When I heard the story about a llama that had been wandering in the Karkonosze Mountains for several months, I felt excited. “What a thug!” I thought. “What a great hero!” – recalls Joanna Jagiełło, author of award-winning books for children such as “Coffee with Cardamom” and “Green Dr. Martens”. – The llamas were brought to Western City in the summer and escaped shortly thereafter. The female was quickly captured, the male was seen in various places. He walked around the mountains in a wonderfully chaotic way and admired the wonderful spaces, because the Karkonosze Mountains are really beautiful. He was enjoying his freedom in late autumn. Eventually he descended to the lower parts of the mountains, probably dissatisfied with the fact that it was getting colder around the Rock Table, where he preferred to stay, or maybe he was running out of food. He was caught there, or he simply allowed it. That was the story, he says.
It was told to the writer in detail by Jerzy Room, who runs the Western City entertainment town in Ścięgny near Karpacz. – When I listened to Mr. Jerzy’s story, I wondered about the personality of the fugitive. On the one hand, he seemed to revel in freedom and roaming around the corners of the Karkonosze Mountains gave him a lot of joy. On the other hand, he tried to make friends with the deer, but in the end he decided to let himself be captured. Yes. Llamas are curious and intelligent. Sometimes they like to be alone, but without a herd they become unhappy. The male must have missed his friend. Besides, in this true story, she was so angry with him that when he returned, she was very angry with him for a while. I am writing this for the doubters who argue that animals cannot feel emotions like humans. This is absolute nonsense – says the author of “The Robber”. Together with the illustrator Marcin Minor, they told their version of this story. The book was published in the “Zwierzaki” series by Agora publishing house for children.
Illustration for the book ‘Zbój’ promotional materials of Agora Publishing House for children
Chapter 13. Horses
The robber was standing in a grassy field. In front of him was a red brick wall, solid, thick and very high. He walked along it to find a gate or gate, but the wall stretched on forever. Suddenly he heard the sound of hooves and a neigh. First quiet, then louder and louder. Horses! He felt panic wash over him.
From a distance he saw them approaching with flowing manes and tails shaking as they galloped. He looked around frantically. No escape route. Unless… Suddenly he saw a slightly darker shape in the wall. Something he had previously mistaken for a scratch or a streak left by the rain.
Rupture! Is it too narrow to squeeze through? But he had no time to think about it, because the horses were getting closer! He could almost feel their breath on his rump, drops of saliva splattering in the air. His heart was pounding in his chest as he dared to run into the narrow gap like it was into the throat of some monster. He felt a gust of air or a gust from the horses’ tails. Almost!
And then he woke up. There was no wall, he and Regina were lying in the open, under a beautiful linden tree. But he still heard something. He didn’t dream of horses! They were here somewhere!
– Regina! – he made a strangled sound. – We have to run away. Quick, I hear horses!
– What kind of horses? – she yawned. – You must have had a nightmare!
– And I think worms got into your ears during the night and you went deaf! – he bit back.
She shook her head, but then her pupils dilated. She heard it too. A disturbing sound in the distance. And what’s more… It didn’t come from one side, but from the front, and from the back, and from the left, and…
– They surrounded us! Let’s run! – the terrified Robber squealed.
Suddenly they saw horses with riders on their backs. The robber looked around in panic. The blood began to circulate faster in his veins and without even wondering whether he was doing the right thing, he simply started running. But terrified Regina stood frozen.
– Regina! – he exclaimed. – Hurry up!
One of the riders followed him, quite slowly, as if he didn’t want to scare him. The robber was sure that if they hurried, they could get away!
– Regina! – he repeated his request. “Why is she standing there?” he wondered.
And then his friend exclaimed:
– I’ll stop them!
– But why? Come! We can do it!
– NO. My leg hurts a lot! I can’t run! But you run! You must climb the Snowy Mountain and find the magic stone and see all the wonders of the world, and then come back to me.
And she did something strange. First, she approached one of the riders and ate the apple thrown to her. But when he tried to lasso her, she started teasing him, running left and right. The riders probably thought it was a game because now everyone was surrounding her and everyone was trying to get her. Some even got off their horses and reached out to grab her by the fur. And only when she finally kindly allowed the halter to be placed around her neck, one of them asked:
– But wait, where is the other llama?
However, the Robber never heard this again. He ran towards these shoots up the path, as far as possible from people and, above all, horses. As far away from walls and fences as possible, as far away as possible from everything he had managed to escape from, not to be stuck in it again.
Robber promotional materials of Agora Publishing House for children
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
