It was a beautiful summer day—or rather, a summer morning—and Majka and Maxík were still sleeping. At least that’s how it looked. Maxík’s blanket was puffing up, and every now and then strange sounds came from underneath it—like when Grandpa Paťko cuts wood with his hand saw. Grandpa insists that engines belong in cars, trains, and boats, but not in saws or bicycles. But Majka didn’t even stir. As Kaško, our cheerful little ghost, watched them from behind the window, he thought they were sleeping like... like... and suddenly he noticed.
“Majka,” Kaško whispered.
“Yes?” Majka spoke through her small, tired teeth.
“Aren’t you sleeping?” Kaško sat down on the edge of the bed.
“But I am,” Majka said, though not very convincingly.
“Maji, but I can see it,” Kaško whispered so as not to wake Maxík, “show up.”
Majka turned around, and Kaško almost fell on his little ghostly bottom. Boom, there was a sound next to the bed.
“Majka, what’s wrong?” Kaško gasped when he looked at Majka.
Majka’s eyes were completely red, and her hair looked so strange, and she… she… she looked so strange, as if…
“I haven’t been able to fall asleep for three nights now,” Majka finally confessed.
“Why?” Kaško asked, ready to help her right away.
“I don’t know,” Majka said, and the first tear was already audible in her voice.
“Maji, don’t cry,” Kaško soothed her in a gentle voice, “it’ll be okay.”
“I’ve already tried everything,” Majka sniffled and sat down on the bed.
“Uuaaaaaa,” came a sound from the bed next to them. “Good morning, Majka and Kaško.”
“Good morning, little brother,” Kaško said, a bit annoyed.
Maxík, who had just woken up, looked at Kaško and asked in a half-asleep voice:
“Did I do something?”
“Is this how you take care of your sister?” Kaško stroked Majka’s hair.
“But I just got back last night from camp, where I was for two weeks!” Maxík didn’t understand.
“Oh,” Kaško apologized with a glance, and only then did Maxík notice the tired Majka.
“Majka, what’s wrong with you?”
“She can’t fall asleep, and we have to help her,” Kaško declared firmly.
“But how?” Maxík asked and immediately jumped out of bed.
“I’ve already tried everything,” Majka whispered.
“Certainly not everything!” Kaško declared firmly. “You have ten minutes to get dressed and grab something to eat.”
“Where are we going?” Maxík and Majka asked eagerly as they got dressed. Well, Maxík asked with words, and Majka with her tired eyes.
“We’re going to Zemplín,” Kaško announced, already getting ready to leave.
“Where?” Majka asked wearily.
“Almost to the sea,” Kaško repeated slowly.
“Oh, okay, let’s go,” and the children ran off to get dressed and pack something to eat. A few minutes later, they were ready. Meanwhile, Kaško was muttering something in the little room and singing some songs or something.
“Kaško, we’re ready,” reported the washed, packed, and dressed children.
“Not yet,” the little man suddenly stopped.
“Did you forget how to fly?” Maxík looked at the little man in surprise.
“No, but I forgot one spell,” Kaško stood in the doorway as if rooted to the spot.
“The spell for falling asleep?” Majka asked desperately, her legs buckling a little.
“I don’t know any like that,” he looked at Majka guiltily.
“And what spell did you forget?” Maxík joined in with the questions.
“The spell to wake people up,” Majka whispered, horror in her eyes.
“We know that one,” Maxík answered confidently, surprising Kaško.
“Really?” Kaško couldn’t believe it and wondered when and where they could have found the spellbook of the land of Haravara.
“Mhm,” Majka agreed, and she was in such a state that she couldn’t even lie.
“So, bring it on!” Kaško challenged his friends.
And the children began making sounds like the alarm clocks on Mom’s bedside table, the alarms on their watches or cell phones, and… and finally they started chirping.
“Enough!” Kaško covered his ghostly ears. “I’m looking for a spell for Benjamin.”
“Who?” the children sensed adventure, and even Majka perked up a little.
“Come to me, you’ll see right away,” commanded Kaško, who was already on the move again.
The children came to Kaško, he took them with him, and off they flew. They flew because they didn’t have time. Otherwise, they could have easily reached that little place by train or bus.
“And what kind of place is this?” Maxík asked cautiously, just as he brushed the dust off his pants, because he’d landed on his left knee when they touched down.
“There’s a castle,” Majka yawned, and with her last ounce of strength, she raised her hand and pointed up the hill.
