The Treasure on the Hohe Wand
The interactive adventure story from ASAGAN
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Lea and Tschudi, the great explorer, finally find the secret treasure chest in the nature park. But it doesn’t contain what they were expecting. Perhaps the Butterfly can help them? Join ASAGAN for a real adventure with the big books of knowledge in the nature park on the Hohe Wand plateau. Read the story, visit the stations and find out what the treasure on the Hohe Wand really is!
2 – Treasure Map
The adventure begins!
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Lea couldn’t believe her eyes: the treasure chest in front of them was empty! Disbelievingly, she looked first at her friend, the explorer Tschudi, then at the treasure map that had led them here up a steep path. They were in the right place, but the Hohe Wand treasure was not in the chest. How was that possible? It was early morning. Lea and Tschudi were standing on the village square, surrounded by woodland. To double check, they closed the chest again. The lid fell with a bang, the clasp clicking shut. At that moment a door opened in a nearby house that had white smoke coming out of its chimney.
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As Lea and Tschudi approached the house, a man wearing a thick apron came out. “Are you looking for something?” he asked. Lea at once replied, “Do you know where the treasure of the Hohe Wand is?” The man frowned, then chuckled. “Of course! I have it here in my charcoal-burning hut! Wait here and I’ll bring it out to you.” “What luck!” said Tschudi and Lea, beaming with delight. But their faces fell when he returned and handed them lumps of black stuff. “Pure coal – black gold!” he exclaimed proudly.
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And then they heard a silky voice from the house next door: “I have the real treasure!” A woman was leaning towards them out of the window. Her hands were a brilliant white. “That’s pure limestone, the white gold of the Hohe Wand!” exclaimed Tschudi. “Thank you! I must examine it right away.” “But isn’t all treasure supposed to be gold?” asked Lea as they placed the powder in the chest with the coal. “Some treasure has to turn into gold first!” called a girl standing by the well in the middle of the square. She held a container out to them. Inside, something glistened.
6 – Futterstation
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“What’s that?” asked Lea curiously. “It’s pitch,” said the girl, “and I’m Marigold!” “Then you’re a real treasure!” laughed Lea. “What are you doing with the beautiful pitch?” “It has made many things good and whole again,” she replied mysteriously. “That’s what our explorers’ book says!” said Tschudi who was already busy leafing through it. “Pitch is useful for building roads or waterproofing shoes. And coal is very valuable because it creates heat. White limestone can be used to build houses.”
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Filled with wonder, Lea gazed into the now full treasure chest and nodded. “We’ve found the treasure of the Hohe Wand!” Just then a golden butterfly landed on the chest. “Ta-da! Thaaat’s nothing!” it called out. “Shall I show you the real treasure of the Hohe Wand?” “We’ve already got it here in the chest!” said Lea proudly. “Well, yes,” gabbled the Butterfly, “but there’s loads more!” Lea and Tschudi looked at the insect dubiously. “Show us!”
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The Butterfly took off and fluttered down into the well, singing as it went. “Look, look!” “I can’t see anything,” said Tschudi, as he stared down into the dark depths. “The treasure’s further down,” cried Lea, and she hauled up the bucket that was attached to the rope. “Water!” said Tschudi in amazement. They hadn’t expected to find that up here. “How true! How true! A thousand metres down!” laughed the Butterfly. “Without water there’s no life! Water is the most precious treasure.” Lea found that very wise. She filled her bottle with water and put it in the chest with the other treasures.
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“I’ve found another treasure!” she cried. “Where? Where?” asked Tschudi and the Butterfly. “It’s already in the chest!” she replied. But the others couldn’t see anything in it apart from coal, limestone, pitch and the water bottle. “What do you mean?” said Tschudi. But Lea couldn’t answer. She was staring wide-eyed at the hut beside the village square. She had never seen anything like it before. And neither had Tschudi, the great explorer, and he’d been all around the world.
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“I guard the treasure!” boomed an enormous dragon who had appeared out of thin air. The Dragon was flying around a blazing fire. “Fire, fire!” shouted Lea. “Don’t worry,” said the Dragon, “I’m the guardian of the fire. It warms you when you’re cold.” So saying, the Dragon vanished, and the fire with it. Where the fire had been, Lea found a dragon’s scale, left behind for them by the fire dragon. Carefully she placed it in the chest with the other treasures.
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“Where are we going now?” Tschudi asked the Butterfly. “We’re going thiiiis way! Having something to show the way is the real treasure!” it laughed and flew off into the woods. Tschudi and Lea followed.
“We never asked: What’s your name?” Tschudi called after it. “It’s Spaaarky Copper,” said the Butterfly. “What else would you like to know?” Lea and Tschudi had many questions. The woods posed a lot, too. They were full of mysteries.
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Tschudi’s big explorers’ book had the answer to some of them, and the Butterfly could solve others, but there was still a great deal to discover – these woods were an endless source of treasure. They came to a huge nest under the tall trees. “Whose is that?” asked Lea, thinking it might belong to the enormous dragon. “And thaaaat belongs to the animals and people who live in the wood,” said the Butterfly. “They made it together so that everyone has somewhere to live.” “A home is truly very precious!” said Tschudi, who had often been away on voyages and had no safe place to stay. He plucked a few feathers from his hat and placed them in the nest to make it even softer. That pleased the Butterfly, so it guided Lea and Tschudi to a place that no human being had ever seen before.
