The Mountain of Dreams: ****'S Adventure - Book 1

By Robert C. Finley

You expect to read a story that keeps you wanting to see what happened to the main character. How about a story with a character that you care about? ow about a story about someone that you care about?HWell heres a story for you. You have a direct connection to the main character BECAUSE YOU NAME HIM. Thats right! You give the main character, the hero, any name you choose.

Here is a story filled with:

ADVENTURE
EXCITEMENT
HUMOR
DANGER

And YOU name the main character!

Be with him

- inside the small, dark, damp tunnels of the mountain
- as he gets swallowed up by swirling earth
- as he finds old, dusty chests and opens them
- as he helps in the search for a lost girl
- when he faces the Great Beast

and a whole lot more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 30, 2003
• ISBN: 9781410764836

Robert C. Finley

The author of the well read Mountain of Dreams / ****’s Adventure Book 1, Robert C. Finley is a father of two and grandfather of  five.  He has been described as an author that provides interesting characters, great creativity, and satisfying triumph of good over evil. He enjoys writing for young people in a way that incorporates adventure, fun, and fantasy with some lessons of life. He currently lives in Gainesville Florida.

Book preview

© 2003 by Robert C. Finley All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 1-4107-6483-4 (e-book)

ISBN: 1-4107-6482-6 (Paperback)

ISBN: 1-4107-6481-8 (Dust Jacket)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2003094479

1st Books-rev. 7/23/03

Contents

About the Book

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

About the Book

This is a story for all children for generations and generations to come. It contains the magic that children of all ages can see with their minds eye and feel with their very being. Dedicated to, his children Robert & spouse Sarah and Christina & spouse David and grandchildren Stephen Nicholas, Frances Ann, Kaitlyn Grace, David Anthony and Kenneth Robert as told by the Majestic Teller of Tales-Robert C. Finley.

Once, in the Land of Forgotten Dreams, there lived a young lad. Since his name was Xipfthijz and is much too hard for us to say, I will let you pick his name so that we can say it without any difficulty. What shall we call him?

PRINT YOUR NAME FOR HIM HERE

_______________________________

Now every time you see (****) you can call him by the name you have chosen.

**** is a very good name for him, so from now on we will call him ****.

Chapter 1

The story starts more than one million years ago. Deep inside our planet, miles under the earth’s crust, a pressure started to build. As years passed, the pressure increased until there was so much pressure that a layer of rock cracked. There are many different layers of rock and minerals and such under the surface of the earth. They are called plates. Well, one of the plates developed a miles long crack. One side of the crack was pushed under the other. More pressure was building. The plate underneath pushed harder and harder. As it moved under the other side, it pushed up all that was above it.

Up above, on the surface, the animals were living out their lives wandering over a vast (very large) open area of plains. The deer, antelope, horses, bison, bear and other wonderful animals traveled at will; eating the grasses, berries and whatever else they felt like feeding on. There were also mighty dinosaurs that roamed all over the earth. They walked, they flew, and they ran. Some of these enormous (very, very large) reptiles only ate plants and grasses. Some of the great beasts ate each other. It was not a good time to be the smallest animal around.

The animals stood in a great herd, feeding on the grasses of the plains. Suddenly they all stood erect (straight up). Ears stand tall, eyes opened their widest, searching for what has been detected by their senses. A slight trembling can be felt. No, it grows to more than just a tremble. Now it is a violent shake. The ground is shaking, shaking very hard. The animals run. They are running for their lives. The dinosaurs in the area sniff the air. They too feel the ground begin to move under them. Even the largest of the dinos turn and run. They are all terrified. Anything that can fly is now in the air. Clouds of birds and flying dinosaurs are fleeing in all directions. Terror fills everything that is living. They all know that there is nothing that they can do to stop it. They must get far away, and fast.

The rumbling grows and grows. Then, just as if something reached down and broke the ground, a miles long crack splits it open. The shaking continues at a violent, violent rate. The ground, for thousands of yards, heaved up. The pressure below continued to push the rock and granite and dirt up, and up. When finished, the ground had been pushed thousands of feet toward the sky. A mountain was born. That is how the mountains of ****’s valley were made.