Kaško ran toward some strange, angular tower.
“What kind of castle is that?” Maxík asked impatiently as he caught up with Kaško.
“This is Viniansky Hrad castle,” Kaško announced dryly, like a tour guide who’d been here a thousand times.
“Oh, and what are we doing here?” Majka asked now, without yawning.
“We’re looking for my fifth-cousin Benjamin,” Kaško announced and kept walking.
“He surely knows some great lullaby and will sing it to me,” Majka closed her eyes and imagined the ghost singing a lullaby into her ear.
“Benjamin is the biggest slacker among the ghosts,” Kaško laughed.
“Oh,” Majka frowned a little.
“That’s why we all call him Benjamin, even though he’s six hundred and fifty-three years old,” Kaško kept laughing, as if he were picturing a cartoon in front of him.
“How much?!” Maxík exclaimed in disbelief.
“Six hundred and fifty-three!”
“Wow,” Majka imagined everything he’d seen and experienced.
“But he’s slept through… well, about four hundred and fifty of those years,” Kaško thought hard.
“So, he’s only…” Majka thought for a moment, “about…”
“About a hundred years,” Maxík helped his sister out.
“And that’s waaaay too little for a ghost,” Kaško explained.
“I believe you,” Maxík said appreciatively.
“He has his bedroom right here at Viniansky Castle,” Kaško winked with one eye.
“Where?” Majka immediately looked around.
“Somewhere in the cellar,” Kaško looked around.
“And why is that?” Maxík didn’t understand how anyone could make a bedroom in a cellar.
“Well, because this castle has been standing here for about 700 years,” Kaško began.
“I see,” Maxík examined the beautiful ruins.
“And you probably know that about 800 years ago, some warriors came to Haravara and set everything on fire and looted it,” Kaško continued his lecture.
“Really?” Majka’s eyes widened.
“Indeed, and so the king at the time decided he had to build more castles, but no longer out of wood, as they had been built until then, but out of stone,” Kaško tapped the nearest castle stone.
“Were castles made of wood before that?” asked Maxík, imagining what wooden ruins might look like.
“Of course, but once they realised how easily they could be conquered, they started building them out of stone, like this one in Viniansky,” said Kaško, still searching for something on the ground and under the stones.
“I see,” Maxík mused, “but we still don’t know why Benji would be sleeping in the cellar.”
“Well, probably because as soon as they built that castle, more fighting broke out and the castle burned down,” Kaško threw up his hands.
“No surprise. This was the fate of castles all over the world,” Majka stated dryly, pulling out paper and crayons and starting to draw the castle.
“Well, but then they rebuilt it,” Kaško remarked casually as he continued searching.
“It doesn’t look like it,” Maxík added mockingly.
“True,” added Majka, still drawing, “but it’s still beautiful—it’s the kind of place for picnics, hiking, get-togethers, relaxation, and definitely for sleeping under the open sky.
“But in Haravara, a rebellion broke out about three hundred years ago.”
“The Slovak National Uprising!” Maxík shouted, because he remembered something they’d learned.
“No, it was called the Estates Uprising, and one part of it was led by our friend Francis II Rákóci.”“
“Right, the one who fled to Turkey,” Majka showed off her memory.
“And this castle belonged to his friends, so the emperor didn’t like him.”
“And here we are.”
“And as you correctly suspect,” Kaško continued, “the emperor had it demolished!”
“And what about those cellars we’re looking for?” Majka asked, triumphantly finishing the first drawing.
“Those were built hundreds of years ago and are still there,” Kaško said, searching his mind for a way to get to them.
“It’s nice and cool in there,” Kaško began to whisper quietly, “that’s where they used to store various things,” Kaško continued, looking for something on the ground.
“What are you looking for?” Maxík couldn’t help but ask.
“This!” The little ghost’s eyes lit up.
“And what is that?” his friends didn’t understand.
“Keys,” Kaško showed them a bunch of keys.
“What keys?” they still didn’t understand what Kaško was talking about.
“These are the keys to this castle. Archaeologists found a few and took them to the museum, but these were left here in the ground, and with them we’ll get to Benji.”
“How?” Max asked and began packing up Majka’s crayons.
“We have to find the old tiles,” Kaško looked around at the walls.
“Here are some!” Majka shouted.
“Those are the ones,” Kaško said happily and stroked Majka’s hair.
