George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
The captain always left George behind when he put together landing parties for raids.
“Watch the ship,” he said. “And don’t touch anything.”
George stood on the deck and did nothing.
He was good at doing nothing.
When the captain and the landing party returned from their raids, bringing back treasure, they were surprised that nothing awful had happened in their absence.
“Nothing’s on fire,” said the captain. “The ship hasn’t sunk. Everything’s fine.”
Nothing bad ever happened when George stayed behind.
George became the ship’s good luck charm.