It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining. So jagged, winking, and playful. Kaško was staring into the sun. Ghosts can do that. Their eyes can't go wrong anymore. He put his cap on his head shield backwards and headed off to meet his friends Maxík and Majka. He was looking forward to seeing how they would win today. He had come up with three amazing games. He landed on the windowsill and immediately exclaimed.
"I'm here and I'm in a irresistible mood to play!"
"Me too!" Majka joined in.
"And you, Maxík?"
"Well, yes, we can." He replied, somehow strangely sad, and placed a paper of some sort on the table among the school copybooks.
"Anything wrong going on?" Majka asked Kaško.
"Something for sure," whispered Majka, "he has been walking all day, looking at his knight's diploma, which he received in Königsberg from the King himself, and sighing."
"He must be sad to see the king," thought Kaško, "I'll cheer him up."
"Hey, Maxík," he turned toward his buddy, "are we going to play?"
"After all, I did say we could. How many times do I have to say that!" Maxík retorted.
"Okay, okay, I didn't do anything wrong to you," he looked at his sad friend. ”Can I help you?"
"Not really." Maxík replied.
"All right. And what would you say," Kaško rubbed his hands together, "If we played an adventure game today."
"I'm all for it." Majka stood up, ready to play.
"I propose a new game of searching."
"I love searching and finding," Majka looked pleased, "especially things in pictures."
"Well, then you have the advantage." Kaško laughed. "Our game is called, Find Your Other Sock."
"What?" Majka giggled, and Maxík woke up a bit, too.
"Well, every time I come in here and you're getting dressed and putting on your clothes, you're looking for your other socks. That is, when we're not being in a hurry," Kaško explained his plans, "And last time you told me you had fifteen socks in your drawer that didn't have a pair."
"I don't feel like playing this." Maxík hung his head.
"Me neither." Majka put her hands angrily at her sides.
"Then here I have a second excellent game."
"Great!" Majka recovered again.
"Catch your ghost!" Kaško enthusiastically introduced his idea.
"Oh, like we're going to catch you and never catch you." Majka shook her head in disbelief.
"Exactly!" confirmed Kaško.
"Boooooring." Maxík yawned.
"I've had enough of this! What's wrong with you buddy?"
Maxík looked at Kaško, walked over to the table, and showed him the royal certificate that he was a knight.
"Well? You are a knight," wondered Kaško, "don't you want to be one anymore?"
"In fact, I do."
"And that's why you're being sad?" Majka didn't understand.
"No because of that. But because I'm just such a knight on paper."
"How so?" Kaško still didn't understand.
"I was dubbed the knight just for nothing. I did no knightly deed. All knights have done some act of chivalry." Maxík croaked.
"I understand now. But we're not going to wake the Haravarian dragon because of you," mused the ghost.
"Dragon?" Majka got scared. "You mean we have dragons here in Haravara?"
"We have all sorts of critters and monsters here. Dragons, too."
Majka huddled in the corner, looking towards the window as if expecting one of them to fly in.
"You don't have to worry," Kaško reassured her, "all of them are sleeping. And they will be sleeping for 864 years."
Majka calmed down a little and leered at her brother.
"Listen, Maxi, I read a story the other day about a boy called Nebojsa (no worry) who had to spend the night in a mill.
..Several knights had to spend such a night in the mill to become true heroes," added Kaško.
"So, let's go!" Maxík woke up. "Mom and Dad are at a conference this weekend. Do you know of any mill?"
"Sure. Quite a few of them. Wait." Kaško mused, "I got it, we're going to Kováčová. There used to be a beautiful mill there, I believe it's still standing."
Soon they were at the station on a bus to Rožňava and then took another bus to the village of Kováčová.
"Look, it's still standing, it reads here, Mill," Kaško happily pointed to the arrows.
They were approaching the mill, but Kaško had still something on his mind.
“The mill is there, but where are the wagons that bring in the grain and take out the flour?”
"Now you're going to sulk again?" Majka turned to Kaško.
