Chapter 13
I’m Lutz, 5 years old.
There are three older brothers, Zasha, Sieg and Ralph, and I am the youngest.
When I got up in the morning today, I could see the light of the poor sun glancing from between the doors. After a few days of snowstorms, I’m amazed by the sun after a long time.
Sunny!
I didn’t mind the room getting cold. A cloudless blue sky spreads around, and the snow scene of the whole area reflects the sun and glitters the city.
“Sweet”
Because there are very few such sunny days, both adults and children go out to the forest all at once. It ’s hard to miss. I closed the window and rushed to the kitchen.
“Lutz, hurry up”
“Yes”
Ralph’s brother finished eating and started preparing with flapping. As soon as I ate hard black bread with warm milk, I got ready.
Today is a great collection day. People from all over the town head for the forest in order to pick up a paru that can only be taken in the snow. It is not defeated to take as many paru as possible.
Even if you think through one year, there is not much sweetness that you can definitely get, so everyone wants to get as much as possible.
Today, not only Ralph, but also Zasha and Sieg, who are usually apprentices, go to the forest together. If you take it with four people, you will surely be able to get a lot.
We started running with bags and luggage.
When I ran down the stairs and went outside, my mother at the well noticed me and waved my hand.
“Now the forest? Watch out! I’ll collect as much as possible!”
“I know!”
“Let me out!”
Whenever I go outside, my mother always has a well-end meeting called “Information Exchange” with my neighbor, but I can often talk long in such cold snow. I’m really impressed.
One of the mothers who talked to the mother around the well was Turi and Mine’s mother. Mothers are close friends, so we have been together since we were little.
“Turi has already gone with his dad? Are you in a hurry?”
Mine’s name did not rise. Maybe Mine is an answering machine at home. When I go out on such a day, I usually fall asleep.
Speaking of that, the pork processing day also fell down in the cart, just like last year. Last year I was able to bring me even if I had a fever, but this year it seemed that I was fine until I got to the village. I feel sorry for losing my fresh sausage this time.
Mine is tiny, fragile, cute, dangerous, and the same age, but I think she is like a sister.
Speaking of that, I told you that I wanted a grass stalk rarely in winter, but what are you going to do?
“Sieg! Go to that tree!”
“I understand!”
When we arrived in the forest, the battle for Paru had already begun. It is a precious sweetness in winter that can only be picked up in a snowy forest and in a sunny morning. Everyone has changed his eye color.
Brother Sieg ran into Zasha’s voice and climbed the tree. The other three started preparing for fire a little away from the tree.
Scraping the snow to expose the soil and ignite the firewood brought. I saw Sieg ’s brother deciding which fruit to take.
“Lutz, get ready and get ready”
“Yes”
I started climbing the Parlou tree with my brother Sieg.
Parrou is a demon tree. It is a white tree made of ice and snow, and there are many branches, so it is easy to climb the tree.
Ordinary wood can be harvested with a knife, but Paru’s fruit cannot be harvested with a knife. That’s a nuisance.
“Luz, are you okay?”
“Wait, wait”
In the back of Siek’s brother, he quickly took off his gloves and grabbed a branch near the root of the fruit that Sieg had held.
“Huh, cool. I’ll do it later. I think it’s a little more.”
“No, I understand”
Sieg brother puts his gloves and goes down the tree easily.
The thin branches squeezed with bare hands are as cold as ice, and the surrounding air is also cold, so you can see that the temperature of the hands decreases at a stretch.
Fall early!
To harvest paru fruits, the branches must be warmed and softened.
However, fire cannot be used on a tree. It will be erased by the magical power of the tree. So I have to take off my gloves and warm up with bare hands.
It can be seen that the branches gradually soften in the hands. However, it hasn’t dropped yet.
Still? How much more?
Sense of hand that was numb with Jinjin has gradually disappeared. I wanted to change, and when I moved my neck a little, the branch on which I was riding bent slightly.
“Lutz, take turns”
“Brother Zasha, a little more”
“Ralph! Falling soon!”
The moment Pasha called out to Ralf and picked up a branch, Paru’s fruit fell off. It must have been much hotter than my hand, where Zasha’s hand was holding the branch.
¡A fruit about the size of my face falls straight down.
