Kah and Ko smoothed the man's hair with theirlittle paws and patted his cheeks gently.
The man smiled and whispered to the langurs. Hiseyes stayed closed.
Teddy walked up to the man and licked his hands.
The man still didn't open his eyes. But he strokedTeddy's fur.
"Knock, knock," Annie said softly.
"Is someone there?" the man asked.
He turned his face toward Jack and Annie. Now hiseyes were open, but he did not seem to see them. Jackrealized that the man was blind.
"Hi, I'm Annie," said Annie. "And I'm Jack," saidJack.
The blind man smiled.
"Good," he said, nodding. "Would you like to visitwith me?""Sure," said Annie.
She and Jack sat down next to the man. "Do youlive in this forest?" Annie asked. "Yes," he said.
"Are you a hermit?" Jack asked. "Yes," the blindman said.
"What's a hermit?" said Annie.
"Hermits live far away from other people," said theblind man. "We like to be alone to think. I live in theforest so I can learn from nature.""How do you learn?" asked Jack.
"I listen," said the blind man.
"Listen to what?" asked Jack.
"To the chatter of the monkeys, the rumble of theelephant, the roar of the tiger," said the man. "I havelistened for so long, they have all begun to sound likeone voice--the one great voice of the forest.""Did the voice tell you that a tiger got caught in atrap last night?" asked Annie.
"Yes," the hermit said.
18"And did it tell you that after we saved him, hetried to attack us?" said Jack.
The blind man smiled.
"Please bring me one of the white flowers floatingon the stream," he said.
Jack wondered why the hermit was changing thesubject.
But Annie jumped up and hurried to the stream.
She pulled at one of the large flowers. It came up,muddy root and all. She took it to the blind man.
"Thank you," he said.
The man touched the flower's large white petalsand its dirty root.
"This perfect lotus blossom grows from dark, thickmud," he said. "Its beauty cannot live without itsugliness. Do you understand?""Yes," said Jack and Annie.
"When you saved the tiger, you saved all of him,"said the blind man. "You saved his graceful beauty-andhis fierce, savage nature. You cannot have onewithout the other.""Oh.. .right," said Jack.
"Take this lotus as a thank-you gift from all theforest for saving our fierce friend," said the blind man.
"Our world would not be complete without him."Annie took the gift from the hermit. "A gift from aforest far away," she said. Arf! Arf! Teddy wagged histail. The langurs clapped.
"We can go home now," said Jack, "if we can justfind the way.""Do not worry," said the blind man. "Your house inthe trees is close by. The elephants walked in a largecircle. So you are back at the place where youstarted.""Really?" said Jack.
The blind man pointed to the sky.
There was the magic tree house, high in a nearbytree.
"Oh, great," breathed Jack.
"I told you not to worry," said Annie. She and Jackpulled on their socks and shoes and stood up.
Before they left, Annie touched the hand of theblind man.
"Thanks for everything," she said.
The man held her hand for a moment. Then he tookJack's hand. Jack felt a wave of calm wash over him.
"Thank you," he said to the blind man.
Kah and Ko chattered and held out their long arms.
Jack and Annie hugged the two langurs19"We'll miss you," said Annie.
"You were great tour guides," said Jack. "Goodbye."Then he and Annie took off for the magic treehouse with Teddy scampering after them.
At the rope ladder, Jack put Teddy into his pack andclimbed up.
Annie carried the lotus blossom as she followedthem.
Inside the tree house, Jack picked up thePennsylvania book. But before he made a wish, helooked out the window with Annie.
In the distance, they saw Saba and the otherelephants bathing in the stream.
They saw Kah and Ko swinging on vines.
They saw the tiger sunbathing in the grass, lickinghis sore leg.
They saw tiny deer grazing.
They saw bright birds in the trees.
They saw the blind man sitting in front of his cave.
He was smiling.
Jack opened the book. He pointed to a picture of theFrog Creek woods.
"I wish we could go home," he said.
The tree house started to spin.
The wind started to blow.
It blew harder and harder.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still. |