And indeed, the noise of the machines could no longer be heard, but the sound of voices, the clinking of glasses and laughter could.
A naozaj, hluk strojov už počuť nebolo, zato kopec hlasov, štrnganie pohárov a smiech áno.
The mill was still standing, but no longer grinding. It was beautiful around it. So, they all sat down and had a drink each.
"Those were the days when there was grinding. There were wagons with sacks of grain on them. Here the miller and his helpers welcomed them. They would bring them food and drink."
"That's what's been left," Majka joked when the lady from the mill brought them some juice.
"Some people had been waiting here for three days to get into the mill. They were sleeping on their wagons, in the hay, and in the evening, there were stories being narrated and sung. The miller was the best-informed man far and wide."
"Well, he didn't need to know much. The water did everything for him," Maxík remarked in ridicule.
"Come on. The millers had to know how to work wood, they had to know the mechanics, basic physics, to set up all the gears and belts to grind the flour you wanted. It wasn't that simple."
"Exactly!" said the landlady from behind them. "Come along, I'll show you all that this mill has to offer. These are real technical treasures that you won't see just anywhere."
The children stood up from their chairs at once and were already moving up the steep stairs to the first and then to the second floor. The landlady was right. In the inside of the mill, even today, there were still the machines that turned the grain into flour.
”So, this museum is really something!" Maxík declared enthusiastically as they walked out of the mill, “but this mill won't be interesting for the dragon anymore," he added sadly, sitting down unhappily on the outside steps.
Suddenly, Kaško's little eyes of a ghost shined.
"Do you know what it means to say someone is up to something (má za lubom)?"
"That someone is hiding something, that they are concealing something or planning something," Maxík tried to explain uncertainly.
"Exactly. And “lub” is here in the mill. It's the place behind the millstones where the flour is ground. The flour that fell behind the “lub” was left for the miller."
"So that's why “za lubom?" Majka tapped her forehead.
"That's why," Kaško confirmed sternly and continued, "while we're here, I have an idea."
"What is the idea?"
"There's an old church near here. It is very, very old. How about spending the night there?"
"I agree. Let's do it."
They bought some more supplies and set off on their journey. The church, well just the walls of the church, stood on a hill and was beautiful. It didn't have a roof and you could still see the bricked-up windows and doors on the stone walls.
"This is what the Hussites built." Kaško informed them.
"Were those Hussite some goose knights?" Max asked.
"Not the knights. They were .... they called themselves God's Warriors. Ordinary people. You know what's interesting?" The ghost asked.
"What?" the children turned to him.
"Their weapons. They invented several weapons that they made from their farming tools. From scythes, from grain threshers, from things for ploughing."
“So?" Maxík didn't understand.
"And with them they were winning great battles and hard fights with armed soldiers. And they invented this thing, too - the wagon wall. They were farmers. They had wagons so they could take things to the fields and grain to the mill. And when they started fighting, they used wagons to fight. They made them into these little wooden tanks that they hid in, and from which they made raids."
"All right. Then I'll make my bed here." Maxík pointed to one spot.
"Why I? Perhaps we." Majka countered.
"But Majka, I must become a knight."
"And I'll be a princess you can protect." Sister winked.
Maxík tried to fight it off, but Kaško tugged on his sleeve. He understood.
"Okay, let's make the bed."
"What about you?" Maxík shook his head in disbelief, "you won't be here.
If I'm to be a knight, I have to do this on my own."
"Are you sure about this?"
Maxík nodded.
"Good." Kaško picked himself up, stroked his friend's hair, and flew away.
The sky turned black slowly. The moon and the stars came out in the sky.
"Have you seen anything like this before?" Majka whispered, looking up at the star-studded sky. "I've never seen so many stars in my life."
"Neither have I," Maxík revelled.
"Majka, but you're shaking all over. What's wrong with you? Are you scared?"
"Not yet. I'm just cold."
"Wait." Maxík reached into his backpack and pulled out a spare sweater.
Majka continued to shiver, so he took off his windbreaker and gave it to his sister.
"But now you'll be cold."
