Gobo answered the elder uncertainly. “That ...? That’s from the collar I wore ... it’s His collar ... and ... yes, and ... and it’s a great honour to wear his collar ... it’s ...” He became confused and stammered.
All were silent. The elder kept a sad and piercing look on Gobo for a long time.
“You poor thing,” he said gently, then he turned round and was gone.
In the silence that followed from this disturbance the squirrel started to chatter. “You see ... a cousin of mine was there with Him too ... He’d caught him and locked him in ... oh, for a very long time, till one day my cousin ...”
But no-one was listening to the squirrel.
They all went away.
[CHAPTER] 18
One day, Marena turned up again.
She was already nearly grown up when Gobo disappeared, but she was almost never to be seen since then. She held herself apart and went on her own solitary ways.
She had always had a slight build and looked quite young. But she was serious and quiet and was more gentle than anyone else. Now she had heard from the squirrel, from jays and magpies, from thrush and pheasant that Gobo had come back home and had had wonderful experiences. There she appeared, and wanted to see him. Gobo’s mother was very proud and happy about her visit. Most of all, Gobo’s mother was very proud of how happy she seemed. She was glad that the entire forest was talking about her son, she wallowed in his fame and she wanted everyone to acknowledge that Gobo was the cleverest, the most capable and the best.