The sun was shining gorgeously outside, and Max and Majka were sitting - well, Majka was sitting and reading her favourite books. Yes, Majka was a bookworm, so she sometimes read several books at once.
She read a poem from one, a short story from another, but now she was marvelling at how beautifully people used to write, how they didn't write letters, but painted them... and then there was a bang!
Majka looked up and saw Maxík slam his notebook about knights shut.
“What happened?” Majka asked timidly, looking at her brother.
“Nothing happened, I was just thinking that I'm actually a knight and...”
“Sure, you were bestowed knighthood in the land of Haravara in Kráľovský Chlmec by the former kings of Haravara.”
“Well, since then I haven't worn any armour and I haven't done anything knightly,” Maxík mused.
“But you don't have any armour.”
“Exactly,” Maxík said, becoming even more sad.
“But you don't need it,” his sister tried to reassure him.
“And do you know what I promised the kings of Haravara?” Maxík asked his sister seriously.
“That you would defend Haravara until the end of the world.”
“Exactly! And how am I supposed to protect it when I don't even have armour?” Knight Max stared out the window.
“Let's make some,” suggested Majka.
Just as they were thinking about it, there came a soft knock on the window.
“Kaško!” cried Maxik happily.
“You came right on cue,” said Majka, opening the window.
“Well, well, well, what kind of welcome is this?” Kaško sang in surprise, looking around the room to see if something had happened.
“It's good you've shown up, we need your help.”
“Hmm... I'm listening.”
“Well, it's not so much that we need you as the knight of Haravara needs you,” clarified Majka.
“Then it must be something serious,” said Kaško very seriously and sat down on the bed.
“It is serious,” said Maxík sadly.
“Let's hear it,” said Kaško, looking into the eyes of the knight of Haravara.
“I need armour.”
“Armour?”
“Yes, armour,” repeated Maxík.
“Then buy some at a toy store or a costume shop,” said Kaško, not understanding the problem.
“But I need real armour.”
“What for?” Kaško didn't understand and glanced discreetly out the window to see if there were any other knights around and if he was missing something.
“Well, because if the kings of Haravara, who conferred knighthood on me, call me...”
“Then you have to go to Haravara's aid,” Kaško tapped his forehead.
“I got a sword, but no armour.”
“That's true.”
“See!”
“But since you're still a boy, you should have armour that is light but also hard enough that no sword from Ledabolovo or Skaderukaskadenohovo can hurt you.”
“Do you know of anything like that?” Maxík asked Kaško questioningly.
“I don't, but we'll definitely find something in Haravara's old secret files.”
“Hooray!” Majka began packing immediately with joy. “Old files and adventure - that's my thing!”
“Where are we going?”
“To the Dead Sea,” Kaško announced emphatically and started moving.
“Where?” Majka stopped packing and sat down on the bed.
“To the Dead Sea,” Kaško repeated slowly.
“But that's not in Haravara, it's in Israel.”
“And what's so interesting about the Dead Sea?” Kaško asked teacherly.
“Well, it's the lowest place in the world,” Maxík remembered.
“Yes, and what else?”
"I know, I know!" Majka forgot that she was at home and started to speak up. "They found secret documents from the Dead Sea!"
"Shh - come closer," Kaško took Maxík and Majka aside.
"We're listening," nodded the children.
"We also have the lowest place in Haravara," continued Kaško.
"And also with old documents?" Majka's eyes lit up.
"Every country has such a place, but no one talks about it."
"Why?"
"Well, because people could dig there and maybe dig too deep... you know."
Max and Majka quickly gathered their things and headed for the train station. They boarded the train to Čierna nad Tisou, but got off at the station in Streda nad Bodrogom.
"Where to now?"
"Since it's a beautiful day, let's go for a walk," suggested Kaško, who considered flying over his walking friends to be a walk.
"A walk?"
"Mhm. And while we're walking, I'll go over the secret Haravara script, which I haven't seen - or rather read - in about 352 years."
"Wow – we won't disturb you then."
Maxík and Majka walked along normal, normally dusty forest paths, as is customary on proper expeditions, while Kaško was flying above them. He must have known the way by heart, because he was repeating the letters of the secret script in the air.
"Stop!" Kaško exclaimed.
"Are we there?" whispered Majka.
"Almost."
"What village is this?"
"This is the village of Klin nad Bodrogom."
"And is this the lowest village?" Majka was already looking for an old monastery.
"No, but there's a place not far from here that's the lowest point in the land of Haravara and the surrounding countries."
"Let's go now!"
After a while, they reached a place that did not look like the Dead Sea at all. It was a beautiful meadow with a kind of depression in the middle.
"Here it is."
