Philippe was sitting on his soft brown chair in the main room of his holiday home in Lanzarote

He had purchased the villa and the adjoining land six years previously when his father died

Since the purchase he had added a small swimming pool to the property which he used every day

From where he was sitting he could see the Isla de Lobos

He would be visiting the nearby island the following day with his friend Hugh Gray who lived six kilometres away

On the wall opposite to the left of the main window was a small framed print of Der Rabe by Carl Spitzweg

He had inherited the print from his late father

On the road outside Isaac Benbecke and his sister Ruth were sitting on the low wall both were dressed in white

They were awaiting their parents who were flying in from Sweden

The air temperature was twenty-eight degree’s

It was however cooler within the villa and after refreshment both the brother and sister went for a swim in the pool

Fifteen minutes after they had entered the pool Philippe received an email from the Gunnar and Bibi noting that they had now landed and that they hoped to be with Philippe within the hour

Gunnar and Bibi were the parents of Isaac and Ruth

They lived in Norrkoping in eastern Sweden where both the children had been born

At seven minutes past four a white Toyota hire car drew up outside of Philippe’s property

Philippe greeted his visitors

Both Gunnar and Bibi were dressed in white

The air temperature had remained at twenty-eight degrees although in the shade near the pool it was somewhat cooler

Both Isaac and Ruth who had not heard their parents arrive greeted  Gunnar and Bibi next to the pool

Whilst his guests enjoyed themselves Philippe prepared a light meal and chilled lime water in the refrigerator

Thirteen minutes later he served the meal of bread, cheese and olives to Gunnar and Bibi

Isaac and Ruth had returned to pool

They had previously eaten in the main town before visiting Philippe

After they had eaten Philippe took Gunnar and Bibi into his study and showed them the details of his latest research

He noted that after his proposed visit to the Isla de Lobos that he hoped to conclude his initial study and would be in a position to reveal his findings fully to the Swedish family

Gunnar and Bibi left Philippe at twenty minutes past eight that evening and drove to their apartment which was six kilometres away

Isaac and Ruth had driven to their parent’s apartment some six minutes earlier to prepare a meal

The air temperature was twenty-two degree’s with a gentle southerly breeze

Philippe retired to bed soon after setting his alarm for five am

At twenty-three minutes past five the following morning Philippe met his good friend Hugh Gray near the small boat that they jointly owned

They had named the boat Lorca after the poet

Hugh had brought a variety of fresh fruits including pomegranates, oranges and limes. He had a also brought a crate full of dried fish

In a battered suitcase Philippe had brought six books that included the works of Ortega y Gasset, Carmen Lyra and Teresa of Avila

The Lorca made short work of the voyage and soon both Philippe and Hugh Gray were on the jetty near the monastery of San Juan de la Cruz

They were met by six monks who loaded the books and the fruit and fish onto an ancient cart which was pulled towards the monastery by a tired donkey

The monastery of San Juan de la Cruz has been on the Isla de Lobos since the year 1513 and in the nineteenth century had been the home of some fifty monks

Only twenty-eight monks lived on the island plus a creature which was known to the monks as The Stanley Boat

The Stanley Boat lived in a large room overlooking the jetty and was watching Philippe, Hugh and the monks as they travelled towards the monastery

It was a creature that initially looked to be half raven and half human. It had a head of a raven and its wings which it never raised hung like a frock coat next its body. Its legs however were totally human and the creature walked although with a slightly clumsy gait very much as a man would

The monks led Philippe and Hugh toward the creature’s room and both men were warmly greeted by the Stanley Boat

The room itself was like a library with books from the floor to the celling arranged tidily in oak bookcases. A table with a desk lamp was set against the wall and adjacent to the creatures curtained off bed chamber

Nobody knew how long the creature had been at the monastery but records indicated that it had arrived in 1812 after being persecuted on the mainland

It had taken its name from the kind captain of the Wilson K who rescued the creature from its torment and had asked the quiet monks of San Juan de la Cruz to care for it which they had done ever since

The Stanley Boat was a gentle learned creature of uncertain origin which spoke six languages fluently and had a good knowledge of another twenty-two

It had, with the help of the monks written a number of books on subjects ranging from astronomy to the study of migration. It had also written three books of verse which had been published as the work of Christopher de los Lobos a fictional nineteenth century poet

The creature would leave its rooms at night and wander around the small island but always returned without fail as soon as dawn broke

Philippe and Hugh spent three hours with the Stanley Boat during which time they discussed the contents of its latest research

The creature asked that they publish its study of the flowers and fauna of the island as their own and thanked them more than once for the food and books

