"The nest is abandoned!" Clementina crouched in front of the finely crafted nest full of sorrow.

"It fell from the tree!" Her younger sister rolled her eyes. "It's even upside down!"

The two sisters, proud 8 and 6-year-olds, played on the outskirts of their village. Not alone, no. The 11-year-old Juta and her little brother, disheveled and dirty, had accompanied them. Well, the older wolf didn't want to come along, but was condemned to take care of Ansgar. The nine-year-old did stupid things when he was left to his own devices.

Clementina and Begina liked to spend time with the high-spirited, young alpha wolf. His sister, on the other hand? She scared them. But luckily for the girls, Juta had no desire to play with younger wolves and ignored them for the most part.

"Did you find anything?" Ansgar came out of the middle of a bush. His clothes were full of earth, and leaves hung in his long hair. His parents had wanted to cut it for months, but Ansgar wanted to see how long his hair could get.

A decision he had made at the age of 5. Since then, he escaped scissors with stubborn bravura.

In the meantime, his brown hair reached down to his buttocks and became tangled everywhere.

"Ouch!" Like now. In the branches of the bush. "I need help!"

Begina giggled. "Maybe you should wear braids? They don't get tangled up so quickly!"

"Braids are for girls!" the boy protested and tried to free his hair from the branches. "Damn!"

"I'll turn the nest over!" Clementina remained unimpressed by the small spectacle. Ansgar was extremely clumsy. Carefully, she lifted the nest. "Oh!"

"What?" Begina, who had started to help Ansgar, looked at her sister. "An egg!"

"Whoa!" Ansgar tore himself away from the bushes, tore out some of his hair, and let himself fall next to Clementina. "The egg is colorful! And it GLITTERS!"

"Ansgar? You tore out your hair!" Begina stared at the long, individual strands that hung between the fine branches of the bush.

"Did I?" Ansgar rubbed his head briefly, then grabbed the egg.

"Hey!" Clementina protested immediately.

"I'm careful!" And Ansgar was careful. He held the egg gently in his hands and pressed it to his upper body. The egg was small, beige, and with colorful spots. It shimmered slightly in the light, as if it were streaked with speckles of gold. "What kind of bird will it be?"

"I don't think..." Clementina sighed. "The bird in there is probably dead."

"What?" Tears formed in Beguina's eyes. "Dead?"

"What are you doing over there?" Juta strolled towards the three with an annoyed expression. "Ansgar? Is that a bird's egg? Did you throw a nest from the tree?" She grimaced.

"No!" Indignantly, Ansgar shook his head.

"The nest was already here!" Clementina defended him.

"But the baby bird is dead!" Begina sobbed unhappily.

"Ah." Juta's expression remained unchanged. "Ansgar? Please put that away. That will stink soon. Besides, it came from a bird's butt."

"Ugh!" Begina grimaced. "Is there poop on it?"

"Huh?" Frowning, Ansgar lifted the egg to his nose. "It doesn't stink!" He hadn't heard Begina's question. "You know what? I brood it! I'll save the baby bird!"

"Certainly not." Juta pulled him rudely by one ear. "Put that back. Mom and Dad will never allow you to do that!"

Begina, on the other hand, tugged at Ansgar's arm. "Is there bird poop on it?"

"Ansgar!" Juta pulled a little harder.

"I won’t ask! Ouch!" Ansgar tried to escape from his sister and his little friend. He held the egg carefully in his hands. "This is MY baby. And there is no bird poop on it! My baby is clean!"

"Actually, I found the nest...", Clementina objected.

"I want to help with the breeding!" shouted Begina at the same time and let go of Ansgar. "May I? Yes, right?"

"What? You two certainly won't sit on such a small egg!" Juta shook her head.

"Of course not. I keep it warm in a different way. With pillows, blankets, and cuddles!" Ansgar snorted. "It's going to be great."

"It's just going to stink!" Juta objected, but she couldn't change Ansgar's mind, nor did she have the heart to take the tiny egg from him.

"As long as it doesn't stink at our home...", Clementina murmured.

In the end, Ansgar brought the egg home. Without asking his parents, of course. Juta would snitch anyway. Which she did.

Ansgar was allowed to take care of the egg, unless it started to stink, was the final verdict.

And! They would cut his hair. A compromise. Richina took advantage of the opportunity that was offered to her. It was desperately needed, as his hair was in the way when he played, and it looked downright tousled by now.

"For the baby bird!" Ansgar agreed.

"The egg will stink...", Juta murmured, but Vivelin shook his head in warning.

"We don't know yet!" he said quietly.

Everyone, except Ansgar, assumed that the egg was dead. But the egg didn't stink. For days, Ansgar took care of it, kept it warm, and told the egg stories. Confused stories that he didn't finish telling from time to time because he got distracted.

It was unusually quiet in the house. Ansgar was too busy to run and hop around the house all day. Of course, he didn't lie still next to the egg, but he fidgeted with his feet, tugged at loose threads in his clothes... He had destroyed his woolen scarf.

Between pillows and loose wool threads, a small bird finally hatched from the egg, which was now taken care of by the entire family, plus Clementina and Begina, until it could return to nature.

At first, they didn't know what kind of bird it was.

It was only when red plumage appeared that Richina recognized the bird species: a phoenix. These usually lived in the elven forest. Only rarely has a phoenix been sighted in the mountains.

Years later, after the phoenix followed the call of its kind into its forest, the pack saw the bird flying over the village from time to time. Sometimes it landed briefly in Ansgar's window, as if it wanted to check on him, before returning to the elven forest.