Chapter 25 Plum 9...sparkling sweet juice that tastes a bit like soda...

"It's a good thing we got out of there!" said Frod, an old man with a white beard under his chin, to me. For a while, he just stared at me. "I'm really worried that you're going to say things you shouldn't say to them," he said. He took his eyes away from my face, held out his hand, and pointed to the village below the hill.Then he arched his back and sat back in the chair. "You didn't say anything to them, did you?" he asked. "Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean." I replied. "Well, no wonder you don't understand. Maybe I'm not asking the right question."

I nodded in agreement. "Then please ask in another way, if there is another way." "Of course!" he said eagerly. "But first you have to answer a very important question. Do you know what year and month it is today?" "I don't know," I told the old man frankly. "About early October..." "Don't tell me what day it is, tell me what year it is." "1842," I answered.Gradually, I understood what was going on. The old man nodded. "Young man, it's been fifty-two years in a flash." "How many years have you lived on the island?"

He nodded again: "Well, fifty-two years." A teardrop burst from the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek.The old man didn't reach out and wipe it off. "In July 1790, we set out from Mexico," he began to tell. "After sailing at sea for a few days, something happened to our brig and it sank to the bottom of the sea. All the sailors on board were killed, and I was the only one who caught a few solid planks and drifted all the way to the shore..." The old man was lost in thought. I told him that I too had come adrift on the island because of a shipwreck.The old man nodded sadly, and said: "You see this place as an 'island', and I call it an 'island', but can we be sure that this is really an island? Boy, I have lived here for more than fifty years, I've been to every corner, but I can't find the coast."

"It seems that this island is not small." I said. "Why is such a big island not drawn on the map?" The old man looked up at me. "Of course, we could be stuck somewhere in America or Africa," I said. "It is difficult for us to determine how long we have been drifting at sea with the current after the shipwreck before we were washed ashore." The old man shook his head in despair. "Boy, you always see 'people' in America and Africa." "But if this place is neither an island nor a continent, what is it?" "It's a very strange place..." the old man said vaguely.

He sank into thought again, and for a while sat quietly. "The gnomes..." I asked, "disturbed you?" The old man didn't answer me directly, but asked instead: "Are you really from the outside world? Are you really not one of them?" Am I one of them? Looks like the old man is really afraid of those dwarves. "I was a sailor on a ship in Hamburg," I told the old man. "Really? I'm from Rubigin..." "So did I. I sailed on a ship in Hamburg, a Norwegian ship, but I'm from Rubik." "Really? Don't talk about other things for now, tell me first, what major events have happened in Europe during the fifty years since I left home?"

I told the old man everything I knew.In those years, the most important events in Europe were the wars launched by Napoleon.I told him that in 1806, the whole city of Rubique was looted by the French army. "In 1812, the first year of my life, Napoleon marched into Russia," I said. "The result was a hasty retreat with heavy losses. In 1813, he was defeated in a great battle at Leipzig. Napoleon retreated to Elba and established his small kingdom, but he returned a few years later to establish the French Empire. This He was crushed at Waterloo. Finally, he was exiled to St. Helena, off the west coast of Africa, to spend the rest of his life."

The old man listened attentively. "At least he can see the sea," the old man murmured. It seemed that he was trying to piece together the things I told him into a complete history. "It sounds like an adventure story." After listening to my narration, the old man was silent for a while before speaking. "This is the history of Europe after I left home! It's very different from what I imagined." I agree with the old man: history is like an endless fairy tale, the only difference lies in the fact that history records. The sun is about to set behind the western mountains.The whole village at the foot of the mountain fell into a shadow.The gnomes wandered the streets in colorful clothes.

I held out my arm and pointed at the group of dwarves. "Is your old man going to tell me about them?" I asked the old man. "Of course," said the old man. "I will tell you everything, but you have to promise me that what I tell you tonight will not reach their ears." I quickly nodded in agreement.So Floyd began to tell his story. "I was a sailor on a ship. Our Spanish brig was leaving Veracruz, Mexico, with a large cargo of silver, for Cadiz, Spain. The weather was perfect. , the sea was calm, but it is strange to say that we were shipwrecked a few days after sailing. There was no wind on the sea at that time, and our ship was drifting in the waters between Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Of course, we have all heard that the sea in this area is often Strange things happened, but we didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just an old sailor's superstition.

One morning our ship was sailing through calm seas.Suddenly the boat rose into the air, as if a gigantic hand had picked it up and twirled it like a corkscrew.Seconds later, we were thrown to the surface of the sea again.Everyone was messed up and bruised all over.The cargo began to shift, and a large amount of sea water poured into the cabin. "I drifted to the shore and recovered my life. I don't have much memory of the small sandy beach, because as soon as I landed, I walked to the island. After wandering for a few weeks, I settled down here and settled down. Since then is my home.

