Summer 1969
The time for playing children was relatively still quiet. You stayed in the streets without worrying about it, whether a car drove or not. For certain drove here and there paint one but do not shoot so that they would not notice children on time. You played carelessly. A bad man in the woods and also otherwise was crime no-one rather smally written with lower-case letters.
So also in a little inconspicuous place, name Willsdruf. People lived on the farming of their own, a little of the sale of the produced products without pomp and luxury. They did not need this one here. You were happy, like living for them offered.
The children never played alone. Whenever they had a little leisure time what did not happen very frequent since they had to help in the farming, several of them met themselves to cook something up. Only in the place they around, knocked around on one of the courts and current values they played in the near situated woods another time again her. They liked this place best. They acted
out their full play instinct here. You jumped wildly around, played robbers and gendarme or Indians and soldiers. Something always occurred to them.
Today, it was once the Indians' turn again. You had to hide while the soldiers had to track them down. Was not particularly simple track this down in the woods. On the contrary! The woods had many ravines which offered also many possibilities of hiding. The children discovered new remote jobs, again and again which does not hide only to these were suitable, but the curiosity of the children also aroused. You had already found so a number of things at such expeditions. Never something valuable but after all paint things from the second World War, paint also only old home appliances.
Ralf, one of the boys attacked in bulk in a direction in which they had not been to date yet. A ravine of a mad extent set out in front of him. When he looked into the ravine down, it took him the breath away nearly. It was not only deep but also in its own way beautifully. These here grew, had grown enormously to the one of course, however, on the other hand the trees. The sight
enchanted him so that he gave up the pastime and called the other ones to himself.
It also took each of the others which looked into this ravine down the breath, like before Ralf, away.
„Comes lets us examine the ravine.“ With these words Ralf already rushed off, too. With gigantic steps and wild Indian screaming he attacked down the steep embankment. The other ones followed his example. Also they yelled while they were running down the embankment. The whole society spread out, arrived in the ravine below. Everybody rummaged in another direction.
Ralf, one discovered cave on one side of the ravine. She could not simply be recognized since she had grown together almost completely of various brushwood. But his infallible look told him the entrance was here to a cave. It slowly entered the cave. The diffuse light which meagrely penetrated by the entrance more veiled, as him surrendered. Ralf stopped nearby the entrance to accustom his eyes to the poor light. After a couple of minutes it could already more deeply into the
cave shut recognize more what made it.
Its disappointment was already great when it had to recognize that this cave was not particularly deep. It did not seem either to hide the least.
He always had the hope to discover a treasure one day which any man had deposited to collect it later once again but then had forgotten in the course of the many years someplace. Today, but its hope should not fulfil itself, too.
It wanted to leave the cave just again when a strange noise penetrated into its ears. Neither he could define what was this for a noise nor he could identify it at the moment. He slowly paced the cave metres for metres. The noise got more loudly and softer. He was of the opinion if the noise got softer first, he then leaves the cause.
But he had to notice after a certain time that his noise got softer more loudly and from. He quietly cursed in front of himself to. He continued to search. He was also actually a little lucky. The noise was getting pure just at the moment, when he was on one side of the cave, again and he
could say with a certain safety so the cause of the noise came from a stone. Since he could recognize nothing details, he decided to go to the other ones and they had to produce a light source together, so that this phenomenon could be examined more nearly.
He had arrived outside, he called all his friends together reported in scarce sentences about the experienced and asked the other ones to examine this phenomenon together with him hardly that. The other ones immediately were there with zeal.
Ronnie explained himself ready to run home fast to organize a couple of lanterns. And while he was running home on the shortest way, the others began to remove the brushwood in front of the entrance to a cave. It was so well they broke and dragged at the brushwood until the roughest was remote. One had a pocket-knife with which it also removed the brushwood.