“Warm up fast. Your hands are red!”
“I know”
Zasha brother moves the branch looking for the next fruit.
I immediately put on my gloves again and got off the tree, taking care not to fall.
Immediately after running to the fire, take off your gloves and hold your hand over a burning bonfire to warm it up. If I rub it over and hold it over the fire, my fingertips that had lost my sensation started to ache.
“Throw! Sora!”
Ralf’s brother, who was going to pick up the fallen fruit of the fallen, shook it up and threw it. As it is, Ralph brother climbs the tree so that he can replace Zasha brother.
Sieg brother picked up the fruit that flew nearby and put it in the cage. Fruit like a lump of ice will never break as long as it is cold.
“Uo, cold, Sieg, go next”
“Ushi!”
As Zasha came back while rubbing his hands, this time he put his gloves on the hand he was holding over the fire and ran toward the tree.
Palue is important because cooperation is important, and people with warm hands and a large number of people who can take turns are more advantageous.
Thus, five fruits were picked while changing.
“It’s getting a little softer”
“I understand”
¡After replacing Siek brother, the sixth fruit fell soon, and after noon, light began to enter the forest from above.
The leaves of Parlou shine like a jewel and sway as if the tree has a will.
“Dangerous! Get off early, Lutz!”
At the moment I heard the screams of my brothers, the branches at my feet shook greatly. I leaned out a little and grabbed the branch, and I lost my position and hung on the branch.
“Wow!”
Unintentionally, I stretched out my other hand and grabbed the branch.
“No, Lutz! Release your hands! Jump off immediately!”
オ レ At the same time I tried to release my hand, and the branch that had become soft as I grabbed it with both hands made a noise.
I fell with Paru’s fruit.
“Wow aaaa”
The underside was soft snow, and once I was hanging, I released my hand and did not fall off my head, and I was not injured.
As many as I jumped, people jumped down one after another from here and there.
The collection time is over.
¡The sound of shattering leaves and rubbing leaves reflect the sparkle and light, and the paru tree grows higher and higher as if seeking light.
な り When it was the tallest in the forest and stretched over a thick tree, the tree shook its branches in the absence of wind, just like a woman shaking her head and shaking her hair. From the branches that were swayed and struck by light, the fruits that could not be picked flew in all directions.
When all the fruits are flying, the paru trees become so small that they melt and disappear in no time.
This is a magical tree that appears only during the sunny winter months, unlike other trees in the forest.
“It’s over”
“Do you go home?”
Everyone goes home with their own parlou. From noon, every house will process paru. This process is hard work and fun.
“For the time being, one by one”
When it was a tree, Paru’s fruit, which was about the size of my face, started to melt around when I entered the house, and it was a little smaller and rounded.
“Is the vessel ready?”
“Yeah!”
Fire the fireplace on the thin dead branch and press it against Paru. Then, only that part of the skin is broken and the white juice that melts from inside overflows.
A sweet scent drifts all over the house, and I swallow it up with my saliva and keep it in a bowl so as not to spill fruit juice that smells sweet.
This juice is a precious sweetness. Even though she is tempted to drink at a stretch, she decides to eat it preciously by swallowing her saliva desperately.
After finishing the juice, crush the fruit and remove the oil. Paru’s oil can be used both for food and for lamp oil, so it’s very appreciated in the middle of winter.
The squeezed squeezed pomace is crisp and not eatable by humans, but it is a nutritious food for chickens. This was well understood because the taste of the eggs changed a lot.
“Summer!”
“Ojamashimasu”
And tomorrow, a lot of people will come home tomorrow. The person who wants to exchange eggs with Paru’s squeezer comes.
However, I can’t do anything if I just squeeze it. The chicken is pleased, but I really hate seeing the few eggs I can eat in front of me.
If anything, please bring me meat, not squeeze it. Each egg feels like one by one and can be eaten absolutely, but meat is always eaten by big brothers and doesn’t hit very much.
When I thought so, Mine and Turi also brought a pomace of Parlou. There will be about 2 pomace in the hemp bag.
“Lutz, replace this with eggs”
Even if Mine smiles and is presented, I don’t feel like welcome. Of course, because my mother gets angry, I can’t turn it back.
