Miro is eleven years old and he lives in Bulgaria, a country just north of Greece. Bulgaria is very mountainous and Miro’s family lives in a village on the side of a mountain that was part of the Rila mountains. These are some of the tallest mountains in Bulgaria. Miro wondered when he was young if the held up the sky.
During the summers, Miro and his younger sister Elena would go to stay with their grandparents. They lived just outside a village in the Rhodope (pronounced Ro-dough-pea) mountains. These are much shorter mountains and people that live among the Rila mountains say that the Rhodopes are really just hills.
Living on the outer part of the town, Miro’s grandparents had a few sheep and goats that had to be brought out to pasture each day. Miro liked going out with his grandfather and learning about how to care for the sheep and goats, and to hear stories about when his grandfather was young.
When Miro was five years old, he decided to name all the sheep and goats. Elena had learned to talk the previous year and was adding new names and words to her vocabulary each day. Miro taught her all the names he’d given to the animals and soon after, Elena named the rooster and all the hens. After that, as soon as Elena woke up each day she’d say “Dobro Outro Gospodeen Todor,” which is Bulgarian for “Good Morning Mr. Todor!” Sometimes Miro would answer her “Dobro Outro Elena!” And every now and then he’d have Mr. Rooster telling Elena about all the eggs his wife and daughters had laid that morning.
Miro and Elena’s parents didn’t have any animals, except for their dog and cat, so they missed the chickens and sheep when they went back home in the fall. But they didn’t miss their cousins Ekaterina and Mikhial. These cousins lived in Sofia during the school year and when they came to stay with their grandparents, they mostly bragged about all their activities and special classes. When Mikhial went with Miro and their grandfather to bring the sheep and goats to pasture, Mikhial never did anything to help but complained a lot about all the wet, slippery grass and mosquitoes.
That fall, after everyone had gone home to attend school, Miro’s parents decided to travel to Sofia and stay with their cousins for the weekend. Miro really didn’t want to go and pleaded with his parents to stay home. When they wouldn’t agree to that, he told them he had to go to his grandparent’s home and help pick the apples in their small grove of trees. His parents still insisted he had to come along for the visit.
At their cousin’s home, Mikhial wouldn’t let Miro or Elena touch his computer or anything else. Miro finally suggested a hike on nearby Mount Vitosha. Elena came along because Ekaterina didn’t want anything to do with her and kept calling her “little girl” even though she was eight years old.
Miro liked all the tall trees and big rocks on the side of the trail. Elena liked all the flowers and birds, many that she never saw at her home or her grandparent’s home among the Rhodope mountains. But Mikhial swatted at a wasp that landed on his right arm. After it stung him, Miro found a thin stone and scraped the stinger out of the bite wound. Then he found some herbs he knew would decrease the irritation. By the time they got home, it hardly hurt at all.
“Not bad for a country boy,” he told Miro.
“I learned it from our grandfather while we were out with the sheep and goats one day.”
“You mean there is something good that comes from staying with the goats and sheep. To me it is the most boring, useless thing in the world.”
“If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have their milk or wool. They aren’t that hard to take care of, just need someone thinking about what they need.”
“I never know what I’m supposed to do with them.”
“Next time we do it, I’ll help you.”
“Let’s go play some computer games,” Mikhial offered.
“After we eat. My mom brought some fried cheese, a chocolate cake and pears.”
“Yea, I could use some food before I beat you at every computer game.”
Mount Vitosha in Sofia, Bulgaria