This article can only be viewed on the Elohist website.
This article was published in the August 2017 of the Elohist
Kim Min-jeong
“Oh my! My back, shoulders, and knees! I’m afraid that I’ll become an old man while preparing for winter,” mumbles Derry, with his mouth full of acorns, looking tired.
“Hey, we don’t have a back, shoulders, and knees! Listen. You should say, ‘Oh my! My head, body, feet, and tail! I’m afraid that I’ll end up living a day while preparing for winter!’ ”
Derry laughs out loud at the joke of Terry, who is swaying his long tail with a big chestnut in his forepaws.
“Ha ha ha!”
Then the acorns Derry had in his mouth pour out, and Terry quickly stuffs them in his mouth and runs away.
“Hey, stop right there! Give me back my acorns!”
After Terry and Derry, the duo of the forest, leave, a big oak tree standing with the clear and blue autumn sky in the background comes into sight. As the oak tree hangs cute, chubby acorns, Derry, Terry, and the humorous, outgoing wild boar couple come to enjoy them.
Juju, a baby bird, too comes to the oak tree and takes a nap on a branch. Juju stretches his arms, frowning.
“They’re so annoying! Why are those chipmunks so noisy? I can’t even take a nap.”
Juju complains, pouting his pointy beak. Mr. Oak soothes Juju with a soft voice.
“Juju, you’re up! Please understand them. They make the forest friends laugh, you know.”
“To me, they are not funny at all. If they want to be funny, they have to be as funny as I am at least. How about this? The bird that flies high in the sky gets tired! The early bird gets sleepy! He he!”
In the eyes of Mr. Oak, Juju is just adorable; he chatters away happily, flapping his tiny wings that have not fully grown yet.
“Juju, you’re tired and sleepy because you wake up early and fly high, but did you still catch many worms today?”
“Of course! I caught six worms in the east forest, and three worms in the south forest, and three earthworms by the pond in the north. I caught . . . thirteen in total!”
“Wow, your hunting skill is getting better and better!”
It’s twelve actually, not thirteen, but Mr. Oak doesn’t want to correct him. He’s just happy to see Juju shrugging his shoulders, satisfied with the result of his hunting.
“Oink oink! Mr. Oak, good morning! I mean, good afternoon! Oink oink!”
It’s the wild boar family. The wild boar couple have come with their five babies that are walking with faltering steps. Every day, they show up around this time of the day, and collect all the fallen acorns and eat them all.
“Welcome! There are not many acorns on the ground because Derry and Terry just came by. I’ll shake some off. Give me one second. Juju, would you help me, please?”
The oak tree shakes his branches to shake off acorns. If there is any acorn that still hangs there, Juju kicks them off.
“Yay! It’s acorning from the sky! Oink oink.”
Whenever Juju sees the wild boar family, he wonders how they can get plump just by eating acorns. Not caring about what Juju thinks about them, the baby boars sway their bottoms, excited about the acorns that are raining down on them.
After the acorn banquet, the wild boar family goes back home. Juju, tired from kicking acorns off, sits down on the branch to catch his breath, but then he suddenly becomes curious.
“Mr. Oak! Don’t you think it’s unfair? You always give them acorns, but the chipmunks and the wild boar family don’t give you anything in return!”
Mr. Oak smiles gently, shaking off his leaves in the late autumn wind.
“I’m just thankful that my forest friends enjoy my acorns. When winter comes, some of them will go into hibernation, and some others will set out on a long journey to the south. They need to take in nutrients now. I’m worried though, because we’re running out of food in the forest. So it’s a great joy that I can share my acorns. Juju, please don’t forget that you can get more things if you share yours.”
It’s hard for Juju to understand what Mr. Oak means.
‘If I give mine to someone, I don’t have it anymore! How can I have more?’
Juju thinks that Mr. Oak might have miscalculated it.
Saying good bye to Mr. Oak who has told Juju with a gentle and nice tone of voice, Juju flies off to his house where his mom is waiting for him, and Mr. Oak is left all alone. Mr. Oak watches the red sunset in the sky, standing against the cool breeze, and counts the acorns and the leaves that are still hanging on his body. As their number decreases every night, his heart is filled with excitement; because the day to bear new fruit is coming.
To be continued.