JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH by JULES VERNE

Photo of Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Chapter I A Strange Message

Otto Lidenbrock is the famous Professor of Geology at the University of Hamburg, in Germany. He is also my uncle. He is sixty-five years old, not very tall, with grey hair. He wears small round gold glasses that make him look very serious.

I'm Axel. I'm only nineteen and the Professor's personal assistant. I watch my uncle very carefully when he works. That's why I know so much about our planet -Earth.

My uncle, the Professor, is a hard worker. He spends most of his day in his laboratory at the University, so he never comes home before two o'clock for lunch. But yesterday, he came home very early. This surprised Martha, our cook. The poor old girl did not have the lunch ready and she was a little upset.

"Professor, you're early!"

"Never mind, Martha. I don't want lunch today."

"But, Professor, you must eat!"

The Professor looked excited.

"Martha, food is not important."

Then he turned to me. "Axel, come with me."

He took me into his library. It was a big room with lots of bookcases against the walls and heavy velvet curtains in front of the windows. In the middle of the room, there was a desk where my uncle spent most of his evenings.

He took an old book out of his coat pocket. He looked at me.

"Axel, look at this! Look at this!"

I took it from his hand. Its cover was hard and it looked very old.

"Why, what is it, Professor?"

"I found it today in an old bookshop. It's seven hundred years old."

"What's it about?"

"It's about the old princes from Norway who came to live in Iceland."

"Why is that so special?"

He smiled and said, "Because it is written in a language that no one uses anymore."

I opened the book and saw strange letters from a strange alphabet. I did not understand any of it. I turned its yellow pages and a piece of paper fell out of the book onto the floor. The Professor jumped on it.

"What's this?"

It was an old yellow piece of paper with the same strange letters on it. The Professor knew many languages, but he could not read this old language from Iceland. He took a thick book from one of the shelves. It was a dictionary for all the old languages in the world which people do not speak today. Then, he gave me a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Axel, write down these letters as I read them to you."

The Professor read each letter to me and I wrote them down.

When we finished, this is what they said:

Go into the volcano at Sneffells Yokul. Before the first of July, the sun will show you the way to the centre of the earth. Make this journey. It is fantastic.

The   name   under  this   strange  message  was   'Arne Saknussemm'.

"Arne Saknussemm! I don't believe it!"

"Who's he?"

"He was a famous scientist. He wrote many strange things about the earth, but no one believed him. They said he was crazy. This must be the answer to the things he said. He left this piece of paper in the old book for someone to find. Do you understand, Axel, how lucky we are?" Then, he turned to the library door. "Martha!" I couldn't understand any of the things my uncle said.

"What do you mean, we?"

Martha opened the door to the library.

"Did you want me, sir?"

"Yes, Martha. I want you to buy us two train tickets to Denmark. Master Axel and I are going to Iceland."

This was the biggest surprise of my life!

"What?! Uncle, I can't go!"

The Professor looked at me calmly.

"You can, and you will!"

Chapter II Grauben

There is a seventeen-year-old girl living in our town. I think she is the most beautiful girl in Germany. She's got long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her name is Grauben, and we are in love. We want to get married. That's why I didn't want to go with my uncle on his mysterious trip. But he couldn't understand that.

"Are you in love with Grauben?"

"Yes."

"And you want to marry her?"

"Yes."

The Professor was silent. He was a good man, but he could not understand love because his only interest was science. He forgot what I said and began to talk about our journey.

"Today is the 26th May. We have one month to get to Sneffells. We're going to take the train to Denmark, and then we'll take a boat to Iceland. The whole trip is going to take twelve days, then we have to walk to the volcano."

I could not listen to him anymore. My heart felt heavy. The Professor needed an assistant and he did not want anyone else to know about this secret. But how could I leave my Grauben?

I went for a walk through the beautiful city of Hamburg. I walked along the Elbe river thinking of Grauben. I stopped for a moment to look at a fishing boat sailing on the calm water. Then I turned and, like magic, she was there. Grauben, my Grauben, stood twenty feet away, looking at the river.

"Grauben!"

She looked like an angel. We ran into each other's arms and kissed.

"Oh, Axel! I'm so excited!"

She sounded very happy, but I couldn't understand why.

"Excited? Why are you excited, my love?"

"I was at your house. I heard about your journey. Isn't it wonderful?"

For a moment, I felt sad. So, Grauben wanted me to go away from her!

"But, Grauben, we want to get married. I don't know when I'm coming back."

She looked at me lovingly and held my hand.

"It doesn't matter. I'll still wait for you. Don't you understand? This is the kind of journey all great men must make. When you come back, you're going to be famous like your uncle. Then, our life will be perfect together."

"Do you really mean that?"

She touched my face and smiled.

"Of course I do!"

"Oh, Grauben, you are the most wonderful girl in the world!"

Back at my uncle's house, I felt excited. Then, I thought of something. Maybe this adventure was too dangerous. Maybe we wouldn't come back. I ran into the library where my uncle was.

"Uncle, is it possible that we won't come back from this journey?"

His answer didn't make me feel any better.

"There's only one way to find out, Axel..."

Source: "Express Publishing", Elizabeth Gray