Outside, the leaves were turning red and yellow, and were shedding. The needles on the trees were shaking. Why? Didn’t you notice? When winter approaches, the needles on the trees shake because Christmas is coming. And when Christmas is approaching, the trees shake their needles so that the animals, who also want to have their own Christmas, will notice them. They also decorate their trees - only we can’t see it.
Maxík and Majka were in their room. I mean, they were sitting there. Maxík was lying on the floor thrashing his legs, and Majka was tearing up some leaves and doing something with them.
“Am I interrupting?” came a voice from outside the window.
“Kaškooo!” they both shouted.
“Friends, what are you doing here?” Kaško looked around.
“Can’t you see?” Maxík and Majka spread their arms like the statue above Rio.
"I can see that you, Maxík, are pretending to be a frog and Majka is preparing a lavish frog meal for you."
"Kaško, do you remember last autumn when we sneezed through the whole thing?" said Maxík and immediately did two pull-ups.
"I can’t forget that. I didn’t hear a sound for three days," Kaško scratched his ears.
"You didn’t hear anything?" Majka asked in surprise as she prepared herbal leaves for tea.
“I didn’t hear anything because you were all sneezing and coughing and making so much noise that..."
“Well, that’s exactly what we want to avoid," they said, mixing the leaves and reading something in a recipe book while boiling water for tea.
“By playing frogs?”
“No, by exercising, taking care of our bodies and toughening ourselves up,” Maxík finished, and immediately did three push-ups, four hopscotch jacks, and then five jumping jacks.
“Toughening up with hot tea?” laughed the ghost Kaško.
“That’s just the beginning,“ said Majka, pouring the tea and starting to time the infusion.
“Well, I don’t know... we ghosts don’t need to toughen up, but we know a ghost who knows all about toughening up,“ said Kaško casually.
“Who’s that?“ asked Maxík, and Majka was just picking the herbs out of the tea.
“Benjamin.“
„Benjamin?“
“Uh-huh.“
“Who’s he?“ the siblings wanted to know more and took a sip of tea.
“He’s my second cousin. But more importantly, he’s the guardian of the secrets of paradise.“
„The secrets of paradise?“ Majka’s eyes lit up.
“There is a place in Haravara that has been a paradise for hardy souls for centuries - what centuries, millennia! And so, it is a paradise of secrets..."’ Kaško didn't finish his sentence, because Majka interrupted him, already imagining a large spa. She opened her eyes and exclaimed in disbelief:
"Really?"
"First there was the sea. And that sea was quite cold," continued Kaško.
"The sea?" asked Majka.
"A few tens of millions of years ago, there was sea everywhere in Haravara."
"We learned that. He's right," confirmed Maxík.
"So, our swimming ancestors swam in that sea, and in the Quaternary period, it cooled down a bit. It also cooled down in our paradise - and the first hardy people were mammoth hunters."
"And they left us drawings of how to harden ourselves - in the paradise cave!" guessed Majka, looking forward to deciphering the old paintings.
“That's possible, but we don't know about them yet.”
“So then?”
“Then settlements, villages and towns began to be built - but paradise is paradise.”
“So, there's still pure nature there,” Majka understood.
“And lots of places to harden yourself,” added Kaško.
“And what about Benjamin? Where did he stay?” asked Maxík.
“He guards a mysterious ingredient for all hardy people, hidden in paradise,” whispered Kaško mysteriously.
“And what is that?”
“Fireweed.”
“What's that?”
"It's an ancient plant that Benjamin guards in a secret cave in Geravy - in the Haravara Paradise."
"Fireweed - I don't know that,’ Majka searched her mental library.
"Well, that's probably because it's secret,’" Kaško tapped his forehead.
Maxík and Majka looked at each other, wondering if such a thing as a fireweed even existed.
“And what is this fireweed supposed to do?”
“I don't know,” Kaško shrugged, “but Benjamin will surely tell us,” he smiled and pointed to the open door.
"So, we're going to paradise!" both siblings shouted at once.
"Only if you really want to learn how to toughen up," Kaško slowed down his packing.
"Of course we want to!"
As soon as the children said this, Kaško sat down contentedly on the window sill - as a ghost, he could do so - and Maxík and Majka began to pack and get ready for the journey. When they were ready, they set off for the bus station. The bus took them to a village called... Dedinky. That's right. That was its name.
"We're in paradise," Kaško breathed freely as they got off the bus.
"It's really beautiful here," Maxík and Majka breathed in the fresh air deeply.
"And you don't even know what's waiting for you," Kaško smiled.
"What?"
“This!”
