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the village again.
The very next morning she
set out again. She followed
her own footprints. The
night had frozen them into
the snow. When she reached
the Moorsee, Anni sat down
at the end of the pier, letting
her legs dangle, and waited.
She kept her eyes on the
hole in the far shore where
the animal had appeared.
Before long something
stirred in the underbrush,
and Anni hid herself beneath
the pier—but it was only a
deer that drank a bit out of
the hole in the ice before
vanishing back into the
woods. Anni sighed. The sun
was shiningonher leftcheek,
it shone on her woolen cap,
and then, for a little while,
since she’d gotten a bit too
warm, it shone on her bare
hair, and finally it shone on
her right cheek. Nothing
moved. She’d long since
devoured the little lunch
that she’d brought along
with her. She sucked on an
icicle she’d broken off the
pier. When the sun turned
a pale lilac, she trudged off
with slumped shoulders. Just
before reaching the turn in
the path, she spun back to
the Moorsee and shouted,
“You stupid muckhole!”
Under the somebodies’
roof, such expressions were
forbidden. Even though
Master Baker Reindl thought
itwas the perfect description
for Segendorf. The pine
trees on the opposite shore
answered,
Ole-ole-ole!
At that very moment, the
animal emerged from its
hole and turned to look at
her. Anni fell to her belly and
peeped over the snowbanks: