Translation:The High Mountains/46
After having eaten, Phanis said:
—Shall we go to that fir tree up there?
At one place there was a fir, completely alone.
—Let's go, said the children.
—And when will we return to the cabins? asked Matthias.
—We'll come back late in the afternoon, said Costakis. We'll take the flour, and will return in the evening.
—We'll take our bags too then, said Kaloyannis, maybe we'll feel hungry.
They took their bags, their water flasks and their sticks and set off. It was a difficult climb; however with the force the bathing had given them, they were ready for a big trip.
They stopped at several places. They hunted insects and lizards, they threw stones down the slope and they noticed plants that they had never seen before. At one place they stopped for a while and were in awe at five or six wonderful trees which were enormous, with robust trunks.
“They're sweet chestnuts! cried Phanos who recognised them.
They went underneath them looking in their green branches. But the sweet chestnut trees hadn't been grafted and bore wild inedible fruit.
On the point of leaving, their thoughts went to the basket of the chestnut gatherer, who passed in front of the school calling...
Finally they arrived at the fir tree.
Who would have said that the fir tree looked like a chandelier in the church! Looking at it they see on its proud branches something like altar candles. They're its fruit; we get pine tar from them.
All the trees on land have irregular shapes. But in the mountains the cypress and the fir tree stand erect. Ship's masts are made from them.
Here in the mountains the fir tree isn't really bothered about the winter. It can take a lot of snow. It is so bowed down that we think it's going to break, but it always remains straight and fights against the wind which tries to pick a quarrel with it.
It doesn't deign to grow at low altitudes. You have to climb up higher to find it.
Looking up towards the mountains, the children saw a whole forest of fir trees all erect.
Nobody knows why this sturdy fir came to grow here all alone.
From high up they saw the Green Wood below and recognised the place where they have their huts.
They saw the plateaus and the gorges, they saw the summit of the mountain, pointed and bare, and the two other smaller summits, the Three Peaks.
They saw the monastery which whitened in the distance, and something black which walked on the plateau, Lambros' goats. They will have lots to tell...
Hasn't Phanis cut his stick yet? It's been quite a while since he left to cut one, and he still hasn't come back.
—Go on Panos, and call him.
—Phaaaanis! Phaaaanis!
—He went off down there, said Matthias, there where you can see trees. He probably sat down in the shade.
Two of them got up to go down.
They looked in the trees and the bushes, called together, but on hearing no reply they thought that he was playing a joke on them.
—Come on, Phanis, they said, you're hiding somewhere!
A little bird responded to their calls, it gave some chirrups and flew away. Then silence took its place again.
—Perhaps he has fallen asleep somewhere? said Costakis. So they went right down. They saw some big rocks and two small trees which grew out of their crevasses. They also looked behind them; nothing.
—It's impossible that he's around here, they thought. Maybe he's gone back to the mill. But really why did he leave them? They didn't know what to say.
They doubled back towards the fir tree to warn the others that they hadn't found him. And as they climbed up, their spirits were very low.