"Are the secret documents here?" Majka could not believe her eyes.
"You bet," Kaško laughed mysteriously.
"But they're probably written on leaves," Majka whispered to Maxík.
"Yeah, and probably written by ants," Maxík replied.
Kaško approached the spot and was suddenly surrounded by four ghost knights.
"What are you doing here, little ghost?" one of them asked.
"I'm not a little ghost, I'm the ghost Kaško," he replied.
Majka and Maxík didn't even breathe.
"This is a secret place for all ghosts, and you brought people here?" the knights drew their swords.
"But people come here all the time," Maxík blurted out.
"Yes, but for walks, trips, and picnics!"
The scary ghosts began to reminisce about the picnics that used to take place here, and you could see that they were remembering the days when they were still knights and could go to feasts.
"Excuse me," Maxík said timidly, "but Kaško isn't to blame."
"Kaško?" asked one of the ghosts.
"That's me - the ghost of the land of Haravara."
"Ah, we've heard of you... Can you see us?" the ghosts looked at Maxík incredulously.
"I am Maxík - or Max the First to you, knighted by the ancient kings of Haravara."
"Wait, let's check this."
One of the ghosts flew away and returned a moment later.
"He's right."
"So what do you wish, Knight Max?" asked the ghosts, putting down their swords.
“I would like to make a suit of knight's armour that is light and durable.”
“And I thought we could find a plan in the old writings,” Kaško added to Maxík.
“But the old knight writings are not here, they are in Stonehenge.”
“Hurray, let's go to England!” shouted Majka, not realising that she had disclosed herself.
“I am the sister of the knight and the crowned princess of the land of Haravara.”
“You have only lived in Haravara for a short time, so you cannot know that we also have our own Stonehenge in Haravara.”
“Nuh-uh...”
“I know where it is,” whispered Kaško, handing them tickets for the flying vehicle.
“Thank you!” shouted Kaško, and as soon as he finished speaking, they were standing in front of the ruins of a castle.
“Doesn't it remind you of anything?”
“Er... sure - stone pillars and some kind of open space inside!”
“Is this Stonehenge?” The children looked around, searching for druids.
“This is, in fact, Veľký Kamenec Castle,” he said, pointing to the magnificent ruins on the hill.
“But why did they bring the secret files here?” Majka didn't understand.
“It's obvious.”
“Huh?” Maxík and Majka looked at Kaško.
“Uh-huh.“
“Because it looks so mysterious?” Maxík guessed.
“No, but it used to be a really important castle and it's been standing here for almost 700 years - maybe even longer.”
“Wow,” the children began to look at the castle walls with admiration.
“And this castle was conquered almost 600 years ago by a famous warrior - Ján Jiskra.”
“We learned about that in history class,” Majka chimed in again.
“So he settled here with his army and raided the whole of Haravara - even beyond its borders.”
“Wow, so there were real knights here,” Maxík perked up.
“Just like you said - real knights in real armour,” Kaško nodded.
“And then another commander came to this castle, Ján Hunyadi,” Kaško continued.
“We learned about him too,” Majka continued.
“It was here that the two of them, as commanders of the opposing armies, signed a peace treaty.”
“Wow, this is a historic site!”
"Of course. That's why they brought the secret military files here. But where?“ Majka began to look around to see if she could see anything similar to the caves near the Dead Sea.
”Wait, wait..." Kaško thought hard, so hard that his head began to steam, and the children were afraid he would boil.
“I know! In Klin, the files were in the lowest place - and it'll be the same here.”
“And where is that?”
“In the middle. See that hole?”
“Well, it doesn't look like a hole,” said Majka, because she still had the old caves with the files in her mind's eye.
“But it used to be a hole.”
“We don't understand,” said the friends, looking at the alleged place.
“This is a water cistern for the castle - and the files will definitely be there,” said Kaško, heading towards the old cistern.
Kaško began to mumble various spells and incantations until he remembered an old knight's song and began to sing it. The children picked up their instruments and joined him.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to collapse, and they found themselves standing in a cave full of historical records and books.
“This is my paradise,” whispered Majka.
“And my nightmare,” said Maxík, amazed.
Kaško searched for an old document about knight's armour, Maxík pretended to be looking for something too, and Majka picked up one document after another and copied the beautiful old letters.
“Here it is!” Kaško triumphantly raised his hand above his head with a document depicting a knight on horseback.
“So what does it say?” Maxík held his breath with anticipation.
“Wait... yes, this!” Kaško opened his eyes so wide that they almost popped out of his head..
"What's this?"
"It says here that Haravara has the strongest armour - armour made from Haravara turtles."
"What?" Maxík and Majka did not understand.
