Freja, Otja's friend
Ask anybody in the Pine Forest and they’ll tell you they know Freja. This little lynx lives right down the street from Otja — at 1 Beaver Street (Otja lives at 8 Beaver street). Her family is one of the Forest’s oldest inhabitants; they’ve been here for centuries and their house is the oldest house on Beaver Street. It looks the part too, being surrounded by tall trees, overgrown bushes and bushy flowers. Freja shares the big old house with her mother Nanna, who is the Chief Librarian of the Pine Forest Library. Mother Nanna spends most of her free time in the small library of their home, rummaging through piles of books and reading about all kinds of interesting things.
Freja loves books too, particularly old and dusty ones. She’s in love with everything that smells of the past, be it crumpling paperbacks, vintage clothes or beautiful old buildings. She works at the Pine Forest Elementary School, where she’s the—you guessed it—history teacher. Her lessons are known to spark the imagination of every pupil: she tells stories of old rabbit kings and squirrel queens, of dreadful giant crab monsters that once lurked through the forest and the brave mouse heroes who opposed them. All of this happened a long, long time ago, of course. So don’t worry; there aren’t any giant crab monsters in the Pine Forest today.
Even when she’s not lecturing at school, Freja is a bit on the chatty side. Okay, more than a bit — she’s VERY chatty. She’s known to go on talking and talking and talking … just ask Otja! Whenever Freja comes to visit, their conversations go on long into the night. And by the time Otja is half-asleep, Freja still has (at least) one more story to tell. For instance, late last night she was telling him about how she had just remodelled the garden shed to now serve as an outdoor summer kitchen, complete with pantry.
“This is just perfect for picnics!” she said, excitedly.
She asked if Otja would like to come to one such picnic? How about this weekend?
Well, Otja would very much like to come to one such picnic this weekend, probably. But we’ll never know for sure. For he did not RSVP, nor did he even say a word — the only thing he let out was a squeaky snore.
As you might have noticed by now, Freja really isn’t one to rest a lot. More than anything, she loves going on adventures! During the Summer School Holidays, she takes a train to distant, faraway places. She says that’s where the most interesting stories can be found. She’s also the attaché of a very very important event: the prestigious International Tri-Monthly Cross-Forest Running Race, which takes place on the tenth day of every third month of the year (that’s March, June, September, and December, kids!).
Freja is the nicest person you’re likely to ever meet and her heart is even bigger than her tail. Whenever someone needs a helping hand, a lovely ug or just good company, the doors of Freja’s old house are wide open. If she happens to be home, of course. Some people say that being a friend of Freja’s brings good fortune and this might very well be true. If you look closely through all the shrubbery surrounding her house, you’ll notice that the ground is covered by a peculiarly large number of four-leaf clovers.
