Chapter 1

Shwaaah-11

It was a terrible night of heavy rain.

Not only the rain was strong, but the wind was blowing hard, making the trees around the house flutter like they were going to break.

“Adele! You pathetic thing!”

Resounded in the lighted house, a louder and more haggard voice echoed than the sound of heavy rain.

The door opened roughly.

“You lazy, useless thing! Don’t even think about coming home until you reflect!”

The fat woman screamed in a rage and kicked the little girl out of the door.

Slam!

The body of the little skinny girl was pushed by a strong force and rolled in the mud.

The rain from early evening turned the yard into mud.

“It hurts…”

The girl fell and wrapped her broken knee with her hands.

The girl’s skinny fingers touched her knee which were now red in shade, but the pain didn’t go away.3

“It’s cold…”

The girl stumbled in the rain and walked in the opposite direction from the house where the fire was revealed.

This wasn’t the first time.

Rather this happens quite often, so the little girl knows that her aunt’s anger doesn’t go away so easily.

Usually it takes half a day to get rid of her aunt’s anger, but since her uncle has done something bigger than usual today, she may be angry by tomorrow morning.

It is usually because of her uncle that the aunt gets angry.

Her uncle likes to gamble, so he often gambles with silver coins which is   earned by selling cows and sheep, but he often comes back losing everything.

And whenever that happens, her aunt’s anger would direct to her.

I can’t go back home until my aunt’s anger is relieved.

If she knock on the door now because it’s cold, her aunt will probably come out with a scary opening and beat her with a broom.

She’ve already been hit like that before. She knocked on the door because she was so hungry, but her aunt, who was extremely angry, walked out and hit her mercilessly with a broom, she still has the scars and bruises on her face.

There is a place where the girl always goes when she is scolded by her aunt and kicked out of the house.

It’s a huge oak tree near the house.8

There was quite a big hole under the tree, unknown for how long it has been there, which is big enough for the girl to enter.

The girl walked in the rain thinking she could at least avoid the rain there.

The wet hem sticks to the wounded leg, and rain keeps pouring in her eyes, the girl tries to protect her eyes several times with the back of her hand.

What’s fortunate is that she put a piece of bread in her pocket before her aunt kicked her out angrily.

The bread in the pocket was secretly put in the apron while setting the dinner table.

Whatever food the family left after having their dinner was the girl’s dinner.3

If the family doesn’t leave food, she would have to starve on that day.

So sometimes she would hide a loaf of bread in front of her apron just like this.

Her clothes were wet from the rain, but she won’t cry because she’s hungry like last time.

“Huh?”

The girl, who was about to enter with her body bent down through a hole in the oak tree, opened her eyes surprised and panicked.

There was something that had never been in the hole before.

“What is it?”

It was a big egg.

That’s a huge egg.

The egg was too big for the girl to assume it as a duck or a chicken egg.

“Not a goose’s egg…”

The egg was big enough for the girl to hold in her arms.

In addition, it was not white, but subtle purple and glossy.

I’ve never seen an egg like this before.

“Is it a huge bird’s egg?”

But is there a bird that can lay such a big egg?

I’ve never seen such a bird around here.

“It’s not a turkey…”

She remember hearing that there was a bird called an ostrich in the faraway place from where the girl lives.

The ostrich was a huge bird, so maybe this is the so-called Ostrich’s egg.

“But why is the ostrich…”

Did the bird lay eggs here or did someone hide the eggs here?

“Very…soft and warm…”

She touched the egg out of curiosity.

Carefully, the surface of the egg had a smooth feel to the hand till the bottom.

Eggs usually have rough shells, but which were very soft.

Besides, it was warm.

“It’s moving…”

She could feel a throbbing movement in my palm.

It was proof that the eggs was alive.

“It’s moving inside…”

It was amazing that she could feel the movement inside while she was just touching the surface of the egg, so this time, the girl put her cheek out to the surface of the egg.

“Wow…”

She could hear the egg moving with her ears.

“But… Wouldn’t it be too cold here?”

It’s warm now, but it might cool off if I keep it as it is.

The girl has been raising chickens and ducks. So she have seen a lot of how chickens and ducks hatch their eggs.

Eggs hatch when their mother’s body warm the egg, but if left alone they cannot hatch.

“If we leave it as it is, it won’t be able to hatch…”

But who would hold such a big egg?

It has to be covered with huge wings, but it’s not even a duck or a chicken.

But she can’t hug the egg herself when her own clothes are wet like this, otherwise the eggs will cool off.

“Oh, my…”

Where did the mother bird go?

What if they just abandon their eggs and leave like this irresponsibly?

“………”

The girl touched the egg once more.