"Made from Haravara turtles," repeated Kaško.
"You mean we have to go to the zoo park, catch a turtle, and take its shell?" Maxík asked, confused.
"Don't even think about it!" Majka blushed with anger. "We're not going to take a turtle's shell!"
"How are you going to get it?"
"There's a place in Haravara called Tajba."
"And there are turtles there?" the siblings laughed and tapped their foreheads.
"It's the only place in Haravara where turtles live in the wild."
"Boys, a knight would never take a turtle's shell," Majka continued to frown.
"I don't want to."
"Then how are we going to get it?" Maxík became a bit nervous.
"Many thousands of years ago, the ancestor of this turtle lived here."
"A turtle ancestor?" Maxík went from despair to jest.
"A Haravara turtle."
"I see."
"And she was the mother of all the swamp turtles that live in Tajba today."
"And she still lives there?"
"No, but she left behind a shell that is waiting..." Kaško searched for a moment in his notes, "It says here, literally: For the knight of the land of Haravara who will need her help."
"That's me!" Maxík's eyes lit up with joy.
"Let's go then – what are we waiting for?" Majka got up from the ground.
So, the friends set off again for Streda nad Bodrogom and from there to Tajba.
"Kaško, but these are swamps!"
"It's a swamp turtle, did you think it lives in?"
"But how did the swamps get here?"
"This water is from the Bodrog River."
"But it's not here," the children searched for the river.
"It's not far away, and this is its dead arm."
"But this isn't an arm, it's some kind of lake and swamp. When the Bodrog flowed here, it brought various types of clay and plants and sediments, and then it started to blow quite a lot, and in a few years..."
"In two?"
"In a few thousand years, this lake and these marshes were formed."
"And the turtle didn't have to swim anymore..."
"...but settled here."
Kaško and his friends came to the edge of the marsh, across which a wooden path now led. Kaško dipped his hand into the water.
“Put your hands in the water too,” he said.
“Why?” they looked at him incredulously and looked around to see if giant turtles were emerging from somewhere.
“Just do it and splash around a little,” Kaško showed them what he wanted them to do.
After a moment of splashing, about 1,500 small turtles appeared on the surface. In the middle, one huge turtle emerged - it was the same as the others, only much larger.
“Why are you calling me, and who taught you how to call the queen of the swamp turtles?” she asked in a deep voice.
“I am the ghost Kaško, and this is Majka, the crowned princess, and Maxík, the Haravara knight who was invested by the old kings,” Kaško introduced them.
“I am pleased to meet you. I am the queen of the swamp turtles.”
“Knight Maxík has a request,” Kaško interjected.
“Your Majesty, I need your help,” said Maxík, kneeling down in the swamp.
“Speak,” she said, raising her head as high as she could out of her shell.
“As a knight of the land of Haravara, I do not have my own armour. In the old writings, we discovered a report that the lightest and strongest armour in the world is found right here in Haravara.”
“That is true. It is the armour of our ancient turtle mother,” confirmed the queen.
“May I be so bold as to ask if I could borrow that armour as a knight of Haravara?”
Suddenly, something strange happened - the water began to bubble as if someone were boiling it. A beautiful suit of armour appeared on the surface.
“The wish of Knight Haravara, who is in need, is my command. That's what our mother told us a long time ago.”
“She knew about me?” Max couldn't believe his ears. Majka and Kaško just opened their mouths silently.
“She knew that Knight Haravara would come one day.”
“So, the armour is mine?” Max swallowed hard and even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
“It's yours. But it will disappear if you don't use it to help the land of Haravara and if you do bad things.”
“I promise I'll only use it to defend the land of Haravara.”
“Take the armour, Knight Max. And so that you don't just wear ordinary turtle armour, but real armour, go nearby - to a place that has been magical since ancient times. There you will find a huge suit of armour.”
“One of the giant turtles?” asked Majka incredulously.
“It's a turtle bunker built for us by artists from Košice, the capital of Haravara, in a place where miracles happen.”
“And why there?”
“Because if something threatens us, we can hide in it,” replied the queen and disappeared under the water along with 1,500 little turtles.
Maxík, Majka, and Kaško waved to the queen and set off in the direction she had shown them.
“What did the queen say when she dived into the water?” asked Kaško.
“Go to our bunker, put on your armour, and wait for the first moonbeam,” repeated Majka without error.
It was a really strange structure. It looked like a giant turtle rising out of the ground. Max put on his armour and stood on the turtle bunker. Majka clenched her fingers because she didn't know what would happen.
When the first moonbeam appeared, Maxík's armour turned into real armour.
That night, Maxík slept like he used to - like a knight - with a serious look, but with a smile on his face.
