A forest that imitates the voices it knows, and four rules nobody should ever forget.
Uncle Ezequiel and Lía had gone down to the stream to fill the water bottles half an hour earlier when the campfire went out with a sigh. Bruno was left alone by the tent, with the full moon hanging over the tops of the beech trees.
Before they left home, Granny Remedios had gone over the rules of the Beechwood again, as she did every autumn. The first: at night, the forest imitates the voices it knows. The second: never answer if a voice calls you by your name. The third: while a fire is burning, the forest keeps quiet. And the fourth: if you get lost, find the stream and follow it downhill, because the trees move about, but the water doesn’t.
Bruno, who was twelve, had laughed at the rules a little. Lía, who was nine, hadn’t: she knew them by heart. That was why, in the forest, she never called her brother by his name. She called him “Cloud”, as she had at home ever since she learnt to talk.
Then he heard it. It came from high up the slope, from among the darkest trees, uphill: “Bruno! Bruno, come here, I’m lost!” It was Lía’s voice. Exactly. Right down to the way she stretched out the last syllable when she was scared.
Bruno took a step towards the forest. Then another. And he stopped. He looked at the dead fire; he looked up, towards the voice; and then down, towards where he could hear the stream running.
He didn’t answer. He knelt down by the embers, blew as hard as he could and threw a handful of dry twigs on them. As the first flame rose, the voice on the slope broke off in the middle of a word.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
Whose voice was calling Bruno from the slope? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Lía’s: she had got lost on the way back from the stream and was calling her brother, frightened.
- ✓b) The forest’s own: at night it imitated Lía’s voice to lure Bruno in.
- c) Uncle Ezequiel’s: he wanted to play a trick on Bruno by imitating his niece.
- d) Granny Remedios’s: she had followed the children to see if they kept the rules.
Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: b). Exactly. Granny’s first rule warned them: at night, the forest imitates the voices it knows.
Key clue: “It called him “Bruno”, and in the forest Lía always calls him “Cloud”. Besides, it went quiet when the fire caught.” Two clues that fit the rules: Lía would never have used his name, and the forest keeps quiet while a fire burns.
2 The Loom Order of events
The story opens with the dead fire. Put the events in order from the very beginning. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 5 Bruno stops and looks towards the stream.
- 2 Uncle Ezequiel and Lía go down to the stream for water.
- 1 Granny Remedios goes over the rules of the Beechwood.
- 3 The campfire goes out.
- 6 Bruno stokes the fire and the voice goes quiet.
- 4 A voice just like Lía’s calls Bruno from the slope.
Correct order:
- Granny Remedios goes over the rules of the Beechwood.
- Uncle Ezequiel and Lía go down to the stream for water.
- The campfire goes out.
- A voice just like Lía’s calls Bruno from the slope.
- Bruno stops and looks towards the stream.
- Bruno stokes the fire and the voice goes quiet.
Granny went over the rules “before they left home”, even though they are told in the second paragraph. The uncle and Lía had been at the stream for half an hour when the fire went out; then come the voice, Bruno’s hesitation and the fire.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which continuation respects the rules of the Beechwood and everything that has happened? Tick only one option.
- ✓a) Bruno stays by the fire without answering. Later, Lía and the uncle come up from the stream and Lía shouts: “Cloud, help us with the bottles!”
- b) Bruno replies “Coming, Lía!” and climbs the slope after the voice, which leads him to his sister sitting frightened by a rock.
- c) With the fire burning again, the voice keeps calling Bruno from the slope, closer and closer, right up to the edge of the camp.
- d) Lía and the uncle come back down from the top of the slope, just where the voice had been, with full bottles and torches on.
Answer: a). It fits: they arrive from below, where the stream was; Lía uses his nickname, and with the fire lit the forest keeps quiet.
- b) It breaks the second rule, and Lía wasn’t up there: she had gone down to the stream with her uncle.
- c) According to the third rule, while a fire burns the forest keeps quiet. And the voice stopped as soon as the flame caught.
- d) They had gone down to the stream, so they have to come back from below, not from above.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) Lía was nine years old and knew the rules by heart.The third paragraph says so.
- ✗b) The voice came from below, from the bank of the stream.It came from high up the slope, uphill.
- c) According to the rules, while a fire burns the forest keeps quiet.It’s the third rule.
- ✗d) Bruno answered the voice so that Lía would know where he was.He didn’t answer: he lit the fire.
- e) Granny advised following the stream downhill if you get lost.It’s the fourth rule.
- ✗f) There was no moon that night, and the forest was pitch dark.There was a full moon over the tops of the beech trees.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows the camp when Bruno hears the voice?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: Night, a full moon, the dead fire and Bruno alone by the tent.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
Bruno stayed by the fire without moving, feeding it with branches. After a while, from below, through the murmur of the water, came another voice, tired and a little cross:
“Cloud! Come and help us with the water bottles, they weigh a ton!”
Lía and Uncle Ezequiel climbed up the bank of the stream with their torches on. When Bruno told them about the voice, his uncle didn’t laugh. He threw another log on the fire and said they would sleep in turns that night, so the fire wouldn’t go out again.
The next morning, back home, Bruno asked Granny Remedios to go over the rules again. Slowly. All four of them.
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.