Of all the members of my family, I most enjoyed spending time with Granny, and she was very tender with me.
But in order to stay with her, I had to come up with a reason. So I would say that my legs hurt, or that my knees hurt, and that I couldn’t walk. That way I wouldn’t have to go out to graze the cattle, nor would I leave the house. I would stay at home with Granny.
One day I said:
“I feel like eating apple pie.”
And she said:
“All right, I’ll make you one. Go and pick some apples.”
So I went and climbed the tree.
At that very moment, Father came by and saw me up in the tree. He was afraid to say anything to me, perhaps because I might get startled and fall.
So he went inside and scolded Granny for spoiling me.
It really wasn’t just that I wanted to fool them. It was also unlike either Granny or me to resort to something like that. But we did, and somehow it gave me satisfaction to be unfair to them in return, just as I felt they had been unfair to me.
They made me do all sorts of hard work and never once asked whether I was able to do it, whether I dared to do it, or whether I was afraid of anything. Of the dark, perhaps, or of being far away from home, two or three kilometres away with the cattle.