It also consented to having its photograph taken

Outside of Philippe and Hugh only forty-six people on Lanzarote knew of the creature’s existence and each had been sworn to secrecy for obvious reasons

Philippe told the Stanley Boat of his Swedish visitors and the creature expressed a wish to meet them on a future visit and was especially interested to learn that Gunnar was researching reports of a similar creature being seen near Kiruna in Sweden in 1909

At twenty seven minutes past one Philippe dived into his swimming pool, he was alone and did not expect his Swedish visitors for another two hours

At exactly the same time Hugh Gray was filling his car up at a garage which was right opposite Gunnar and Bibi’s apartment

He saw the Swede and his wife by the gate but was unaware of their identity and their long friendship with Philippe

The air temperature was twenty-eight degree’s as it had been the previous day

At exactly twenty-five minutes past three Gunner and Bibi met Philippe outside of his holiday home

Isaac and Ruth arrived six minutes later and parked their lilac Toyota behind their parents hire car

There were four other cars parked along the road but only one lilac one

As they sat around the pool Philippe explained in detail the facts of his visit to the Isla de Lobos and his impressions of the Stanley Boat

He showed his visitors the photograph he had taken of the creature

Gunnar was recording every fact on his laptop and the hollow sound of the keys echoed quietly in the background

Ruth was dangling her feet in the pool and was being gently kicked in her back by her brother

When Philippe had finished Gunnar read from his notes about the sighting of a similar creature in Sweden over one hundred years previously

The strange creature was discovered near Kiruna in Sweden in 1909. It was first noted by an itinerant worker who found the creature copying the birdsong. The man although almost illiterate described the creature as being a raven but with human legs and being almost two metres tall. When approached by the man the creature showed no alarm at all and uncovered its trove of berries which he indicated that the man could share

The itinerant had enough sense to report his findings to a learned professor who accompanied the man back to the lonely spot where he had seen the creature. However the creature had vanished although its meal was still there partially consumed. What however did confirm that the man’s story was true was that not far away the professor found a wing feather over one metre in length

The huge feather was taken from the spot and tests indicated that it had originated from a raven. In time the professor published his findings and although disbelieved at first he was later contacted by a woman in Finland who said that a creature of a similar description had lodged in her barn for a considerable time before it was frightened off by a pack of dogs

Sadly the professor died in 1913 and his colleagues were unable to trace the itinerant who had discovered the creature and by the time they got around to tracing the woman in Finland she too was dead a victim of the Spanish Flu outbreak the followed the Great War

Gunnar added that the feather itself is still on show in an Oslo museum in the curiosities section and that when he returned to Sweden his next task would be to conduct a thorough DNA test on the feather as previous attempts had proved inconclusive

In addition to the forty-eight people on the island only six other people knew of the creature’s existence at the monastery on the Isla de Lobos

These were obviously Gunnar and Bibi and Isaac and Ruth but also two academics from Chile who were investigating a sighting of a similar creature in the Atacama Desert in 1810 and again in 2008. It was thought that if the sightings were authentic that there might be another creature identical or similar to the Stanley Boat in the Atacama Desert

Both Isaac and Ruth were flying to Santiago in a month to discuss the findings of the two academics as well as reporting the facts of Philippe and Hugh’s visit to the Stanley Boat and taking a copy of the photograph of the creature

After the discussion both Isaac and Ruth decided to take a final swim before leaving. The surface of the pool was littered by the remains of some dry grasses which had been blown in by the southerly breeze. Ruth collected these grasses and laid them in a heap at the side of the pool

Philippe noted that this was common occurrence and thanked his guest for removing the grasses

The air temperature was twenty-eight degree’s

The temperature of water in the swimming pool was some six degrees cooler and had reached its maximum for the day

During the deepest part of the islands short night the waters in the pool would drop as low as ten degrees

Philippe was aware of this as he recorded the changes in temperature of the pool water at least once a week

At exactly six in the evening Gunnar and Bibi left Philippe. They were taking a short holiday on the island before flying back to Sweden

Philippe had arranged to meet them at their home in Sweden in a month to discuss the DNA findings as well as to keep in contact with Isaac and Ruth during their stay in Chile

Isaac and Ruth decided to walk to their parent’s apartment as they were still slightly damp from their swim

They would pick up their lilac Toyota the following day

There were still six cars parked on the road as Hugh’s grey Mercedes was now parked nearly opposite where Gunnar and Bibi’s hire car had been parked

He had passed the Swedish couple in the street and six minutes later passed their children. He did not acknowledge either pair as he was heading towards Philippe’s holiday home with some startling news about the Stanley Boat