H. Adler - Panorama

The hardest thing to do is get Fabi up early in the morning, for even if you scream “Wake up!” at him, he only opens his eyes a little bit and says, “I need to sleep, it’s only midnight!” Then he just turns over and begins to snore. You can try five times and still have no success, until someone finally decides to go looking for a bucket of water, though only the strongest dare do this, for then Fabi jumps up and yells, “Who ever woke a sleeping lion so suddenly? Can’t one be awakened more appropriately to the sound of harps? Do you have to dump Sichelbach Creek on me?” Then a vehement struggle begins, which Fabi usually wins. Once Fabi is finally up, the scouts do ten minutes of exercise, after which they have to spread out their sleeping bags in the open air and then go wash up in the creek, which everyone enjoys, followed by the raising of the flag, but not on the first morning, since it’s not until the second morning that the pole is ready, it being Alfred’s job to look for a thin, straight branch, which he then saws off, cleans up, and sets up without anyone’s help. After the flag is raised, daily chores are assigned, two boys being put in charge of guarding the camp, one of them having to remain there throughout the day, while the other can go no farther than a hundred yards outside of it, another two assigned the shopping, one of them needing to be a camp head, as they carry knapsacks and food bags through Sichelbach to the grocer and the baker in Adamsfreiheit, Fabi and Bambus telling them what needs to be bought, Hans giving them money to pay for it. Then the head cook of the day is chosen, his two helpers, as well as two wood gatherers who are in charge of collecting firewood, everyone who is able helping to do the same for the campfire. In addition, two dish washers are assigned, they in charge of cleaning the cooking pots, but not the Wanderers’ own plates, while two Wanderers are also assigned to go to Sichelbach one day and Markl the next in order to bring back twenty liters of milk, last but not least two boys also being assigned to haul water from Sichelbach Creek. Thus each day seventeen boys are kept busy with assignments, particularly in the morning, the others pitching in, because there is so much to do, such as peeling potatoes and gathering mushrooms, for which several expeditions are arranged, most of them led by Alfred or FHF.

Alfred is crazy about mushroom gathering, because when looking for them he almost always finds good ones, starting pinecone battles along the way as well, while FHF goes about things completely differently, hardly ever discovering a useful mushroom, although he knows the various species better and always has his mushroom-classification book at hand, his knapsack always stuffed with books, for whether it be in camp or on a hike, he has Plato, Schopenhauer, and Goethe, plus a volume of world history, always ready to pull one out during a rest stop as he reads with his nearsighted eyes, while no matter how much racket surrounds him, nothing disturbs his concentration, nor does he ever completely cut himself off, for even when everyone thinks he’s completely buried in his book and doesn’t hear a thing he suddenly will let loose a remark that shows that he knows exactly what is going on around him. While gathering mushrooms, everyone brings him the strangest ones, which he then names on his own or consults the various types with Latin names in his handbook, and he is especially happy when someone brings him a mushroom that is truly inedible but not poisonous, he demanding that they bring it along as well, for it’s an unfair punishment to say that it is inedible, the main thing being that it is not poisonous, it only being a question of how to prepare it in order to eat it or not, and anyone who doesn’t want to count himself a philistine should at least give it a try. Usually FHF is the worst cook, so he’s only allowed to boil potatoes or noodles or such things that are hard to mess up, while on his cooking days no soup is made, for FHF loves to throw everything into it, saying that the best recipe delights the taste buds the most, though, above all, he’s not allowed to cook anything with mushrooms, for he once cooked chanterelles so long that they ended up tasting like dried leather, even when a lot of fresh butter was used on them. Whenever FHF returns with his mushroom hunters, Alfred, Willi, and Bambus function as a three-member commission checking out the suspect crop, all of them soon laughing about whatever happens to be there on any given day, for well over half of the mushrooms are thrown out despite protests from FHF, even the lovely red fly agaric, which FHF assures them tastes wonderful and is quite digestible as long as you trim off the colorful skin. Meanwhile, wild berries are also gathered in droves, for there is hardly any fruit in the surrounding countryside, there being loads of blackberries and raspberries, though rarely are there enough strawberries to fill a cup, since they are hard to find, and the gatherers prefer eating them on the spot, the raspberries and blackberries serving as dessert later on, sugar and milk added to them when there is enough.

In the first days leading up to the dedication of the completed camp the pack has a lot to do, all hands required especially in the first days, the crates from the station needing to be unpacked, two Wanderers having to go to Adamsfreiheit to shop, as well as check out the bakery and the post office more closely, the milk run taking two more to Sichelbach and Markl for milk, butter, eggs, and cheese, inquiries also needing to be made about straw for the straw mattresses, the dam needing to be set up as a bathing area in the creek, the fireplace spruced up, and, above all, preparations completed for the opening of the camp. This year the pack is fortunate, for Ranger Brosch has supplied wooden planks, which they only have to pick up and return after they break camp, Alfred having declared that this year a long table would be set up in the woods, with a bench long enough on each side to hold eleven scouts, with single seats at each end, Alfred, the Great Commander, at one, and at the other the court jester, that being FHF, who has no problem playing the portly role of the fool at the bal paré and the Festival of the Great Commander, though he avidly tells the others that having such a table and benches is an unheard-of weakening of the manners and customs of the Wanderers, who now need only don top hats and beards in order to parade around like complete philistines. FHF didn’t mean this all that seriously, which is why he couldn’t help laughing when Fabi took it seriously, for he called out in anger, “Down with the scandalous monarchy!” Alfred then got involved and asked, “Don’t you realize that I serve as monarch in my ancestral capacity as the honored head of the knights and servants of Landstein?” to which FHF added, “The Roundtable of King Artus is founded once again. He will retire to the atrium silvestre , the chamber of the German forest, to feast and carouse with his men.” Then it dawns on Fabi how dumb he has been, and so he shuts up, so that nothing more is said about it all, though FHF later allows himself to say to Josef, “He’s wise, but not very smart.”

Once when Willi was head cook, he dug into the canned goods and made a wonderful cocoa for breakfast, though the color was a little off, and the smell that rose from it, while really very nice, was still somewhat strange, Pony immediately spitting it out when, in haste, he was the first to take a taste, his face twisting up with disgust, though Alfred, who had already had a suspicion, asked with feigned sternness, because he was barely able to swallow his laughter, “Hey, Pony, what’s the matter? Are you crazy, why are you spitting out the cocoa?” Pony yells, “You should just try it!” Alfred replies, “I’ll do just that. But, before I do, tell me what’s wrong.” Everyone looks at Pony and giggles, at which Pony says, “Yuck! That’s no cocoa, that’s pure cinnamon!” Indeed he was right, it was cinnamon, everyone hesitant, but nonetheless curious to taste a bit of the cinnamon cocoa, though most are disgusted by the concoction, only Willi knocking some back with morbid caution and maintaining that he was really sorry that all of the cinnamon had been wiped out, but at home he always drank milk and cinnamon, and it was only their own fixed tastes that prevented the Wanderers from trying something new. Apart from Willi, only Josef and FHF tried some of the cinnamon brew, but they didn’t finish their servings, the only thing left to do being to condemn Willi’s screw-up with strong curses and avoid the cocoa for the rest of the morning.