"It's been okay. The place grows potatoes and maize, apples and bananas. There are also some fruits and plants I've never seen or heard of. My daily staples are berries, ringroots and grasses ...I'll have to get one for every exotic plant on the island. Character. "After a few years, I finally tamed the hexapods on the island. Every once in a while, I would kill a hexapod and eat them. Their meat was very lean and tender, and it tasted a bit like Christmas back home in Germany. I eat wild boar on festivals. The days go by. I collect herbs from the island to treat various ailments on my body. I also learn to mix various drinks to refresh my mind and refresh my mind. You will know later , I often drink a drink called 'tuff juice' (tuff). It is made from the root of the palm tree, which tastes a bit bitter - the tree grows on the porous tuff, so it is also called tuff palm. When I'm sleepy, this drink will make me sober and full of energy; when I'm insomnia, it will make me fall asleep and sleep until dawn. It's delicious and has no harm to the body.

"I also made a drink called 'Rainbow Soda'. Drinking it will have great benefits for the whole body and mind, but it will have serious sequelae, which is extremely dangerous. Fortunately, it is not available in the market, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. This This kind of drink is brewed by me from the nectar of PurplJ,-rose. PurplJ, -rose is a special product of the island. Collect nectar by hand. This work is done by bees. Tell you, the bees here are bigger than the birds in our hometown in Germany. They build nests on trees and store the collected nectar there. When nectar is needed, I reached out and fished in the tree hole. “I get water from the Rainbow River on the island — where the goldfish in my house are caught — and mix it with Pop rose nectar to create a sparkling, luscious juice that tastes a bit like soda. So, I simply call it soda. "The most wonderful thing about rainbow soda is its special flavor. What it allows you to taste is not just one taste, but a variety of tastes in the world. These tastes attack every sensory organ in your body at the same time. More The beauty is that when you drink this drink, not only does your mouth and throat taste it, but every cell of your body tastes it. Boy, I have to warn you, a drink as wonderful as this must never be sipped Drink it up—you'll have to drink it slowly, sip by sip." The old man took a breath and continued: "After the rainbow soda was successfully prepared, I drank a few glasses every day. At first, it made me feel refreshed physically and mentally, but after a while, I began to lose the sense of space and time. I would suddenly be in the I would 'wake up' somewhere on the island, but I couldn't remember how I got there. For days, even weeks, I would wander around the island, unable to find my way home. Sometimes, I would I can't remember who I am or where I came from. Everything around me feels like a part of my body.At the beginning, I felt an itching and tingling sensation in my limbs. Gradually, this feeling spread to my head, and finally gnawed at my heart.Thankfully, I kicked my rainbow soda addiction before it was too late.Only other residents of the island drink this drink now.The reason for this, I will tell you shortly. " I sat on the bench at the door of the wooden house, while listening to the old man Frod's narration, while overlooking the small village at the foot of the mountain.The sky gradually darkened.The dwarves of the village began to light the oil lamps outside their houses. "It's getting a little cold," said Floyd. He stood up, opened the door of the cabin, and led me into a small hall.The furnishings and furniture in the house show that Frood's daily necessities are all made by himself from local materials.There was no metalwork to be found in the house, and everything was made of clay, wood, or stone.The only civilized daily necessities are oil lamps and cups and dishes made of glass.There are several large glass tanks around the hall, in which goldfish are raised.The lookout hole on the wall of the wooden house is equipped with glass windows. "My father is a master in a glass factory." The old man seemed to see the doubts in my heart, and hurriedly explained to me. "Before I went to sea to make a living, I learned how to blow glassware, and I didn't expect to find it useful here. After living on the island for a while, I started mixing different kinds of sand together and putting them in the fireproof glass. In a furnace made of stone, fine glass is smelted. I found this kind of fireproof stone on the mountain outside the village." "I've already visited the glass factory on the island," I said. The old man turned around and stared at me, and asked anxiously, "Did you tell them anything?" All night he kept warning me not to tell the dwarfs "anything".I don't quite understand what he is referring to. "I just ask them for directions." I replied. "That's right! Sit down and have a glass of tuff juice." We sat down on two benches at a table--the table was made of a blackwood tree I had never seen before.Frode took a glass jug, poured a brown drink into two glasses, and raised his hand to light an oil lamp suspended from the ceiling. I took the cup and took a sip tremblingly.It tasted both coconut water and lemonade.After swallowing the first bite, the bitter taste remained in my mouth for a long time. "How do you feel?" the old man asked me eagerly. "You are the first European visitor to drink this drink." I said, this thing is quite cool and thirst-quenching, and the taste is not bad.This is the truth. "Excellent!" he said. "Now, I must tell you the story of the dwarfs on the island. You are anxious to know where they came from, my boy, are you not?" I nod.So the old man Floyd continued to tell his experience on the island.