I had a tough nut to crack! It’s been a few months since I stumbled across a strange collection of nuts of various sizes while researching how to perfect nut ice cream, nut wedges and their derivatives. A small hazelnut was hiding behind the huge walnuts. As I took a closer look at these, my sensitive whiskers ruffled! A special energy emanated from this inconspicuous nut.
Of course, I had to investigate this strange nut. After all, I’m not just a researcher, I’m also a consulting detective. Aye!
So I immediately asked the sandal-wearing exhibitor of the strange nut collection where they had come from. He said that he had gotten the hazelnut in a very adventurous way: during a winter walk through the forest, he had collided with a coachman who was transporting the purchases for a large household on his sleigh. He almost ran him over, he said, because he had been in a hurry. After he had pulled himself together and made sure that neither of them had been hurt, the coachman said goodbye and drove off quickly. The sandal-wearing man noticed too late that the coachman had lost a nut – the very hazelnut that he had now made part of his exhibition. He had tried to call after the coachman, but the coachman had already run away.
I offered to return the nut to its rightful owner and he let me have it. I was able to find out from him which forest he had been wandering around in and so over the next few months I was able to trace the nut back to the coachman.
When I finally tracked down the coachman, he reported that four hazelnuts had fallen into his lap on his way home. He had wanted to give them to a friend. When he got to her, however, he realized that he only had three nuts left. He obviously didn’t think anything of it and just gave her the three remaining nuts. Talkative as he was, I immediately found out what this friend was called and where I could find her. So I set off.
When I arrived at the place, I realized that winter had set in. I followed the coachman’s directions as best I could, but ended up in the middle of the forest. Geez!
Luckily, I met one of the forest dwellers. It was a fox, one of those that are supposed to be so clever. I’ll tell you a secret: they’re not! Well, at least not this one. He had no idea what I was talking about. As he trotted away, a small black cat crept out of the nearest bush. It giggled to itself as it said: “The fox has no idea. You have to ask the right people! Come with me, I’ll show you where the people you’re looking for live!”
And so I followed her to a small lake. At least I thought it was a lake at first – but it wasn’t one, it was the moat of a castle! Geez!
They live in a pretty luxurious place here. And the coachman brought them a few fallen hazelnuts as a gift? Oh, I see. They must have been over the moon with joy! Hehe!
I was about to give up on my plan. What would it look like if I showed up at the castle with a hazelnut in my paw and told them that I had spent months researching and had traveled here specifically to deliver this little nut? But then I remembered the powerful energy that the hazelnut radiated. I set off for the castle to find the person to whom my hazelnut was supposed to be given to.
On the stairs outside I realized that one of the ladies of the court had lost her shoe. I wanted to take it with me and return it to its owner, but it had obviously frozen so tightly to the stairs because of the cold that I couldn’t get it off.
Once inside, one of the guards tried to stop me. But when I explained who I was, he respectfully gave me the way and said that the guests could be found upstairs. So up the stairs! Next I found myself in the dining room decorated for Christmas. But no one was there! One of the servants sent me to the ballroom because the guests were still dancing. Geez! They’re dancing here instead of eating. I can’t understand it at all!
So I went up one more floor and into the ballroom. And sure enough, there was a lot of dancing going on here. Which of the dancers was the one my hazelnut was intended for? I simply asked the two who were sitting at the edge of the dance floor and looked as if they knew their way around.
And lo and behold: They knew! They told me very enthusiastically about their son, who had finally found the right one, and the adventurous way he had found her, about some stepmother, strange pigeons and so on. It sounded somehow as if they had made up a fairy tale. In any case, I now knew which of the dancing ladies was the right one for the nut. I slid discreetly through the crowd, tapped her on the shoulder and wanted to give her the lost nut. But to my great surprise, she thanked me very warmly, but refused to take the hazelnut. She said that she now had everything she wanted and that I should keep the nut for myself. It was a magical nut that granted wishes, she explained. I should just imagine my wish and throw the nut where I wanted my wish to be granted.
As the bearer of the lost nut, I was invited to the evening feast and a carriage was provided for me to take me home.
Well, that solved the mystery of the lost nut. That left the hazelnut in my pocket that I had just been given. But what on earth should I wish for? I thought about it for a moment and then it occurred to me: cake! Aye! There was far too little cake at the banquet in the castle. And what can I tell you: it worked! And once again I had brought a mysterious case to a happy conclusion.
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