At some point, I heard the fierce chirping of birds taking food from each other. Without hesitation, I decided to take part in this fight for something edible. She walked away from the creek and approached the place of quarrel. Small gray birds shared long oblong fruits.
There were no fruits on the tree itself, but they grew on a strange curly plant that braided the chosen trunk. The upper fruits were shallower and hanging quite openly, but the lower ones were almost hidden under the large leaves. I understood the reason why the birds were arguing: they were uncomfortable pecking on the lower "cucumbers". And there wasn't much fruit growing upstairs.
After watching the impudent birds, which were not embarrassed by my presence, I came to the conclusion that this vegetable is edible for humans. The cucumber did not taste as fresh as the cucumbers that grew up in our country house. It tasted a little sweet. And the bones were smaller. One such fruit was enough for me to be satisfied, but I grabbed a couple more and continued my journey.
I walked away from the cucumber tree a little when I saw that the stream, turning into a small waterfall, merged into another water body. Most likely, it was a lake. Since I didn't have much choice, I went around thinking that there should be another stream somewhere that continues its way to the river.
After about half an hour, it became clear that I had completely bypassed the lake and returned to the waterfall from the other side. I couldn't find a continuation of the stream, but I remembered the math problem, about how water was poured from one pipe into the pool, and from the other pipe it was flowing out. The fact that nothing "poured out" from the lake was a little puzzling.
Not knowing what else to do and where to go, I put cucumbers on the surface of a large flat stone and went to examine the area. I remembered the animals. And for some time she played the role of a pathfinder, trying to see the traces of predators in the grass. I did not find any traces. Or maybe I couldn't look. But I met the tree under which I slept. I went around it in a circle. I am. You don't have to be a tracker to see my marks.
As it turned out, there were only a couple hundred steps from the lake to the tree. It took me a long time to get to the creek and then downstream. Directly, the lake could be reached in five minutes.
Before lunch, I was still walking in different directions from the lake and back. By the middle of the day, I was tired, and it got hot, so I decided to take a swim. I was convinced that there was no one in the area, so I took off all my clothes and put down a flat stone that I liked.
And the fun began! I jumped from the stone into the lake, dived and just wallowed in the water. I swam under the waterfall and stood under its jets. From time to time she got out of the water and warmed herself up on the rock, and then dived into the water again with noise. I bathed myself literally to the bone. And again, I climbed under the roots of that big tree to take a nap. When I woke up, I continued to entertain myself in the lake. Late at night, I finished my cucumbers and took off two more.
Until late at night, I was walking on the roots of a tree, watching the first stars light up in the sky. I was not afraid at all. I watched the sky until I realized that there were so many stars. I remembered me and my parents going to the mountains, to the campsite. And Dad took us swimming in the river at night. That's when I first saw the Milky Way. In the city, the light from the lanterns prevented us from seeing the stars in all their glory. I was then impressed by the stars' constellation.
But what I saw now did not look like the Milky Way. There were too many stars! Of course, I only graduated fifth grade and didn't study astronomy, but I still understood the difference in the starry sky.
When the moon came up, followed by the second and third moon, I realized it wasn't my planet. Even my heart was scared. And then I realized that I couldn't change the situation, so I calmed down. I still couldn't find an explanation for how I ended up in this place. But I loved it.
- The forest! Will I stay here with you? - I yelled out to someone who didn't know.
The answer wasn't expected. I couldn't sleep that night for a long time - I imagined what "aliens" on this planet could look like, yes, are there any reasonable beings here at all? Maybe there are monsters wandering around somewhere? And then she calmed herself down: birds were no different from the earthly.
The same small and stupid. And the grass, water, and trees were similar. I also remembered how easy it was for me to jump today. Planets must be different in size. Then I started to calculate which way to go. It turned out that the Earth had to be bigger if the gravity was bigger.