Chapter 2

“Adele!”

The girl sprang to her feet at the sound of a screech and mopped.

She was so tired that she rested to straightened her legs for a while.

“Are you still mopping?! I’d have been faster than you!”

A fierce-looking aunt opened the kitchen door roughly, holding buckets in both hands.

“When you’re done mopping, pick out everything here! If you don’t finish it before lunch, there’s no lunch today!” 1

Adele was tired of work and has not yet finished mopping the kitchen floor.

She kept the egg in the hole of the oak tree until early this morning.

The egg, which had been shaking little by little all night, cracked very slightly at dawn.

She knew it was about to hatched and ready to be born, but she couldn’t be there any more when she has this amount of work to do

It was clear that her aunt would come to find her if she didn’t go back home before dawn, then the egg would have been caught.

As soon as she changed her wet clothes, she left the large egg hidden and started working at home.

Fetching water from the well, preparing breakfast, feeding chickens and ducks, then carrying hay to feed the cattle at the ranch into the cart, then returning home and mopping.

The cows had hay and the rest of the family had breakfast, but Adele had not yet sat down at the table.

This is how it is every day, and now she doesn’t want to sit at the table and have breakfast with other family members.

Adele, who had moped the floor when her aunt left the kitchen, slightly checked what was in the bucket.

“Ah…”

It was different kinds of beans that filled the two buckets.

Beans are mixed with hay and used as cattle food.

Among the beans in the bucket, the round-shaped ones are selected separately for people to eat, and the crushed and shabby beans are given to the cattle.

It’ll take three hours to pick out all of these.

“Ha…”

Adele sighed.

But it was clear that if she didn’t finish this, she’d be out of the house in the evening.

Adele, who washed her hands, put a bucket on the table and began to pick out the beans.

Her fingers were picking beans, but her mind was on the oak tree.

. 1

If the child starts walking and goes out of the hole at will and catches people’s eyes, he’ll be caught for that wing.

“I wish I could understand what you’re saying, not what I’m saying. So here’s where you’re going to stay and I’m telling you not to go out….”

“What, don’t..out there…”

What the child mimicked was only the four-ninth word.

It was so cute to follow along with her red lips that Adele hugged the child wrapped in a blanket.

“I’m Adele. Adele.”

“Adele.”

“Yes, Adele.”

“Adele.”

“Since you have wings, let’s call you Sigmund.”

Sigmund is the name of the warrior who rode a winged horse and defeated the monster.

Of course, it’s not a real person, but just the name of a great warrior in a storybook.

Adele thought that the child did not ride a horse with wings, but that he had wings on his body, so called him Sigmund.

The name looked very good on him after she thought so.

“You’re Sigmund.”

“Sigmund.”

The child sweet lips parted, saying his own name.

“Sigmund.”

“Yes. You’re Sigmund, I’m Adele.”

“Sigmund, Adele.” 5

On a spring day, the child said his name several times, smiling like a violet flower on the hill.

As if he like it very much.

***

“You Lazybones, Adele!”

Adele rushed to of the kitchen on the voice of her aunt, who shouted without fail.

Her aunt and two cousins, who went out to a grocery store in the village, were entering after opening the door.

The uncle’s hands, coming in after them, were full of goods from the grocery store.

“What the hell happened to dinner preparation?! I told you to get ready to eat as soon as you got back, didn’t I?”

“I’m done preparing the meal, Aunt.”

Adele smiled broadly, showing that she had lined up all the dishes and decorated the basket of flowers in the middle of the table.

“Hmph!”

The aunt, who did not like Adele’s smile, entered her room with a frown.

“I’ll serve the soup so you can eat it now!”

Shouting brightly, Adele began to put the soup in a bowl. Of course, there was no way that the two cousins would help.