“A wooden house?” Maxík and Majka looked disappointedly at the older building - they had been expecting a spa.
“But not a wooden house!” Kaško snapped out of his reverie.
“But this is some kind of wooden house... just a little bigger,” Maxík looked around the building, trying to find something unusual about it.
“Look what's coming out of that wooden house,” Kaško pointed to the hill.
"A cable car!" They stared in amazement at the cable car, which they had never seen before.
“And not just any cable car.”
“But an unusual one!” Maxík and Majka began to look forward to an adventure.
“You bet - that's the cable car from Dedinky to Geravy.”
"Is it pronounced “zheravy”? asked Majka Kaško, as she was taking French lessons.
"No, it's “Geravy”. Geravy.“
"Oh,“Geravy” then." Geravy.“
“Exactly.”
"What are we going to do there?"
"That's where Benjamin lives."
"The keeper of secrets..." whispered the children.
"Are you coming?"
But Kaško suddenly noticed that his two siblings were looking at the cable car strangely, almost in awe.
“Yes?” Kaško looked around, trying to see what they were looking at.
“That's a cable car for just one person!” they both exclaimed.
“It's the only single-seater cable car not only in Haravara - they have them far beyond the border.”
“Okay, okay,” Majka opened her eyes.
“But why is it a single-seater?” Maxík didn't understand.
"Have you ever seen anyone go to paradise on a tour?" laughed Kaško.
“No, I haven't,” admitted Majka.
“Have you, Maxík?”
“No, I haven't either,” Maxík had to admit.
“You go to paradise one at a time.”
“And is paradise up there?” they looked in the direction where the cable car was climbing up the mountains.
“A paradise called Geravy...”
“Let's go then.”
The children arrived at the cable car, bought tickets and sat down. Max was the first to get on - he looked around him and down at the beautiful forests and a kind of water reservoir. He felt like a bird.
Majka was a little scared at first, but when she saw Kaško flying around her - after all, he didn't have to sit down - she stopped being afraid and also began to enjoy the heavenly view.
They ascended the hill and couldn't take their eyes off the view. Beautiful hills, exposed rocks that looked as if they had been carved by a strange sculptor, forests and animals running around. Someone had even started breeding strange animals such as emus here - they really felt like they were in paradise.
While the children were admiring the beauty of the place, Kaško tapped out a melody on the stones sticking out of the rock opposite the hotel. It had been built for those who didn't want to leave paradise.
“I don't know, but I would give my ghostly powers to be somewhere like this,” Kaško tapped on the stones.
“But what?” the children didn't understand.
“The place where Benjamin was called.”
“You're tapping in the right place, but the melody is wrong,” came a voice suddenly from behind Kaško.
"Benjiii!” Kaško shouted enthusiastically.
“Kaško?” Benjamin looked surprised. He really looked like a treasure guard - he was wearing a long coat, glasses, and a wide hat.
“I haven't seen you... well, more than 250 years.”
“289,” Kaško clarified.
‘What brings you here?’ Benjamin kept looking at Kaško while showing him the right melody to tap on the rocks.
“These are my friends.”
“Ghosts - little ones?” Benji looked at Majka and Maxík.
“No, children,” whispered Kaško in his ear, and Benji almost fell on his bottom.
“And they can see us?”
“There are few of them in the world, but I found two in Haravara who can see ghosts,” boasted Kaško.
“That's great. And what do your friends need?”
"A common fireweed."
"Oh ... I don't know, I don't know..." Benji began to hesitate.
"But you know, you know."
"I don't know, I don't know," Benji repeated.
"I know you know where it is," Kaško looked seriously into his eyes.”
"I know... but we can't give it to people.”
“Not even to those who see us?” Kaško tried.
“Well..., I guess so,” Benji began to think.
“It's settled then,” Majka and Maxík sighed with relief.
“Let's go,” Benji said resignedly.
Benjamin led them deeper into the forest to a beautiful rock. You could have taught geology there for years - the layers of stones were so clearly visible, showing how the earth had worked with them over the ages.
Benjamin began tapping on the rock... and nothing happened.
"Huh, I haven't done that in a long time... Hardening up has become fashionable among people, but not among us, ghosts," Benji rubbed his forehead and pulled various percussion instruments out of his cloak.
“Shall I help you?” asked Maxík timidly. He took out his drumsticks and, together with Benjamin, they began to tap out a melody.
Suddenly, the rock in front of them opened up - just like a window - and Benjamin's hand began to lengthen. It disappeared somewhere into the cave.
“Aaaaaaaaaa, here it is!” Benji announced happily to his friends, who just stared speechlessly at his stretching arm and held their breath.