“The bait is already in time. Isn’t there any more meat?”
“Meat?”
“I’m eaten by my big brother and I don’t have much”
In winter, everyone is often at home, so there is a high probability of getting rice, and I’m always hungry. Even though I knew that it was inevitable to say to Turi and Mine, I just started to complain.
Turi laughed at me with a bitter smile, saying, “I’ll be taken because my physique is different.” And then, what Mine thought about, put a hemp bag in front of me and my eyes.
“Now, Lutz. What should I eat?”
“Can you eat bird food?”
I didn’t expect Mine, who was always kind to me, to eat the birds. She shouted reflexively with so much shock that Mine leaned her head with a confused face.
“… you can eat depending on the dish?”
“Huh?”
“It’s completely squeezed so you can’t eat it. It’s actually delicious, so it’s okay to squeeze it and cook it properly”
Mine says with a plain face, but I couldn’t believe it, and I saw Turi unintentionally. There is no one who eats bird food.
However, Turi just gave up his shoulder lightly with a tired smile. Apparently, Mine really ate paru fruit.
“Oma! It’s a waste of time! It’s better to use fruit juice, oil, and bird food rather than eating the fruit of Paru!” Hey! ”
It’s a time when we are in trouble with bird feeding, so no one in particular thinks about eating fruit. On the contrary, it is impossible to eat without effectively using the fruits of such hard work. I don’t think that such a fool is anything but Mine in the whole city.
“Well, that’s fine if you feed the birds, but isn’t that enough for the birds? Then it would be better to use them to swell human bellies.”
“That’s why it’s not like you can eat and eat!”
“I tried to squeeze out and squeeze as much oil as possible, so it wasn’t eatable by people. If you take a little time, you can eat it properly.”
“Mine, that …”
Mine, who says something unbelievable with a smile, loses power.
What is it? Is this a sense of helplessness that you can’t convince anything, or a sense of defeat?
“That thing, Lutz”
Turi, Mine’s older sister, opened her mouth small.
When looking back with the expectation that relatives could tell Mine that “bird food is not human food,” Turi was drooping without help.
“I may not believe it, but I was really able to eat it … I was shocked by how delicious it was,”
Eh? seriously?
Supplied to eat birds, Turi! ?
Mine seems to have already practiced with his family. Indeed, I am confident in my opinion.
“Is it quicker to try it? Lutz, paru juice still left?”
Saying so, Mine put a little pomace he brought into a small bowl.
Add 2 teaspoons of fruit juice to the squeezed pomace and mix. I put a pinch in my mouth and squeezed it.
“Lutz, ah”
上 I thought it was terrible that I could use the precious juice of my part and feed the birds, but when I saw Mine put it in my mouth, I opened my terrible mouth .
A yellow object on Mine’s fingertip is placed on the tongue, and the sweet taste spreads when the mouth is closed.
A little bit of fruit juice made it really sweet and it didn’t feel like it was dry.
Every year I drink the juice that is divided into my own parts so that I can lick it, but if I mix it with squeezed residue, I can eat more sweets.
“Look, it’s pretty sweet and delicious, right?”
When Mine laughed and said that she was good at it, the older brothers who had looked so far had reacted all at once.
“Sweet?”
“Is it good?”
“Seriously? Lend me a little, Lutz”
兄 All older brothers plunged their fingers into small vessels. Even if you escape to avoid taking a vessel, you cannot avoid it because of the difference in physique.
“Come on, don’t lift! Don’t lift! Taking a brother’s stuff is still an older brother?”
“My brother’s mon is my mon”
“Share good things together”
“You’ve got it!”
Resistance is empty and is held by three people, and the whole vessel is taken. The three of them pushed their fingers one after another, and the container was emptied in no time.
“Aaaa! My parlou!”
“Delicious”
“Are you feeding birds?”
The older brothers who tasted completely ignoring my cry, opened my eyes just as I couldn’t believe it, and looked at Mine.
Mine, who was noticed, scratched her cheek as if shy and said that she couldn’t believe it.
“If you are in Lutz’s house, can you make it a little more delicious?”
“Seriously !?”
Everyone can bite. All of them are full-bodied men, and the top Zasha brother is always saying, “No matter how much you eat.” If you can eat delicious birds, you are welcome.