When two mountains are born close to each other, the area between them is called a valley.

It is millions of years later now. The mountains have been filled with different kinds of trees. The animals have returned, and people now inhabit the earth.

****’s valley is lush with tall trees of all kinds. Some trees so large that, I’m sure, the largest giant could not put his arms around but just a little way. Trees so tall, that if you were deep into the timber, their branches would almost block the sun on the brightest day of the whole year. As you now know, a valley is a place that lies between two mountains. The mountains are really high, which makes the valley seem to be very deep; at least it would if we were to stand on the top of one of the mountains and look down. Of course the valley was not all trees, because there were many open areas, some small and some large, where the animals, like deer and squirrels would come to eat the grasses, fruits and nuts and tender young shoots of the lower branches of the trees; and birds would nest.

All over the earth there are rivers, that are wide and deep, streams (small rivers), and brooks (small streams). Billions of gallons of water flow down hill daily, running to the sea. Do you wonder where all of this water comes from? Well sometimes two or more brooks connect with each other. The added water makes the combined brooks into a stream. Sometimes many streams add to each other to make a mighty river. As each stream is added, the water flows harder and wider.

Sometimes melting snow causes water to run down the mountains to cause a brook to become a stream. Mostly, the water that forms a brook, stream or river comes out of the ground from holes that deliver thousands of gallons per minute to the surface. Sometimes the water comes out from a very small hole. The water does not come as fast and the volume (amount) of water is very slight (just a little).

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This is called a bubble of water. The water bubbles, or trickles out and follows the ground in the easiest path on a downward course. These places are the origins (starting places) of the rivers, great and small.

One part of ****’s valley had a bubble of water that grew into a brook, which, as I mentioned, is like a small river, a very small river. Now this brook was not your average run of water, because it was the key to the Valley of Forgotten Dreams. You know what a key is-—don’t you? A key is what unlocks a mystery, whether it be a door so you can see what is behind it; or an answer to a question, so the key is always very important.

For now we need to get back to ****. He is an average boy in height and weight and, I believe, had average intelligence for someone his age. His hair is sandy blonde and his eyes bright blue. He lives with his family, in the valley; but he doesn’t know much about what is in the valley, so he would go on expeditions, or trips, to journey to parts of the valley, where he had never been before, so that he could learn all that there was to learn about this special valley where he lives; and he has learned many things.

It was on one of his adventures to find out more about the valley that he happened upon the water bubbling out of the ground. He thought to himself, How curious! Why would water just come out of the ground and trickle away like that? What would make it do that? Where does all that water come from? **** had so many questions, and no answers. This bothered him so much, that he decided he must find out all there was to know about that water; but, because it was getting late in the day; and the sun was beginning to get low in the sky; **** decided that it would be better if he came back again when he would have more time to really search for his answers.

The evening meal is always a special time for the family. Mother always had wonderfully tasty meals ready for them. After the Blessing, which was said at every meal, his family all started to eat and, as usual, all would talk of what events made up their day. There are always interesting and sometimes exciting stories told.

****’s father is a very big man who works in the forest tending to the trees, so the air would be clean and fresh for them all to breathe; and keep the soil from washing away when the heavy rains would come. He is very proud of his job as it certainly is an important one. He has a big bushy beard, and a mustache that rims his mouth. It is a red beard; and because he works out in the forest his skin is weathered a dark tan,and some wrinkles are to be seen around his eyes; especially when he laughed or smiled, which was often. Those eyes actually twinkled when he would laugh. He has a large nose that sticks way out. He always says that his nose always beat the rest of him to wherever he was going; and then laugh out loud. It was a laugh that would shake the rafters of the house because there is so much joy in it; and oh how his belly would jiggle. Well, everyone else would have to laugh too when they saw how the father acted when he laughed.

****’s Mom loves to cook. The aromas from her cooking area would be carried, by the wind, far into the valley. Those who were downwind from her cooking area smelled the wonderful aromas (smells) from her cooking pots. If they were not hungry when they first became aware of the cooking smells, they were shortly thereafter. She isn’t a tall woman, but is still just about a head taller than ****. Her hair is fixed in such a way that it’s length does not interfere with her daily