Song: Kulning - Swedish Herding Call
By: Malin Skinnar Agnieszka Kosinska Michal Wojtasik
Start song at (1)
The plot idea for this chapter comes from Randomly Talented. Thank you for the suggestion!
Authors note at the bottom.
The kids had a great time with Jack. He helped them create giant leaf piles and had a contest of gord design with the decorations at the front of the they are old worked together to create an epic scarecrow.
Timmy, now a preteen, finally felt confident enough to talk to Jack about something he had noticed that very first Thanksgiving. As Jack put the finishing touches of frosted shoulders on the scarecrow Timmy tapped him on the shoulder.
Jack turned and smiled at Timmy, now close to his height the boy held a questioning determination in his eyes. "What's up Timmy? Or would you prefer Tim?"
Timmy smiled, "I still go by Timmy. Anyway I wanted to ask you a question that's been on my mind since two thanksgivings ago."
"Fire away." Jack said hopping onto his staff out of habit.
"Could you teach me how to do that!?" The boy said eagerly pointing out Jack's balancing trick.
Jack looked down at his staff a bit surprised. "You main standing on my staff?"
Timmy nodded excitedly.
Jack hopped down and held his staff out with both hands towards his many greats nephew. "Just be careful with that okay. It's very special to me."
Timmy's mouth dropped open at the show of trust. He gently took the staff and followed Jack's instructions on how to plant it in the ground just the right way and then hop on it like a Pogo stick. Timmy never feared of being hurt because Jack always was there to catch him if he lost his balance. They worked at it for a good hour, gaining the attention of the group, and Timmy found he could stay on the staff's crook for about two minutes without falling down.
Not everyone wanted to follow his example but a few did. And Jack would take turns with them showing them how to keep their balance and have the staff stay up right.
"Where did you learn this Jack?" Timmy asked as the last of them finished their turns.
"My father taught me. This way even if there wasn't a tree or hill we could always get high enough to see our flocks in their entirety. It was a special trick he learned from his Swedish grandmother. He also taught me this." Jack explained then let out a ringing call that sounded like "He we".
"What was that?" Asked little Olivia.
"It's called Kulning."
"Kul-ning?" Several murmured in confusion.
It's a heard calling, kind of like how your dog knows his name, the sheep from our herds knew our specific Kulning call and would come straight to us.
"Can you perform it for us?" Timmy asked.
Jack happily hopped atop his staff put a hand to his mouth and began. (1)
The call rang out and echoed. The kids could swear it would be heard all the way to the other end of town, maybe even into the countryside beyond.
Jack went quiet and the kids started to clap but the Guardian of fun held up a hand to hold them off. He then started again, in a volume that was barely audible to the listeners. Slowly his volume grew till he was calmly singing a smooth sentience.
He posed again, the kids held their hands up in question only for Jack to start up in his loud calling once more.
Back and forth he went from loud to soft, as his audience grew. Dogs, birds, rabbits, squirrels, all came to see who was calling. Then a "Baaaaa" was heard from the other side of the fence. Jamie went to the loose board and peeked outside only for him to be pushed back as a ram pushed his way inside. He was followed by sheep after sheep till no more could enter the backyard.
"Ah, Jack? I think you are Kulning worked too well!" Jamie giggled.
Every kid burst out laughing. And all Jack could say was "Woops!"
"What's going on out there?" Aunt Greta called from the kitchen.
Jack put a finger to his lips as his eyes widened. Every one covered their mouths to stifle her giggles and nodded their heads in understanding. Jack then lifted to the air and over the fence. On the other side he called out again. (1)
The first to follow were the birds, then the other wildlife, followed lastly by the herd of sheep. Aunt Greta came outside, fuming at being apparently ignored, to find the backyard in a bit of a shambles just as the last of the animals left.
The kids worked even harder to stifle there giggles as she once again inquired what had happened.
Jack's Kulning could still be heard quite clearly as he led the animals back to their homes.
The farmer whose sheep had followed Jack's call scratched his head in complete confusion as the ram and the rest of the flock seemed to diligently follow an unseen person right back to the field in which they'd walked off.
Sorry for such a long wait! No fanfiction work time, I hope to have more chapters out far more often in the future.