“… But, but I may not be able to help. I don’t have strength or strength.”
“Good, leave it to me”
Mine has no power or physical strength. If you can eat sweet and delicious food just by helping me, I will do my best.
“Lutz won’t occupy one person? I’ll help you, Mine. I have more strength and strength than Lutz”
“It looks so”
Suddenly my brothers became cooperative. I was worried that my turn would be lost, but Mine gave a role to everyone, delighting “I did it”.
“Uh, I want your brothers to prepare an iron plate for baking. Lutz is preparing ingredients and Ralf is mixing. Oh, and it’s sad to use all of Lutz’s juice, so everyone’s Use the juice a little at a time. Yes, take it out and put it out. ”
rushed his brothers while clapping hands like mom.
Mine who arranged all the juices looked like an angel. If I didn’t have a word for Mine, it would have been used for me.
“Lutz, bring 2 eggs and milk. Ralf is a wooden horn over there, mix it.”
Mine, who is usually only a clenched foot, gives a lively expression and gives instructions one after another to move everyone.
Zasha and Sieg brought their iron plates together and began to heat up with the firewood. Ralph begins to mix the ingredients that Mine puts one after another with the wooden spatula passed by. As I was told by Mine, I moved around and prepared various things.
“Yeah, you’re like this. Next is butter?”
Mine scoops out the butter that I gave out with a small spoon and goes up to a slightly higher chair and slides on the iron plate. Perhaps I haven’t realized that everyone is in a dangerous position.
The butter that Mine put on the iron plate melted down with the sound of Juwa, and the good smell tickled her nose. It smells really hungry.
Place the dough that Ralf’s brother had mixed with a slightly larger bowl. A roaring sound was heard, and the sweet smell of paru was added to the butter. It’s a violent smell.
It looks like a pancake made by a mother rubbed a potato, but the sweetness of the smell is completely different.
“I want you to bake the number of people like this.”
After making and showing the first one, he throws to his brothers who can reach even without a chair, and Mine just gives instructions while watching the iron plate. But that’s fine.
Once I saw it, I know what to do. It is bad for your heart if you work on a high chair. The brothers picked up cooking utensils from Mine’s hand as soon as they did it on their own.
“It’s okay if a buzz comes out like this. Turn it over”
“Rice”
に If Zasha brother flipped over with a spatula in response to Mine’s instructions, it turned into a nice color. It looks so good that drooling is about to droop. You can hear the sound of swallowing and spitting from around.
“Take this over there. Bake another in the space.”
Something that was baked to a certain degree was brought in little by little, and the next butter and dough were poured. From what Mine said, “This is all right”, he is raised on a plate.
Mine smiled with the first dish.
“Jajan! Okara and easy hot cake!”
Mine said something, but I’m not sure. I didn’t know how to react, so I tilted my head a little.
“… What? What?”
“Ah … A simple paru cake is done.”
Mine rephrased after making a little awkward face like saying he failed.
From the parrot cakes on the table, there is a little steam, and I want to get it right away.
“Be careful because it’s hot. Please eat!”
Eat a bite and bite slowly. The parr cake was so delicious. It is fluffy and there is no feeling like a bird. Unlike sweet cakes, even if you don’t put any jam, it’s sweet enough.
Moreover, since one person can put it on a plate, there is no worry of being taken by older brothers!
“Hey, Lutz. That’s easy, isn’t it quite full?”
“Now. Mine, you are amazing.”
Since there are many people who want to exchange eggs, there is a large amount of squeezed Paru, and because chickens are born there are always eggs. Since milk is also exchanged for eggs, there are almost all, so you can make paru cake anytime during the winter.
“There are other ways to come up with a dish using paru’s pomace, but I can’t make it because I don’t have power”
“If Mine tells me how, I’ll make it for you”
Due to this case, if I moved according to Mine’s instructions, I was imprinted that I could eat delicious food.
晴 れ Thanks to Mine, who has come to teach me new and delicious dishes every time a sunny day comes and paru is picked, I’m less likely to get hungry this winter.
Mine is my savior.
So, I will help Mine, who has neither strength nor strength, to help.
I couldn’t realize that this imprint would affect my whole life, and I am now immersed in the happiness of Parrot Cake.