In a moment, he was holding a strange purple flower with black stripes in his hands - it looked like it was wearing a football jersey.
"So, that's it?" Kaško examined it, while Majka and Maxík were still thinking about all the things they could do with such a hand.
"A fireweed," Benji said triumphantly.
"And why is it called a fireweed?" Majka finally asked.
“Because when you put it on, it creates a new wrinkle in your brain,” explained Benji. He noticed that the children were a little scared, so he quickly added:
"That always happens when we learn something new."
"Or find something out," added Kaško.
“And now you'll get a tough paradise wrinkle!”
“Hmmmm... what's that?” asked Maxík.
“Your eyes will start looking around and see all the possibilities for how you could toughen up,” explained Benji.
“Let's do it!” said Maxík and chewed a flower.
Majka immediately followed him.
Their eyes fluttered a little and they began to turn their heads around.
“Did you notice that water down there?” said Maxík, newly hardened.
“That water!” cried Benjamin. “That's Palcmanská Maša water reservoir!”
“And that big brown thing next to it... was that her bear?” laughed Majka. Maxík and Kaško laughed too - only Benji didn't laugh because he didn't know the fairy tale about Msša and the Bear.”
“It would be a great place to toughen up,’ Maxík began to imagine.”
“You bet!” agreed Benji. “The water in Palcmanská Maša is the coldest not only in Haravara, but also far and wide in other lands. And it is also the highest water reservoir in the whole of Haravara.”
“Well, I don't know what we're waiting for,” said Maxík.
"Shall we go?" Majka nudged the others.
In a moment, they arrived at Palcmanská Maša. Majka didn't feel like swimming yet - the water was really cold.
"Do you know the Kráľova Hoľa mountain?" Benji asked after a while.
"The hill in the land of Galimatiášovo?" Kaško recalled.
“Exactly,” Benji agreed. “Well, that's where the Hnilec River springs from, and it flows straight here, into Maša.”
“Aha! That's why the water is so cold!” Majka exclaimed excitedly as soon as she dipped her toe into Maša.
Maxík put on his swimming trunks and started hardening himself according to the advice of the swimmer.
Majka chose a different method. She and Kaško sat down in a boat that they could borrow and started rowing in the fresh air.
“This is training!” shouted Maxík he swimmer from the water.
Benjamín laughed on the shore and shouted: ‘If you like it, come back in winter!’
"Won't the water be too cold?" Maxík asked doubtfully.
"It will be - because it will be frozen! But you can skate here."
"Really?" The children imagined themselves skating among the trees in this beautiful natural setting.
“Yes,” confirmed Benji and flew up to one of the branches, whistling an old tune.
“We'll definitely come!”
“Now we should warm up,” said Benjamin when the children got out of the water.
"Shall we have a barbecue?" they suggested, hinting that they were a little hungry after their swim.
"Let's go for a walk," laughed Kaško and Benjamin.
"Here, through these beautiful woods," added Benjamin, happy that someone had finally taken him to a place where he could harden up.
"How about we go a little further - to the Stratenská Píla sawmill?" suggested Kaško.
"I knew it wouldn't be free," laughed Maxík under his breath.
"But I've never sawed wood before!" exclaimed Majka, imagining herself pulling a large saw.
"But they don't saw wood there anymore.”
“What do they saw there? For the fairy Amálka...” Majka immediately imagined all the scary fairy tales and films.
"There used to be a sawmill there, that's why the place is called that. Now it's a beautiful walk along the water, through the woods and along paths. The air is fresh there and, most importantly, there is one of the most healing things in the world,” said Benji mysteriously.
“What is it?" Max and Majka began to look around to see if they could see any mysterious creatures.
“I wonder what the woodcutter will tell you,” said Benji, keeping them in suspense.
They slowly made their way to the Stratenská Píla sawmill. Majka couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful trees, moss, and forest paths. Maxík couldn't catch his breath and Kaško couldn't stop flying.
“Flying is different in air like this,” he said.
“So, do you know what the most healing thing here is?” asked Benjamin.
Everyone stopped. The children activated their new brain etchings and...
"Silence..." they whispered.
"Everyone walks in silence here," smiled Benji.
"Silence, air, movement, clean water... hmmm, paradise."
"We are in paradise," whispered Kaško in their ears and flew away somewhere into the sky."
Maxík and Majka were so tired that they fell asleep in the silence under a tree.
At home, they lay down in their beds - and they had that different, ‘wise’ look in their eyes. After all, they had one more wrinkle on their brains.
