Translation:The High Mountains/48

Those stones he saw until then had kept him company. But, it was night and he was all alone. The sun, which he wanted to see, had been swallowed up by the darkness.

His companions were far away. The other people far away. The discussions, songs, cabins, they too were far away. And he himself very far from all men.

If only he could hear at least a man's footsteps, a shepherd whistling, the chirping of a bird, nothing but that!

But everything had disappeared.

The black wings which he sees flying overhead, he knows they're bats.

And the owl which hoots at that instant, Phanis knows it too. It's the bird of the night, which looks with yellow eyes of a cat. Is the owl hooting at him?

—You shouldn't have left your friends, said a voice in his head.

—No, I shouldn't have left them, Phanis replied to himself.

And then he thought:

“Did I leave them just to be naughty? I went to see the golden clouds”.

The water whispers in the dark. No, he can't stand this anguish. He gets up and with his stick he moves along the edge of the river.

He has passed the great stones and he has come close to two small trees. Under these there is a soft shrub which seems to invite him to snuggle up.

And the two trees bend together overhead, as if to say to Phanis: “Come here, we're going to protect you”. That's where Phanis took refuge.

As soon as he had curled up, his sister Maroula came to mind. It seemed to him that they were playing... A butterfly opened its wings, settled on a leaf, and seemed to go to sleep. And when they came nearer to catch it, it escaped.

Then he saw his mother who came and went about the house; devoting herself totally to tidying up and taking care of everything. He wanted to speak to both of them. They seemed to say to him: “Phanis”.

Maybe he fell asleep? No. A ball of sadness accumulated in his throat. This ball exploded into sobs.

Phanis wept. How much he wept, only the night knows. But when his eyes had dried, it was another Phanis who started to think; the one who was a forest ranger.

“Aren't you ashamed of yourself crying like that? You who've guarded the forest. You who were on watch at night with the other children”. So spoke a little voice to him.

And again it said: “You're an idiot, Phanis. That other time, when the watchdog jumped up at you, you lost your nerve.”

“When you saw old Costas injured, you fainted. But Dimos isn't like that; Andreas isn't like that; you must be a brave boy.”

And shortly afterwards the little voice said to him: “Wait until daybreak”.

Now Phanis cries no more. His eyes are dry. His courage seems to have won.

He took his bag and felt there was something in it. He also had his water flask, he had bread and water. He then stroked the shrub with two hands; and can you imagine, the shrub stroked him back; it was a soft bushy mastic tree.

Phanis lay down on his perfumed bed. Sleep came to him twice, and both times he jumped up scared, finally he fell asleep.