In the meantime, Ronnie had come back with three lanterns in the hand again, too. Of course he also had brought matches to light these. So equipped entered this time all seven children, the
inconspicuous cave. Nothing special could actually be seen except for the gigantic stone in the form of an oval potato. All children went and stood around the stone and all of them actually heard a noise of the stone. It sounded as if a lot of people were in the stone this one everyone wildly talked with each other. Murmuring makes a right. The children found this out by the fact first that they pressed their ears to this stone.
Them often knocked so, it tried to turn round at the stone, they did not succeed what by the immense weight, they did not come behind the secret.
It had become evening, and the parents of the children, in the meantime their children expected for dinner. But none of the children appeared. On the other hand, this neighbour ran but everybody was helpless why the otherwise punctual children did not appear. And the parents set out that way to look for the children in the woods.
The parents streamed by the woods for a long time but without result. When the night had fallen over the little place definitely, the parents stopped
the search. It did not advance you shout and look for space. You decided to wait for the night to search further in the next morning. Was the night the parents one for every single one gate tour. No-one also found only one single minute sleep. Everybody mused, why disappeared about it the child remained. Here in this place had finally never happened a little, refrained of an accident? But here and today all of them were afraid with each other, the children could have been the victim of a terrible deed. One finally read in the newspapers again and again what everything passed in the world so. And the fear spread across this place like a carpet.
The search broken off dozed as the morning, all adults prepared for it in this place to continue again. Every single armed himself with something and they then trudged in the direction of the woods. They had entered the woods, saw it of the far as a small horde of children came run towards them hardly that. In due haste they ran contrary to the children. The children were closed into the arms full of luck and questioned simultaneously why they would come home again only now.
Everyone was dead-beat. Hardly any of the children could keep his eyes open. They, and, once, the children were taken home so where everyone was put to bed at once. Ralf's mother still sat down to the bed of her son a while,
The mother looked him into the eyes deeply and said to him in her soft worried tone: „What has happened actually that you were outside in the woods the whole night?“
Ralf looked at it with big eyes and told it stories with scarce sentences: „We have discovered a cave in the woods and when we had exposed the entrance, we examined the cave more exactly. I do not know any more what has happened then; only as all of us have woken up in the morning again and then have run just home.“ And with these words it turned on the side and closed the eyes.
The mother told this her husband, this one said, once, after that, the cave decided on itself more exactly as soon as his son woke up again to have a look.
It lasted for many hours until the children woke
up from their sleep again. One had agreed, with Ralf together, to go to the cave, around the cause on the reason to come. Almost all men of the place set out together with Ralf, to look for the cave. When they had arrived there, one ordered Ralf outside to wait while all adults were examining the cave more thoroughly.
But they saw what inside the cave, nothing special was for the beginning. You saw a stone set out which was hollow inside meaning much in this corner to the cave. All appearance after as a gigantic egg. Except for the terrible stench nothing special had to be discovered in the cave.
One of the men which examined the cave ran around in the cave and found a little gateway at the end of the cave. It was more happiness that this gateway was found at all as or else something. Because it became blurred almost completely in this room and could be recognized only with the greatest effort. It crept through by the entrance which showed hardly a metre in the height and called the other ones to itself, this one everyone also pushed by this narrow narrow gateway. They were stiff with a mouth torn up
what presented himself on this with their looks. Seven skeletons, piece, lay around in this room of human bodies. Everyone fine neat and tidy besides each other. The attendants froze the blood in the veins. And no-one found an explanation for these skeletons.
They silently left the cave. You knew a terrible deed had been committed here some time everyone had no idea which. And the parents of the children set out without thinking it over for a long time to lock the receipt of this cave. The again no-one should find this entrance, still what was behind it.
One went onto the way home and they slowly began to discuss it.
"I think "one of the men said," this one was that the children have fallen asleep in this cave due to this hideous stench, nearly breathe the air to this one takes."
The other agreed with him and one decided on it seen to forget fast. One wanted to let grass grow over the thing also in the interest of the children.
Many thanks for reading this rehearsal, they have arrived at the end of the reading.
If you are interested how it ends, then you have to load the possibility down the book in the download section