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The spot was well hidden beneath several large stones that rose up in a pile before them. “Ta-da! Iiiit’s the cairn,” explained the Butterfly. “I know about cairns from a book!” cried Tschudi. “Are the stories really true?” “Stories are always true, that’s why they’re real treasures,” said the Butterfly. “So books are real treasure chests!” said Lea, thinking proudly of the great hoard of treasures she had in her bedroom at home. The rooms here under the cairn were smaller than hers, but they looked very cosy nonetheless. They crept quietly past because some animals were asleep in them. “Some of them only wake up at night,” explained the Butterfly. “Do they read like I do?” asked Lea. “They do. But they also hunt, forage, look at the moon...” “I love the moon,” Lea remarked.
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“Theeeen I’ve got something for you,” said the Butterfly with a yawn. It was tired after their hike. It led them up to a hut. A sign on it said “Dream Hut”, and in front of it stood – a llama. “Ta-da!” trumpeted the Butterfly, “This one actually lives on the Moon.” “Now that, dear Butterfly,” said Tschudi, yawning now himself, “is certainly a tale told you by Sam the llama!” “Oh, all right,” the Butterfly replied as it lay down in the hammock, “but how do you know its name?” “It was I that brought it up here to the Hohe Wand many years ago,” said Tschudi proudly. At last he was able to show off his knowledge, too: “It came on a ship from South America.” “Is it far to the Moon from there?” interrupted the Butterfly just before it fell asleep. “Just below it,” said Lea with a smile as she drifted off into a pleasant dream in which they all flew once round the world.
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“Just up ahead,” said the Butterfly, waking his friends up, “is – ta-da! – myyyy home!” “You live in the big meadow?” asked Lea. “That’s right,” said the Butterfly happily, “in the meadow in the Hilly Wood, better known as Hollywood.” “Now that’s really a tall tale!” “No it’s not, it’s a film!” cried the Butterfly. “And they make films here,” said Tschudi. “Precisely!” said the Butterfly, turning around as it flew. “Because wherever you look it’s so beautiful here.” “So that’s your home,” said Lea. “Oooour treasure!” the Butterfly replied. “I share it every day with the biggest and most beautiful animals in the world.”
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Suddenly they were surrounded by a rustling, a crackling, a humming and a buzzing, as in a big cinema show, and hundreds of grasshoppers, bees and other insects were leaping, flying and dancing around them. It was a gigantic concert, so spectacular that Tschudi got his camera out and filmed it all. “That’s definitely going in the treasure chest,” he said to Lea. “It’s a pity we can’t take the scent of the flowers with us,” she sighed. “It seems the greatest treasures can’t be stored in a chest.” “Perhaps that was why it was empty when we found it,” said Tschudi thoughtfully.
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By now the treasure chest was really heavy. Their path now led up a hill. “Shall I help you to carry it?” the Butterfly asked. Lea and Tschudi were just trying to decide whether their friend was kidding when the chest began to move of its own accord! With the aid of a few drops of delicious honey, the Butterfly had persuaded half an ant village to help them, and now they were marching up the hill with the treasure chest. “No one will believe me if I tell this story at home,” said a dumbfounded Tschudi. “A good story?” said the Butterfly with a grin. “Thaaaat’s not the only one I have!”
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The Butterfly led Lea and Tschudi further up until they reached a lookout point. From here, they had a bird’s-eye view of the whole country. They stayed for a while, watching the families and flocks of birds as they chased each other and played with the wind. The games were all accompanied by the merriest and most joyous melodies.
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Next, the friends came upon a secluded spot where hundreds of butterflies were nibbling at sweet shrubs. Tschudi filmed everything and wrote it all down in his explorers’ book: “There’s no room in there!” “Noooo matter!” said the Butterfly mysteriously. “Everything is in its rightful place!” But it refused to explain what it meant by that.
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Tschudi sighed: “Now we’ve got two mysteries! Lea won’t say which treasure she discovered in the chest, and now there’s a secret place!”
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“Secret place – sea-grit case – sea-green face – she’s in space – seeking trace ….” came from underground voices all around them. And ten marmots popped up almost simultaneously. “Maaaarmots!” cried the Butterfly. “Hello, Butterfly! – “Halo, Flutterby!” – “Hollow, Shutter-Eye!” – “Ho-ho, Mutter-Cry!” – “Hobo, Gutter-Pie!” – and so on and so on, so that the friends made a hurried getaway.
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Lea and Tschudi sat down on the chest and slid down the hill. It was great fun, until it got so steep and so fast that they couldn’t stop!
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Going like the clappers, they crashed through an old wooden door, landing in the middle of a dark room. “Where are we?” asked Lea once she had brushed all the moss and earth off her legs. “Some light would be good,” groaned Tschudi, who was searching for his hat. “Ta-da! Here you are!” said the Butterfly. “I’m a Lesser Fiery Copper butterfly, you see!” It brushed over the candles on the walls and the room was bathed in light. “So where are we?” asked Lea again. “Where eeeeverything is in its place,” said the Butterfly. “It’s a...” began Lea, “...real treasure chamber!” said Tschudi, finishing the sentence for her. “Who needs a chest where there’s a whole building!” laughed the Butterfly.
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“Now tell us your secret, Lea!” The girl couldn’t get over her astonishment as she passed through the rooms. They were crammed from top to bottom with treasures from the Hohe Wand. “The treasure I discovered is here too,” she said, “and it was here long before anything else was. Even before the building.” “And we still can’t see it?” asked Tschudi, who was beginning to suspect what the answer was. “No, you can’t see my treasure,” said Lea with a smile, “only feel it.” The Butterfly flitted impatiently around her head. “What is it? What is it?” “This treasure makes you fly,” answered Lea, “it carries your wings.” “And if you want it, take a deeeep breath!” laughed Tschudi. “And let it out again,” added Lea.
ASAGAN – The Treasure on the Hohe Wand
Text: Wolfgang Hartl & Mia Kirsch
Illustration and design: Wolfgang Hartl & Erika Friedl
Translated by Neil Perkins, Wordworks
www.asagan.at
