THE TIME TRAVELLING CROWN

Toby lived with his grandfather in a cozy cottage situated on the top of a small hill in the alpine town of Interlaken.
Toby had been struggling with feelings of guilt over not being able to spend quality time with his grandfather due to his overwhelming school work. One fine morning, when he saw his grandfather tidying up the garage, he seized the opportunity to spend some quality time with him, something he had been craving for weeks.
Soon, he began sifting through old gardening tools kept in the garage alongside his grandfather, having a heart-to-heart talk with him; spending time with his grandfather had always been fun for him. Suddenly, his fingers touched something smooth and he saw a golden shiny object peeping from a small opening buried in the pile of old tools. Toby carefully removed the object from the pile and identified it as a malshaped crown, but the shiny surface was the thing which attracted Toby. He asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, look what I found. Is this real gold, it shines just like gold?" Grandfather replied, " No my child, this is just a beautiful little thing made of brass. It has been in our family for quite a long time." Grandfather sauntered out of the garage, lighting a cigarette and putting it to his mouth. Toby went to the small mirror hung on a wall and lifted the crown up to his head. Just before the feeling of royalty hit him, he saw a flash before his eyes. He was teleported !!
 The next thing Toby saw when he opened his eyes was a market hustling with various activities. He saw that some people were hurrying along the streets while some just stood in front of the shops laughing and exchanging news. The men wore long flowing robes with salwars and turbans on their heads while the women wore modest floor-length dresses with chadors wrapped around them.Their veils decorated with intricate embroidery or jewellry. Being a history enthusiast, he quickly recognized the place as Turkey and realized that he had been teleported back in time to medieval Turkey under the Ottoman Empire. Flabbergasted, he took note of his surroundings and saw that the merchants in the bazaars were from various backgrounds, some of them were locals while others had flocked from Europe, Asia, and Africa. They wore bright colours to attract buyers for their textiles, carpets, ceramics, spices, and herbs. Toby moved a bit closer to a group of people who were talking. He listened to them talking about Sultan Suleiman Shah and discuss state affairs. He noticed that the people were referring to him as "the Kanuni" or "the Law Giver". All of them were praising him for his recent conquest of Belgrade, which opened up the road to Hungary and Austria. Before Toby could make anything of the conversation, he again saw a flash and was teleported again. It had barely been four minutes before he was teleported again.

This time he found himself in a narrow street, lined with tall buildings and a few cafes.The street was paved with cobblestone and lit by gas lamps. He saw horse-drawn carriages and carts which carried men wearing top hats and tailcoats, along with women wearing long skirts and lacy-hats.
As Toby walked by, a cafe caught his eye, from its wall, hung a newspaper bearing the headlines: "60 Detectives Seek Stolen Mona Lisa", dated August 24, 1911. Toby quickly realised the timeline to which he had been teleported. He had barely walked two more steps when he encountered two men standing on the grey pavement, talking. One of the men said, "People are flocking to the Louvre Museum to see the empty space where the Mona Lisa hung." The other replied, "Yes, its theft has attracted many tourists and quite a lot of attention. It has been copied on a number of postcards, chocolate boxes andnewspapers. I, myself say that the painting is a true piece of art. As a French citizen, I experience great pride in saying that The Mona Lisa had been in France. I feel that whoever stole it should immediately return it otherwise, if the police or the detectives find him , he won't be spared. " The man spoke with a voice that was both angry and proud. Toby dared not speak in front of the men. Again, in a span of four minutes he was teleported with the same flash. 
This time he found himself standing on a wide deserted street lined with half timbered houses. The street was filled with sounds of clanging hammers, suggesting that several workshops stood on it. Toby could smell ink and metal. He stood in front of a small building with the name plate "Johannes Gutenberg". Still standing on the street, Toby's mind went back to the lessons of his history class. Where had he heard the name before?, Was the only question on his mind. He remembered his teacher telling the class that Johannes Gutenberg was the one who had invented the printing press, enabling mass production of books and increasing literacy. Toby finally picked up the courage and walked towards the only two men standing on the deserted street who were leaning against a railing which prevented them from falling into the Rhine River. They were wearing yellowish aprons stained with ink, both were smoking cigarettes. Toby noticed an expression of despair on their faces. He asked them in a friendly tone, "Hello gentlemen, I presume that you both are on a break from the workshop, or maybe fed up with the owner? My second assumption may explain the expression of despair on your faces." One of them replied, "Halo friend, it is not the owner from whom we are fed up with. We are actually fed up with the nobility and the people from the churches. Our master, Mr. Gutenberg, worked so hard along with us to invent the printing press. It is such a useful machine, could produce 3600 pages in a working day! But the nobility and the church are not approving of it. They look down upon the printing press. All of them are corrupt, they don't want the common people to learn to read and write. They don't want ideas to reach them. They fear that if this happens, then they will be thrown out of power." The other man burst out, "These people cannot stop us from printing the Word of God, the Bible, and  educational books to make people literate. We will surely help Mr. Gutenberg to produce it, we can't let this genius design go to waste."
 Just before Toby could say something, a flash went again in front of his eyes. This time, a feeling of relief came as he opened his eyes. He had arrived back home! He was standing before the mirror in the garage. He saw his grandfather enter the garage, putting out his cigarette. Toby asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, do you know anything else about the Crown?"
 Grandfather said nothing, but a wry smile spread over his face as he glanced at Toby. He continued his work, sifting through the old gardening tools.