The Poppels Family
The Hanting
Daddy Tron explores the area. He checks that everything is solid and with his self-made straightedge he measures the areas. When he has mapped everything out for himself, he sits down in front of the entrance and makes plans about how to turn their new home into something beautiful. Numerous ideas come up, but he also understands that it will demand a lot of work and energy from him. His attention is suddenly drawn to hearing rumblings coming in from a distance. His gaze is on the sky and he sees dark clouds filling up above them. The threatening thunderstorm with its flashes of light and thunder makes him decide to go inside. It is quiet inside, as if the storm is not present outside.
Elv and Drude are busy getting their room in order. There had been some disagreement about this because they both chose the same room. In the end, Mother had made the and assigned them each a room. Drude had protested a bit, but eventually, he had agreed and placed his bed between two thick roots. He had chosen that place carefully because it would allow him to admire the stars from an opening. Father had promised to make a nice window of the opening. When Drude sits on the edge of his bed, he can stick his feet or head out. The rain patters along the window, but the overhanging branch prevents it from raining in.
“Do you want to get out,” he hears his father ask behind him?
“No, Dad, I am convinced we have found the most beautiful treehouse there is.”
“Definitely boy. We make sturdy shutters at the window so that the heat does not fly out in the winter. Winter is coming, so we have to make sure we can make a fireplace first. I think I already know where I’m going to build him, but we also need to hunt because all our supplies have been lost.
“Yes Dad, that would be great and I’m going to help you.”
‘Nice to hear. Then you can gain experience in hunting. Soon we will go to hunt together.”
Father decides to explore the area outside the tree. He climbs the tree that is standing against a rock and on top, he notices that a stream, which comes from the waterfall, flows right past the tree. A big smile appears on his face and he thinks of Elv.
“Yes dear, your bath will be there,” he whispers and gazes over the valley that seems endless. He crosses the stream and walks into the valley.
The hunt can begin, he thinks, but he must pay close attention to his orientation so as not to get lost. Animals are running in front of him and some even stop as if they want to ask him what he is doing in the valley. He could kill one with one hit of his oaken stick, but something is holding him back. As if something tells him not to do that.
Rabbits hop around him and look questioningly at him with their brown eyes. He bends over for a moment and then they even smell his hand. If he wanted, he could just grab one of the rabbits by the ears. A rabbit family sits down at his feet as if they want to meet him. Father Tron realizes it’s so different from where they came from. There he had to hunt for their food, but here the animals walk just in front of him. And now he’s too cowardly or too soft to kill one.
Shaking his head, he sits on a tree trunk and understands only too well that he cannot get home without catching something. Suddenly he feels something blowing in his neck and straightens up. Frightened, he turns around and sees something transparent, but is unable to see what it is. He shakes his head for a moment and then the image is gone. What kind of forest is this? It seems to bewitch. It seems like it says I can’t kill animals and the crazy thing is, I can’t, but we have to eat. Father Tron tries to understand his thoughts and feelings, but it is confusing.
When the sun sets and dusk sets in, he returns home. In front of him is a deer that feasts on fruit. Father takes his backpack and fills it with fruits and hopes that there are no poisonous fruits in between.
The landmarks he had absorbed along the way keep him from getting lost. At the point where the stream meanders and ripples downward, his smile reappears. When he returns home, they asked him what he has caught.
“Oh, uh yes, I could, but I only find fruits. I haven’t encountered any beasts, “he lied.
With this lie, he also tries to hide his manhood, but Mother Mette puts her arms around him and says: “That is a relief. There were animals here and they were very tame. “
“Yes dad, they were truly tame,” Elv shouts.
“I wanted to kill one, but Mommy and Elv wouldn’t let that,” Drude shouts tough.
They look at each other. Each in their own mind and no one knows why they don’t want Dad to hunt. Mother takes Father’s backpack and turns it over. She knows many of the fruits, but there are also poisonous ones. “You didn’t eat this, did you,” she asks, startled?
Father nods no and is happy that his wife knows a lot about everything that grows in nature.
Mother asks if they come and sit with her to learn what to eat and what not to eat.
“Watch carefully, some mushrooms or berries are very similar, but shouldn’t be eaten,” she explains.
Father sits down against the egg and still doesn’t understand what’s going on around them.
He gets a very peaceful feeling over him, but suppose he finds out later that it is not at all as serene as it seems. He will have to look after his family and ensure that they survive.
Suddenly he feels something against his back and when he looks back it seems as if the knocking is coming from the egg. He quickly jumps up to break the egg with his oaken stick, but he doesn’t. Disappointingly, he walks in and falls exhausted on his bed. It bothers him that he cannot serve meat on the table for his family tonight.
When mother comes to see where he is, she finds him on the bed, she asks what’s going on with him.
“Oh dear, nothing or any way. You know, I can’t kill an animal anymore. That’s why we don’t have meat on the table tonight. I’m ashamed, how am I supposed to explain that to our son?”
She kisses him, puts an arm around his shoulders and says she understands. “You know, I don’t know either. I’m in my rats just like you. We will not survive the winter with only fruits and vegetables. “
Outside, Elv and Drude are staring at the starry sky, most of which they do not yet know because they have never seen them in the sky.
“That’s strange Elv. It’s as if an enchantment took place after our move. It seems too good to be true, but it doesn’t feel good, what do you think? “
“I know what you mean. It’s all too good to be true. “
Both go in and eat some more fruit. The four of them discuss what they are going to do the next morning and soon they agree about what should be done before the winter is falling in.