When the Spindrift’s cabin boy, Zeke, found a piece of wood on a tropical beach, he took it back to the ship with him. Little did he know then that it was a stormteller: it had mysterious properties which would protect the ship. The crew thought Zeke was mad: he talked to a piece of wood! They put him ashore in Rio, where by luck he was taken on board the Dancing Dolphin. Later, when Zeke and the stormteller parted company, he settled down on the land and the stormteller went on to lead an unhappy life as a dancing doll, until a nosy jackdaw poked his beak in... A story for early independent readers.