My Name Is . . . 1

A cool breeze is blowing.

‘Oh, it feels so fresh!’

This cool breeze feels like a reward for having endured all the hardships for the past few months—the sun blazed down enough and the storm raged mercilessly. You won’t understand how diffi cult it was during that time, unless you have tried to take root in the ground. Even the nice dragonfl y family didn’t understand me when I said, “Summer is a tough season,” to say nothing of the cicada who wouldn’t stop singing, sitting on Mr. Fir.

Mr. Fir is really kind. I’m sure he is sick of hearing cicadas singing, but he always lets them stay on him.

My forest life wasn’t hard from the beginning. The day I pushed my head out of the ground for the fi rst time was a beautiful spring day. Th e sunlight felt warm, and the soil was so soft. Would you believe if I say that the soil smelled even sweet? But it really did! Whenever I wriggled my roots under the ground, thick nourishment spread throughout my body. It tasted sweet, clean, and . . . I don’t know how to describe it with words. It was a new taste every day. As I explained it to the bees, they said, “We bet it tastes like honey!” I don’t know what honey tastes like, but I’ll just say it tastes like honey if honey is the most delicious thing in the world.

There are other grass, fl owers, and baby trees that were born around the same time as me. We are all very good friends. Whenever we fi nd delicious nourishment, we take care of each other by letting each other know about it so that we can move our roots that direction. I can say without a doubt that it is from our true care and concern for each other.

We talk about so many amazing things until the sunset colors the sky. Whenever there is reddish sunlight, I feel like I’m changing my clothes with new ones. I feel, though, a little sad because it means time for bed.

As dusk fell on the ground, the flowers and trees enter the night and we go to bed with excitement about the next day, feeling the satisfied look of our seniors who have lived in the forest for years. They have been living in this forest for years! Isn’t it really amazing? To say nothing of a few years, many of the seniors have been there for tens of years. It is really amazing! Umm . . . If you have ever been a victim of summer, you will know why I’m saying this is such an amazing thing.

Summer is like a monster season that comes to us all of a sudden and shatters the peace in our hearts. Honestly, I didn’t even know what summer was. I only thought that the sunlight was going to be a little stronger. But the sun got stronger and stronger and became so angry that one day it changed its attitude completely.

“Summer has come!”

I realized that it was summer only when Mr. Zelkova said that it was. You’d better be ready for it, too, in case you meet summer as I did. There are so many changes in a short period of time once summer starts. The soft soil turns rough and hard, and so if I don’t become more active in trying to find nourishment, I can’t eat much like before. It means I need to spread my root more industriously.

As the leaves started to droop by the blazing sun, I even felt demotivated. I wanted to complain why summer is such a tough season, but when I looked around, I saw all others going through a lot, too. I was not the only one coping with summer. Let me tell you about one thing though. The noise the insects made around me all the time was really unbearable. And you know what? Everyone used to get jealous of my perfect spot for living because the earthworms made breathing holes here and there, but who knew it’d turn into an ant colony road. I actually need some quiet time for myself to think. It’s because I can make my day profitable when I make a plan for the day with a sip of morning dew. However, since the beginning of summer, thousands of active ants chattered too much. Phew! They’d start moving back and forth before dawn until stars were out without a break; they wouldn’t leave me alone even for a second. Some even climbed up to the top of my head for no reason.

However, that kind of hardship was not going to make me fall. The members of the forest helped me a lot. The tougher it got, the more united we became. When some aphids tormented the royal azalea, Mrs. Cinnamon tree made them run away by emitting strong cinnamon scent. When the aster tree was suffering from heat stroke, Mr. Oak tree extended his branches and made shade for him. Whenever they expressed gratitude, they all said, “I only did the duty God entrusted me with.”

Isn’t that awesome?

Do you want to know what happened between the ants and me? Well, I came to find out why the ants had to come back and forth busily all the time. I heard winter was coming, and that they had to collect as much food as possible for the whole ant family to spend a warm winter. I had pity on them because they were working so hard even in a hot season with that one hope, and decided to support them. Once I made up my mind like that, I gained many things. First of all, I made many friends. As the ants crisscrossed the whole forest, I could hear many things about other parts of the forest. It helped me learn lots of things. I also learned a cool season was going to come once hot season was gone. This was already an amazing news. Well, the cool wind didn’t start blowing until we suffered under the blazing sun for a while and we got beaten up hard by the heavy rain for a few weeks and suffered from the scorching heat again for another few weeks.

We also had a few storms. I still remember vividly how hard I grabbed the soil in order not to be washed away by the pouring rain. I also remember being tensed up, worrying that I might be uprooted by the storm. This was the summer we went through.

However, what tormented me the most wasn’t the sizzling heat or the heavy rain, either. It was a question that budded in my mind.

‘What am I?’