Chapter 1 The girl who lived in the tree

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Once upon a time there lived a girl named Lilet. Her father owned a castle, but she was not allowed to go in because her parents thought that she might break something – all the objects inside the castle were very valuable and fragile family treasures. At the beginning she was angry on them, since they could enjoy wonderful summer nights on the terrace of the castle hosting their privileged guests, while she was left all to herself. One could wonder how an underage girl could be left all alone. Well, of course the royal parents had servants and guardians watching over her or helping her in case of any accident. She was completely safe, but mostly alone. Lilet inherited her father’s independent character, so slowly the forest and its creatures became her friends and as she was growing up,  she went for longer walks, studying plants and trees, picking berries and mushrooms and listening to the forest streams.

Every family member had his or her own bedroom inside the tree house high above the ground.  At night the world belonged to the animals and shadows, to the little and big creatures of darkness who were unfriendly to humans. Lilet was not afraid of the night. She knew that the tree houses protected her and her family well, so nothing bad would ever happen. If she could not sleep she walked across the wooden bridge to her mom’s or dad’s house and they would follow her to her room to tell her stories or sing to her until she fell asleep.

In summer Lilet  liked to sit on a tiny balcony and look into the darkness – sometimes she thought she saw something moving in the woods and then she stared harder – she wanted to know how these creatures look like.

Lilet found pleasure in strange things – or at least this is what her mother liked to say. When she turned ten she took over her treehouse decoration and immediately her bedroom got covered by all possible little moving mechanisms that Lilet could persuade her mother to buy at the village market, where they both went once every second month.

Lower Austria 19-06-2016, last edit Vienna 27-06-2016

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