“What do we do with them?” Maxík examined the tiles, but saw nothing special about them.
“Wait a minute,” said Kaško and began putting them together like a puzzle, muttering as he did so:
“Picture to picture, picture to picture, open up, open up the gate now!”
And suddenly it happened. Near that angular tower they were running toward—the tallest one at Viniansky Hrad castle—the ground opened up, and they flew inside with Kaško. A ghost of some sort was sleeping on a bed underground.
Kaško picked up another tile and muttered:
“Image to image, image to image, wake up at once!”
“Uuuuuuaaaaaauuuuu,” the ghost Benjamin opened his eyes, and as soon as he saw Kaško with Majka and Maxík, he smiled.
“Kaškooo!”
“Benji!” Kaško blurted out, and the two hugged each other in such a special, ghostly embrace.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, yawning so wide he could have swallowed thirty flies.
“We need help,” Kaško blurted out at him without a moment’s hesitation.
“Oh, I like that. I just take a little nap and someone already wants help?” Benji asked, yawning again.
“But we…” Maxík didn’t finish.
“And why are you dressed so strangely?” Benji stared at them.
“How strangely?” Majka asked, almost offended.
“Well, just weird,” Benji couldn’t describe the weirdness.
Only then did they notice that Benji was wearing clothes that only actors in the theatre wear these days when they’re performing a play from the past.
“I guess I slept a little longer,” Benji mused.
“Majka can’t fall asleep,” Kaško began to explain.
“Oh, well, I’m the world’s biggest expert on that!” Benji stretched out like spaghetti on a plate.
“I’m glad to hear that, because I used to be one too, but somehow I’m not anymore,” Majka’s eyes lit up.
“Exercise is the best way to sleep,” Benji immediately began advising.
“You mean I’m supposed to roll around in my sleep?” Majka asked Benjamin, a bit sceptical.
“No way! Come on!” Benjamin suddenly shouted and jumped out of his bed like a rocket launching from the ground.
“Where are we going?” Kaško asked, already holding the children.
“Just out here to the castle courtyard,” Benjamin pointed upward toward the light.
They went outside, looked down, and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“How beautiful,” Majka whispered.
“It certainly is,” Maxík added.
“From this castle, there’s a beautiful view of our Haravarian Sea, the Zemplín Lake, and the main seaside town of Michalovce,” Benji said breathlessly.
“It’s beautiful, but how will that help me fall asleep?” Majka didn’t understand.
“When we want to fall asleep, we need a few things,” the sleep master explained calmly.
“And what are they?” Majka wanted to write them down.
“Beautiful things to help us calm down and start breathing slowly,” Benji winked and began breathing like a guru.
So, they stood there and breathed and breathed and admired and admired; Maxík had already started to doze off, Kaško was already snoring, but Majka felt nothing.
“Nothing?” Benji asked Majka quietly.
“Nothing,” Majka whispered sadly.
“Then we have to go to the vineyard,” Benji winked at Kaško.
“That woke up Kaško and Maxík too.
‘Benji, “ Kaško rubbed his sleepy eyes, “but they’re just kids; they can’t drink alcohol, and you know we spirits don’t want adults to drink it either. “
“I know that, but I don’t see what the problem is,” Benji looked around at all three of them in confusion, because all three were staring at him as if he were a criminal.
“The vineyard—you said you were taking us to the vineyard,” Majka reminded him.
“There’s one of the most beautiful vineyards right here below our castle.”
“Oh, come on,” Maxík shook his head.
“Right,” Kaško remembered too, “and it’s over 200 years old, and they make excellent grape juice here.”
“And what’s that?” Majka stopped pouting.
“It’s a great sleep-inducing drink made from grapes,” Benji perked up, and Kaško’s mouth started watering.
And before Benji could even finish, they were in the vineyard below the castle, tasting the delicious grape drink.
“So, what do you think?” Benji gushed.
“Okay, but still nothing,” Majka said quietly and a little timidly.
“We’ve had our share of beauty and healthy things, and now it’s time to move,” Benji laugher into his sleeve and grabbed everyone by the hands. “Let’s goooo!”
They flew a short distance and found themselves by a beautiful lake, where pedal boats and swimmers were out and about. Sunbathers were lying on the surrounding beaches, and in many places, people were grilling treats.
“How is grilled bacon supposed to help me sleep?” Majka asked sceptically, even though she liked it here.
“That might help you too, but not right before bed,” Kaško added immediately.