The moment the girl’s hand touched, the egg flinched.

“Ah…”

Not only did the egg move from the inside, but the egg itself shook a little.

The eggs must be about to hatch soon.

‘If I keep it a little warmer, I’ll have a bird I’ve never seen before, and if I leave it alone…’

“Wait a minute.”

The girl who spoke to the egg crawled back to the entrance to the hole in the tree through which she had crawled in, as if she had understood what to do for the egg.

Then she ran toward her aunt’s house through the heavy rain.

The girl’s room is a two-story attic.

She can’t enter through the front door, but if she can go up the wall, she can enter the room secretly without anyone’s knowledge.

The bed in the room was worn out but the blanket was warm.

The girl ran in the rain to get the blanket.

***

Chapak Chapak!

The girl, who ran into the rain, leaned back into the hole in the tree and crawled in.

The girl’s belly bulged.

The girl, who put her hand in her clothes, took out the blanket hidden in her stomach and covered herself along with egg.

She climbed up the wall to the attic on this floor and brought a blanket, and was ready to be scolded if caught.

Then, she ran as hard as she could in her clothes because she was not supposed to get wet.

The girl thought it would be helpful to cover up teh egg with the blanket like this, even if it wasn’t as warm as the mother bird.

“I wish it was warmer, but…”

The blanket shook slightly.

Because of the movement of the egg.

“Where did your mother go…”

The girl took of the clothes she was wearing one by one.

No one was there to look at her, but it was still a little embarrassing.

The girl, who took off all her wet clothes, hugged the remaining part of the egg, which was not covered entirely by the blanket.

The mother bird’s warmth might have been better than a blanket.

“I don’t think I can do as well as your mother,but….”

The girl name was Adele. She turned sixteen this year.10

She live with my uncle, aunt, and two cousins.

It’s already been nine years since she started living in her uncle’s house on a dairy farm.

Adele came here at the age of seven.

It was the babysitter of the orphanage who brought Adele here that Adele was born and raised in that orphanage.

Because Adele’s mother gave birth to Adele in the orphanage.

Adele has no memory of seeing her mother’s face.

Adele was only told that as soon as she was born, her mother died.

Back at the orphanage, where she lived until she was seven years old, there was a cemetery for the travelers, where Adele’s mother was also buried.

Before leaving the orphanage, Adele took the flowers to her mother’s grave every day.

But at the age of seven, an uncle came to the orphanage and said he would take Adele with him, and so Adele was brought here.

She has been here for nine years. Whenever she had a hard time, she wanted to go back to the orphanage. ·

Because she didn’t get hit at least at the orphanage and didn’t make her stomach growl with hunger.

After coming here, Adele has done everything from water-raising to cleaning the house, drying hay, and cleaning up cow dung.

She started working the day after she came here and haven’t had a day off.

She always wore the clothes that her  cousins couldn’t wear.

The meal was left over after the uncle’s family had finished, and he got up the earliest and went to bed last. And it is common for an uncle to be beaten and kicked out by an angry aunt when he loses his money from gambling parlor just like today.

“You don’t have a mother, and I don’t have a mother, so we’re similar…”

Adele murmured hugging the egg.

Her mother gave birth to her and went to heaven, but where on earth did the mother bird of the egg go?

Did the mother bird go to heaven, too?

“I can’t help but be pitiful…”

No one has ever told Adele that they feel sorry for her.

There was no one who was kind to me, let alone pitiful.

No one was friendly, but Adele was always brave.

‘But since there’s no one here right now, can I cry a little bit?’

She felt sorry for the egg, so even if it hatches from the egg, she felt sorry for the baby bird without a mother bird next to it, so she thought she can cry a little bit.

“I will…”

Adele whisperered hugging the egg tightly in her arms.

“I’ll substitute for the mother bird for you.”

I don’t know what kind of bird will be born from this egg, but I can keep it hidden here and raise it myself.

Bring some food for the chicken or duck and the baby bird will grow big.

Adele thought, until the baby bird’s wings grew bigger and could fly into the sky, she would keep it until then.

The egg shook in her arms as if it had heard Adele.

Feeling the shake, Adele closed her eyes.

The egg, which was held in both arms, shook little by little.

It was like a beating heart.

Adele closed her eyes, thinking the echo was warm and friendly.

It is thanks to this egg that even though it is raining like this, it is not scary, not miserable, and not sad.

As she does, she hope that this egg is not afraid to be alone with her.

The sound of rain fell from Adele’s ear, who was falling asleep.

Before she knew it, Adele’s breathing, who was hugging the egg, rang in that small hole in the oak tree.

The sound of rain, breathing, and the tiny silky sound of the surface of the egg was ringing quietly.

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