Hope Tenars' Stories: The Trail In The Mountains
The trail in the mountains.
Once a story, there was a land, far away in the mountains of Nepal.
There lived a family.
Father Tom, Mother Jane, Esmarelda, and Jemima.
In the village they lived there was only a few other people. It was remote in the foot hills of the mountains.
They had animals, a yak and a goat that would give them milk, and also keep them warm with wool, when they needed it.
One day, Jemima and Esmerelda wanted to go for a walk in the hills, not too far.
So they did their morning chores, feeding the goat and yak, and chickens, and then swept around the fence, and then they were done.
They felt like a walk, and they wanted to sing along the way.
They sang,
“Well We go, Well, we are”
“Well we are, Well we go.”
A village song. As they walked both Esmarelda said to Jemima, let’s ask Sam, if he wants to join us. Oh yes, said Jemima, he knows all the best paths.
They decided to go to Sam’s hut on the way, and see if he wanted to join them.
Sam, said “hello Jemima, Esmeralda, “ how are you?
Oh we are good, they cooed back, we wondered if you wanted to join us on a walk.
On the walk, the three of them sang,
Well we go, Well we are
Well we are, well we go…
And as they turned the corner, they heard some bells, some tinkling noise.
They hadnt seen anyone up ahead, but the path was winding, so they were keen to see, who was making the noise.
They walked quicker, side by side…. And Jemima was first to go round the corner….
Esmerelda… look, look… it’s a scare crow, with a man sitting next to it..
The scare crow was built on a cross frame, and had been set up to catch the wind. There was a few clothes, and a hat.
The hat had a few tinkling bells attached to them and that was the noise they had heard.
The man sat down next to the scare crow had heard Esmerelda’s voice and raised an eyebrow, and looked to the side where the children were coming from.
“Hello children”, he said. Hello there, they said shyly.
What’s your name.?
I am Solomon. How are you?
We are alright. We haven’t met before have we, it’s a long way into the mountains to come for a visit.
Solomon smiled, and said, Yes it is a long way to come from inland to the mountains.
But I have not done that.
I have come from over the mountains. It was too cold, for me, so I came down the mountain a little, to get some food, and water. I was building a scare crow, to scare the birds away from the seedlings I planted.
We are alright, said Jemima, we just wanted a walk in the mountains.
Did you really come over the mountains, we only go so far up, and then come inland again.
Yes said Solomon, I really did.
Sam said, what plants are you growing? It’s too cold at this time of year to plant them, they will die.
Ah! Solomon said, these are rough little thickets, that survive at all times of year.
They make great soup, or stew. They have a sour taste to them that goes well with the milk, and well it tastes great with chapattis.
If you say so, said Sam, none too impressed.
Well, we will be on our way, now, said Jemima.
Jemima, Sam and Esmerelda left the man and the scare crow behind them, and walked on up the rocky mountain path.
Their shoes were thick, so they did not feel the rocks on their feet too badly.
They walked for another 15 minutes in silence, and then Jemima started singing
Well we are, Well we go,
Well we go, Well we are
They found a yak, on the way grazing and thought it was a very timid yak. It did not even bat an eyelid, as they walked round it.
And finally Esmerelda said… alright we walked here, we found a scarecrow, a man, and a yak.
Shall we go round one more corner, and walk back?
Shall we go further than that?
Jemima said, even though I am a little tired, and cold, it is very cold, I think we should go a little further, see what else we find on this way. The path is there, so we know the way back down. There is plenty of day light, left.
Then we can come down in time for lunch.
Alright said Sam, lets go…
Well we are, Well we go.
Well we go, Well we are.
Sam said to Jemima, let’s play catch the rock….
Alright how do we play that… Well its so simple said Sam…
You take a bunch of stones, in you hand…. You throw them in all different directions, and then you follow the trail picking them each up until they are all gone.
Where is the fun in that?
If it’s all by yourself.
Its not by yourself silly, Sam said…
You both start at different ends, and meet when all the stones are gone, and count who has the most.
Oh said Jemima, that does sound fun. Let’s do that and what if we all three play. Let’s do that.
Sam said You start, Jemima.
Alright, so Jemima looked around for some stones, to pick up… and within a few minutes had twelve or so… in her hands, they were all very small.
Then Sam said, alright that’s enough, let’s see where they go, so spin around and sprinkle them.
Be careful not to hit us, hey. So Esmerelda and Sam, stood back …
When Jemima had finished throwing the stones, Sam said, alright… lets go. Pick up the stones, and then see who has most.
The children ran in different directions picking up the stones, one by one.
They ran as quickly as they could bending to pick them up every so often.
Alright, let’s get them picked up said Sam.
But Sam, how do we know we have finished, Jemima said, all the stones on the floor look the same…
Hmm. Well you picked them up Jemima, you saw the shape, and they are much smaller than the ones from the rocky path.
Alright I won’t be difficult, said Esmerelda…
Let’s go count how many we have each.
Well I have 12, said Sam
I have 8, said Esmerelda.
I have 6 said Jemima
Sam wins, but wait… I have a second hand full, said Jemima, grinning… I have 7 more in this hand, and she opened up her hand…
That’s 13 in total…. Oh that’s so funny Sam said.
That’s good, then Jemima wins!!!
Well we are, Well we go,
Well we go, Well we are…
Yipee said Jemima, alright…. Let’s go find that Yak again, see if it will talk to us this time.
Silly Jemima, said Esmerelda, as if a Yak would talk to you!
Why would the yak not talk to me, ? I am perfectly kind.
Sam said, alright, lets go…
They threw the stones away, and ran back down the path …
Found the man, asleep next to the scare crow,
Tip toed, past him….
So not to disturb him,
Followed the winding path down to the field with the yak…
Thought about going up to the yak, and talking to it a bit…
But then it let out a warning MOOOOOOOOOO… and then they thought let’s not.
Jemima, said It sounds like if its in a bad moooooooood - lets talk to it another time…
Then they started running away from the yak, down to the village…
When they got there they were out of breath.
Sam said, alright alright we are back.
Yes they said, we are back,
“Well we are, Well we go,
Well we go, well we are.”
The End.
Written by Aruna Sandhya Koya for the HopeTenars.