“So, what are we doing here?” Maxík asked, just as confused.
“Move, move!” Benji shouted, and no one knew what he meant.
“Oh, yessss!” Kaško exclaimed, and he’d already stripped down to his ghostly swim trunks, and the kids got it.
A moment later, they were already going wild in the water, frolicking like little seals released into the wild after several years.
“And what’s this?” asked Majka, opening her beautiful eyes wide. Maxík’s mouth dropped open and he couldn’t close it.
“Sailing,” Benji pointed toward the sailboats and looked like both a king and a kong of the jungle.
“That’s the activity,” Kaško realized, “that will tire you out so much, Maji, that you’ll fall asleep on the flight home.”
“You can’t just practice sailing anywhere. Haravara is one of the few places where you can practice sailing,” Benji said slowly as he pulled the sail onto a pole.
“Okay, here I go!” Majka shouted eagerly.
And in a moment, Majka and Maxík were already training with the sailing coach on Lake Vinné, and he couldn’t believe how well they were doing. He didn’t see that Kaško was sitting next to Maxík on the yacht, flying around and puffing on the sails, and another little rascal, Benji, was next to Majka.
They went at it like this for several hours, and as soon as Majka and Maxík came ashore, both little ghosts looked at Majka.
“Nothing,” Majka shrugged, her eyes widening even more.
“Well then, there’s only one possibility left,” Benjamin said mysteriously.
“What is it?” Maxík jumped to his feet, ready to do anything for his sister.
“We have to find a magical herb that relieves stress the moment you smell it,” Benji tapped him on the forehead.
“Really? Is there such a thing?” Kaško perked up too.
“That’s why our ancestors—and your human ancestors before them—used to make pillows out of it and put it in their closets, on the walls, among their clothes, and especially wherever they needed to calm down, sleep, or just relax,” Benji explained.
“I still don’t get what this is about,” Kaško pondered, for a moment so intensely that steam seemed to rise from his head like a locomotive.
“It’s a plant that can help you heal all your wounds…” Benji kept teasing them.
“Plantain!” Majka exclaimed.
“No,” Benji laughed at how they were struggling.
“Well then…” Maxík pondered...
“And if someone’s hair is falling out, it helps slow that down,” Benji added.
“Well, then it must be a miracle plant,” Maxík whispered.
“And of course, it helps with sleep. It’s a plant that people all over the world put in essential oils before bed, in pillows, and in…”
“Stop keeping us in suspense!” Kaško groaned.
“Lavender!” Benji exclaimed triumphantly.
“Awesome!” Kaško beamed.
“But I don’t know where we’d find it here at Lake Vinné,” Benji dampened their spirits.
“Not far,” Kaško surprised Benji.
“How is that not far?” Benji didn’t understand.
“While you were sleeping, some really nice people opened a lavender farm here.”
“In Haravara?” Benji’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t slept in 30 years.
“Right here, just around the corner,” Kaško said with a smile, looking at Majka.
“Awesome,” Majka breathed.
“It’s the biggest lavender farm in Haravara —no, actually, far and wide—and it’s in Trnava,” Kaško explained.
“But Trnava isn’t in Haravara,” Majka said, disappointed and a little annoyed.
“Trnava is in the country of Ledabolo (carelessly),” added Maxík.
“But there’s also Trnava near Laborec,” Benji lectured his siblings on geography.
“Let’s go!” Majka exclaimed.
They arrived at a beautiful farm where the lavender was just coming into bloom; there was a divine scent everywhere, and bees were buzzing in the air. Maxík’s mouth started to water a little as he imagined the taste of lavender honey; Benji took three deep breaths and fell asleep right away; and Kaško looked around and pointed toward the farm.
The children looked, and not far from the farm were two beautiful people who took care of the farm—not alone, of course—and they had smiles just like the scent of lavender: wonderful. The children immediately asked them if they had anything to help them sleep, and of course they did. The lavender people took them with them to the farmhouse, where they showed them lavender drops, essential oil, lavender syrup, lavender cream, and lavender sachets. The children took everything and then strolled around the farm, admiring one of the most beautiful flowers in the world, and then they flew home.
There, they lit a lavender candle, placed a lavender sachet under Majka’s head, and by the time Kaško had finished brewing the lavender tea, they were both asleep. And Kaško sat down with his tea on the clothesline on the balcony and sipped and sipped until he suddenly fell asleep like a bat.