"Don't worry about me".
"I'm a little worried about you and falling asleep too."
"You needn't worry, I'll be waiting so I can do something chivalrous. You sleep soundly."
As soon as Majka closed her eyes, strange animal noises came from the nearby forest.
Majka opened her eyes, afraid to speak.
Maxík snuggled even closer to his sister, took her hand, and started singing to her.
Don't be a little doll,
I know you don't like the dark,
darkness is a good little sister,
every time you close your small eyes.
The dream is already sitting on your eyelids,
and in it a little sheep,
will warm you with its curls,
fly with stars in your dream.
Maxík kept waiting for his moment to come. He thought he saw something crawling on the grass beside them. He took a better look, one star seemed to light up more, and he saw a snake slithering towards his sister.
He grabbed its tail in his hand and carried it off into the darkness.
He opened his eyes and ears even more.
In the village, midnight had just struck at the church belfry. Max sighed and suddenly fell silent. Strange noises were coming from the church.
Maxík covered Majka with one more sweater and he was left only in his T-shirt.
He walked over to the wall in the little church, where the door was bricked up.
A sound came from behind them. It was as if someone was banging on the wall with something iron.
Maxík looked on the other side of the wall and did not see anything.
"I feel as if I had a screw loose."
And that's when it happened. A light appeared around the barred door. A bright light as in a theatre. And the door seemed to be opening slowly. Max grabbed the nearest stick, stood by Majka to defend her, and waited to see what would happen.
Behind the open door appeared knights in armour, with swords, on horseback, with axes and halberds.
"Who are you?” Maxík said. “Am I dreaming?"
"You're not dreaming, my valiant friend." thundered the voice of one of them. "We are knights - protectors."
"Protectors of what?" Max asked, still surprised.
"Well, the protectors of the country of Haravara," a knight in golden armour emerged from behind them. "I guess you know that every country has a hill, a mountain, where the knights are hidden waiting in it when the worst is in the country, and they will help it."
"I've heard about it." Max confirmed.
"And now you are in such a place of the country of Haravara."
"But why did you appear to me?" Max didn't understand.
"We were waiting for someone young with a knight's heart who would keep an eye on everything in the country of Haravara, and if things went wrong, he would come and tell us."
"And you haven't had anyone like that yet?"
"We do have one," thundered the golden-armoured knight again, "but he's grown old and wants to rest."
"But why me? I am not a knight, nor do I have a knight's heart." Maxík said ashamedly.
One of the knights with a sword stood before him and spoke.
"You didn't accept the help your ghost friend offered you and you were left here alone with your sister. You shared the last of your food and clothes with her, even though you were feeling cold yourself. When you heard the sounds and saw the light, you ran to defend your sister and did not run for cover."
"This is what a true knight of the country of Haravara does." Said the Golden Knight.
"Am I really a knight?" Maxík couldn't believe it.
"Not only that. You are the knight upon whom the security of the country of Haravara rests. When it is at her worst, you will summon us!" Thundered all the soldiers, until Majka scowled.
"Quiet, don't let us wake her."
The Golden Knight just smiles and hands Max a small iron ring.
"Hide this ring and guard it. When you want to summon us, just come here, and put it on this barred door. We will appear to you at once. Thank you, Knight Max."
And all the knights knelt. Maxík puffed out his chest, picked up the ring, and a tear fell from his eye. A tear of happiness.
The knights turned around in an instant and were gone. For a moment the light was still visible, for a moment the clinking of armour could be heard. And then silence. And into the silence the cock crowed. With the first singing came a startled Kaško running up.
"Are you all right?"
"Hush, Kaško, you'll wake Majka. She's still sleeping."
"Majka's sleeping, but you're shivering with cold." Kaško pointed at Maxík's hands.
"Never mind. As long as Majka is okay."
"What about your knightly deed?"
"That's not important. After all, I'll probably never be a knight anyway." Maxík said, checking the ring in his pocket and lying down on the grass. As soon as he lay down, he fell asleep and smiled at the rising sun.
