Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 69

Beyond the Seventh Voyage
Creative Primary School, Tong, Nicole - 11
My name is Zheng Ping and I am the stepson of Zheng He, the great voyager of our Ming Dynasty. I am a
young sailor and have followed my stepfather since his sixth voyage when I was ten. I called my step father
Captain Zheng during voyage times. The sixth voyage lasted for about ten years and I gained valuable
voyage experiences and became a senior sailor even I was only twenty.
In 1431, Captain Zheng started his seventh voyage from China to India and gave the poor the treasures we
carried, as a usual mission of his voyages. However, after our trip to India, our ship was left with a batch of
gold, silk and other precious items. On our way back to China, Captain Zheng had a quick thought that he
wanted to give those left treasures to a poor place which he had visited during one of his past voyages –
West Africa.
Captain Zheng knew that his change of voyage plan would be disobedient to our King. So, he asked me and
the crew of our pilot ship to convey a message to the crews of other ships that Captain Zheng died from
over-exhaustion during the voyage. The vice-captain of our pilot ship, Yong, instructed the crews of other
ships to return to China while our pilot ship would find a peaceful place in the sea to give Captain Zheng an
honourable sea burial. After our white lie, we actually continued our voyage to our destination, West Africa.
About three days later, we finally arrived West Africa. We started our plan to give out our treasures and
other materials to the poor Africans. However, after a few days of donation work, we found that we did not
have enough materials to continue our donation because there were too many poor people. When we gave
our last piece of gold to a family, I made a new friend called Djembu who was a teenager. He felt that we
were very kind and caring to the poor, so he decided to tell us a secret. He told us that he was a descendant
of an old emperor of the Mali Empire which is a weak nation now as caused by internal wars, but it was a
strong and very rich empire which ruled over West Africa about a hundred years ago. Djembu wanted us to
continue our charity work, so he decided to bring us to a secret island which hid a lot of gold and other
treasures left from their ancestors. However, we needed to take a sea journey by a small boat which could
only carry four people. Therefore, Captain Zheng decided to bring me and Yong with him.
We boarded on the small boat during nighttime and told our crew to wait for us on the pilot ship. We were
led by Djembu who told us that we would encounter some dangers during the sea journey. Although we
were experienced of voyages by ship, we did not use to travel in the sea by a small boat. Luckily, Djembu
said he was experienced of sea travelling by small boat and would led us all the way to the secret island.
We sailed in the dark until the next morning. When we woke up in a cloudy and foggy atmosphere and
travelled for a while, we realized that there was a gigantic sea dinosaur emerging its head out of the water.
Captain Zheng and Yong immediately pulled their swords out in unison and were about to fight with the
enormous creature. Djembu was shocked by their prompt action and told them to calm down because the
sea dinosaur was his friend and the guardian of the secret island. Djembu told us that whenever there were
intruders, the sea dinosaur would gobble them up. Afterwards, Djembu murmured some magic words that
the sea dinosaur understood, then its head slowly lowered back into the water.
We sailed for a few more hours and then saw some shining light in front of us. The light became brighter
when we got closer and we found that it was a huge pile of gold which caused the island to glow! We had
to pass through a dark cave before we can reach the mountain of gold. Djembu warned us, “You’ll have to
be very careful or else --” “Bang!” A trapdoor suddenly opened up and Yong was falling down. In a flash,
I grabbed his hand and Captain Zheng and Djembu together helped me to pull Yong out of the trap where
there were full of spikes underneath. “Thanks for your prompt warning!” said Yong, breathing heavily. For
the rest of the trap doors along the way out of the dark cave, we followed Djembu’s instructions and moved
with great caution to avoid other traps which included snakes, cannibal flowers, and etc., as mentioned by
Djembu.