Anne Bonny's legacy

After a stormy night, the children were happily playing in the garden today. They had traveled to List on Sylt for their Grandma Krista's 71st birthday. Grandchildren Lisa, Uwe, and Johann, their little dog Emilie, and parents Nicole and Daniel had brought many presents. The magnificent Frisian house had been in the family since time immemorial, and if it could talk, it would have some interesting stories to tell.

For quite some time, none of them had seen the little dog Emilie. Johann was the first to notice. He started calling and searching for her. His siblings soon realized that both were missing. So they started searching, too. The parents also became alert and slowly moved away from the terrace and searched for the little dog and the now-missing children in the garden.

The children were running around the house together and noticed movement in the bushes. Small lumps of earth were flying through the air; the little dog had apparently found something and was digging it out. They were curious to see what it could be.

The parents and Grandma Krista had also arrived at the bush when Uwe tried to take the small, strong, and dirty dog's find. It looked like a strangely labeled piece of guttering, but why was it lying in the ground? Had the storm blown it there?

"AB" was emblazoned in very curly, old letters on the piece of pipe. A leather covering was visible. The children were astonished and removed the last bit of dirt. In doing so, they noticed that one end could be rotated. Everyone stood around the object in amazement, while Daniel grabbed the children's arms and, with a little effort, opened the rotating end. "Like my pickle jar," his wife remarked with a sweet smile. "I wonder what's in there?" Lisa asked aloud. Uwe suspected a bone, since Emilie wouldn't let go of her find. In fact, inside this pipe were some papers and another object with movable rings and letters on it. "A cryptex," said Grandma Krista. Daniel carefully pulled out the papers and discovered that one letter was sealed and the other papers contained a family tree.

"Strange," Krista said after glancing at the piece of paper. She noted that it was, after all, part of the family tree. They brought the find to the coffee table on the patio and studied the family tree in detail.

Uwe immediately noticed the name "Anne Bonny." He had read something about it. "She was a famous pirate," he noted, quickly fetching his favorite book from his room. He was a little disappointed, though, because his pirate had lived a good 300 years earlier.

Lisa noticed the name "Bertha." She had never heard such a name before. But Emilie knew her well, and she was very happy, because that was also what they had named their dog.

Daniel, of course, noticed his mother's name and that he and his family were not yet listed on the family tree.

The letter was sealed with a tree of life. The signet ring was enclosed. Krista laughed out loud with joy and reminded her grandchildren of the discovery of an old letter that was also sealed with a tree of life. In the List spa administration building on Sylt, they had often stood in front of the letter, read it, and wondered what had happened back then.

After the seal of the letter, which was already orange instead of red, was broken, Krista read the contents of the diary page inside:

When Krista read the letter, she felt a tingling sense of adventure; her grandchildren were already whispering excitedly. A treasure, how wonderful that is! They all decided to work together to retrace the steps of their ancestors to unlock their family's secret and perhaps find this treasure, or what's left of it. With the help of the whole family and the signet ring with a tree of life on it, it should be possible.