A Tale of Miss Penelope From Odette Island

A Tale of
Miss

Penelope

FROM ODETTE ISLAND



What do you wish for if you
are a normal child from Odette
Island?

Probably they would say to
own a big library in their room
or to possess the same IQ level
as Albert Einstein. There was no
in between.

The children in this island
were very passionate when it
came to learning and teaching.
The legend had it that Odette
Island was blessed with
wisdom.

All of the children loved to go
to school except petite
Penelope.



Petite Penelope lived with
her old wrinkled and humped
widowed mother in the dark
forest of Estes.

Penelope was an 8 years old
girl with cherry red cheeks and
frizzy ginger hair. She always
ranked last in her class and her
report card was filled with
crimson red mark.

Penelope didn’t fancy school
unlike her classmates because
she believed study was a
useless thing and teachers were
scary.

She would pick playing tag
with her chickens and gooses
over studying.



The roaring sound of an
airplane in the clear sky
instantly grabbed Penelope’s
attention.

Her head was directed up to
the sky. A delightful smile was
plastered on her fair skin face
and her eyes were glistening
like a crystal.

Penelope called an airplane
as a ‘metal bird’. This was
because she had no idea of its
name.

HA HA
HA

One day, Penelope collected
the courage to ask her
classmates about the name of
the 'metal bird'. However, they
laughed at her because it was a
very silly and obvious question.

Penelope went home with
blurry vision in her eyes,
waiting for her tear to stream
down the face anytime. What
was so funny about not
knowing what was the 'metal
bird' called?

The determination to learn
about airplane didn't stop and
she tried to ask her teacher,
Miss Freya.



“Miss, what do you called
the big metal bird with loud
sound in the sky?” asked
Penelope with her soft voice.

Miss Freya gasped and
stared at her with look of
disbelief. She was not mad at
Penelope for asking such
question but she couldn’t
believe what just happened!

She thought she was
dreaming because Penelope
never talked to people.



Miss Freya couldn’t hide her
smile “Well, my dear Penelope,
it is called an airplane. There
are people on board and they
used airplane to reach a far
destination. Do you like
airplane?” she tried to keep the
conversation.

“Wow…I didn’t know there
are people inside airplane.”
Penelope stressed the word
airplane as if she tried to get
use to the new word. Miss
Freya and Penelope continued
to talk about airplane until the
bell rang. Penelope was so
happy that she couldn’t wait
for the next day to learn more
about airplane.



Right before the recess, the
class received a flyer stated
that there would be a school
trip to the Kingdom. The only
transportation to Kingdom was
by airway. Penelope was so
excited and already made up
scenarios in her mind but that
didn't last long when she heard
her class monitor.

“We will use airplane and
stays at the Kingdom for 2 days
and 1 night! The school will
only bring the Top 10 students
in school. I hope we can go
together.” Julia exclaimed with
excitement.



Penelope’s eyes were glued to the
airplane image in the flyer. Her small
fingers danced on the image. She
sighed heavily because she knew she
had no chances. She thought if only
she studied smart like her classmates.
The final exam was around the corner
and it was too late to revise. She
pulled an all-nighter just to squeeze
her brain’s juice.

“Think harder, Penelope.” she
uttered while tapping her head as if it
would help her to generate ideas. She
snapped her finger and said ‘Bingo!’.
Penelope recalled there was an
answer sheet on Miss Freya’s desk
when she met her two days ago. A
devilish smile appeared on her thin
pale lips and she was confident about
it.



As days went by, the exam day had
arrived. Penelope managed to sneak
in the answer and copy the whole
thing. The sound of Penelope's sharp
pencil filled the atmosphere.

Penelope smiled like a Chesire Cat
thinking she would ace her exam. The
truth was, she didn’t! She messed up
as she didn’t realized that she copied
not only the correct answer but also
Miss Freya’s marking scheme notes.

Penelope confidently screamed her
lungs out not knowing what awaited
her “What a wonderful day! Finally, I
can fly high like a bird in the sky.”



The next morning, Miss Freya looked
for Penelope in her classroom. Her
teacher’s face was as sour as a vinegar.
Penelope didn’t know why until she
brought out Penelope’s exam paper.
Miss Freya scolded Penelope for her
immoral acts. Miss Freya told her that
there was no shortcut to success.
Everyone needs to work hard before
achieving something.

“Penelope, there is no harm in
studying. Education is important for
our life. You may cheat or you may lie
to me but it isn’t my loss, dear. For now,
your goal is to hop in the airplane,
right? And there is no such thing as too
late in education. I will always be here
to help you in your study. So, you can
join the next trip.” Miss Freya stroke
her ginger hair and she had great faith
in Penelope.



Penelope admitted her fault
and realized that Miss Freya was
right. Starting from that day,
Penelope became a diligent
student in her class. She was
thankful to have Miss Freya as
her teacher and she had become a
good friend to her classmates.
They would exchange books and
information with Penelope to
help her achieve her dream, to fly
high in the blue sky.