particularly about greatness, what makes a person truly great. Therefore, for their next four missions, Jack and Annie must meet someone and learn a secret of greatness. Their first mission will be with Alexander the Great, as for when they know the secret is found, Merlin gave them a Ring of Truth, which will glow when it happens. As Annie put on the ring, Merlin then gave them a bottle containing mist from the Isle of Avalon. This would allow the two to experience greatness in themselves, but it would only work once on each journey. Lastly, Merlin gave them a research book about Macedonia, whose people were fierce and warlike, it was from Morgan.
The tree house land in an olive tree, Jack and Annie wore clothes similar to the ones they wore in Pompeii and the Greek Olympic Games. Jack read that the kingdom was ruled by Alexander’s father, King Philip II, who had brilliant but ferocious military skills. He wanted Annie to wait before they asked any questions, they saw the king’s massive army. Jack also read that they were very well trained due to many enemies. Annie saw a walled town, in it some boys just scowled when she asked where the king was, some blacksmiths were making swords but began chasing the children when they saw them. They blended into a canopy with a man giving a lecture to some teenage boys. Annie wasn’t pleased when he mentioned that everything revolved around the earth, which is what many people believed at the time. The boys were very mad when she spoke up, but the teacher was interested in them “believing” the sun is the center of the universe, his name was Aristotle, the great philosopher who wrote those “future” writings in Baghdad. Annie was naturally not pleased when Aristotle was surprised about girls’ imagination, but he was also impressed, along her specialty with animals. They connected with their love of learning, Jack mentioned doing research on rain forests, deep seas, and the moon. Aristotle knew Alexander, he would turn only thirteen in a few weeks and begin his studies with Aristotle. He decided to take the kids to a Royal Gathering at the mansion in the afternoon, he’ll try to convince the king to make an exception with Annie. Jack read that Alexander became an amazing swordsman and athlete at such a young age.
Inside the mansion were murals of Greek Myths, Aristotle mentioned that King Philip II lost an eye in battle. After a while, he was finally interested in Jack and Annie. Alexander the Great suddenly arrived, Annie told them about three kinds of bears (and koalas). Alexander was not impressed, but Phillip demanded that they finish. Jack and Annie mentioned kangaroos, Hercules, and Pegasus, Annie explained that this was all the power of imagination (and constellations). Everyone except Alexander was pleased at this, but the prince decided to talk with Jack alone while Annie stayed with Aristotle. Alexander claimed that Hercules was his great-great-grandfather, making himself a living Greek god. He said he would soon be an unstoppable athlete master, Jack secretly wrote that he was crazy guy who should be locked up, but when Alexander wanted to read it, Jack reinterpreted his words in a good way. Next, Alexander challenged Jack to a race up the hill, and won. He said he preferred winning over friendship! Annie was disgusted, she decided to have Jack sniff Merlin’s mist so he could rematch him. Jack, however, said he was not worth it and didn’t want to learn anything from him as Alexander left to see the horses.
Suddenly, Aristotle arrived with water for them, he said Alexande desperately wanted to be like his father. They went to see the king’s warhorses from Thessaly, they had amazing strength and speed used for wars. Grooms were tending the horses in stables as the king and Alexander watched, but as the sun began to set, one of them began showing off his beauty. His name was Bucephalus and he once belonged to the Royal Horse Master of Thessaly. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t let anyone ride him after he was caught in battle. Neither Annie nor Alexander liked how the grooms were handling him. The king ordered guards to seize his son despite his insistence that he could tame Bucephalus. Realizing that they could all get a little mean sometimes, Jack and Annie decided to help Alexander by training Bucephalus for him. Jack took some notes from the adventure in the Wild West. Jack was still unsure, but Annie went into the stable anyway. However, once she got onto the horse, Bucephalus galloped off into the distance with her! They decided to use the mist this time, they made a wish to be two great horse trainers. Annie started calling Bucephalus “Buddy” and they could hear his thoughts! Buddy told them that he missed his master and would only let him ride him, he really misses him and was deeply sad when he was told he was never coming back. Although he was relieved that it wasn’t his fault, he decided to take them for a little ride. Buddy took the kids through town and some fields.
Soon it was dawn, and Annie told Jack that they managed to ride Buddy after an hour, without magic. However, when they returned the horse to the stable, they found Alexander none too pleased. Jack said Buddy let them ride because he knew they were his friends, they were able to tame him because they paid attention to him. Alexander realized how special the horse was, Jack and Annie told him not to be boastful like before saying that nobody was perfect. Alexander learned of humility; this is when the Ring of Truth started! Suddenly, the grooms appeared, but Alexander defended Buddy from them, now showing great humility for him. He went to tell his father he would tame him while Jack and Annie returned Buddy. Reuniting with Aristotle, the philosopher was surprised by this turn of events. They heard King Phillip chasing his son, not wanting him to ride Buddy. However, he amazed at how the boy and horse moved together. Before Jack and Annie left, Alexander thanked them, still showing a little boastfulness, while Buddy will have a place of honor.
The ring was left in the tree house and Jack wrote “HUMILITY” in his notebook. They went home to have that lemonade, glad that their dad wasn’t King Phillip II.
Notes on time and place settings[]
Trivia[]
- While looking through Jack's notebook, Annie remembered when they met polar bear cubs in the Artic, Hercules saving them in Pompeii, the invisible piano player in the Wild West ghost town, and Australia with the koala, kangaroo, dingoes and forest fire. Additionally, Jack was reading a book about pandas.
- The theory that the Earth was the center of the universe is called the geocentric model. It was most famously proposed by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. Given that it looked like the sun, moon, stars, and planets were moving across the sky, this idea was widely accepted for many centuries until the heliocentric model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th century, which placed the Sun at the center of the universe.