Advent round
in the deer enclosure
Second Advent at Gut Aiderbichl Carinthia
A delicate blanket of snow lies over the Köglerhof, Gut Aiderbichl in Carinthia. It is a time of pause, tranquillity and reflection for people. The animal world also changes in winter. The Aiderbichl donkeys, ponies, goats and pigs, the camels and the herds of cattle all love the fresh, fluffy snow. At Gut Aiderbichl Carinthia, our Raimund – this year he is wearing particularly beautifully grown antlers – was chosen by Quax, the pet pig, to organise the animal Advent celebration.
The King Raimund
“Ah go, Quax, do you have to do that? Why me? Let the new ones, Carlos and Emma, the woolly pigs, make themselves important. Ah go on, they don’t listen to me at all! No, I’d rather roam the forest with Susi the blind doe”.
Raimund, the king of Gut Aiderbichl Carinthia, wants to be asked. Quax doesn’t give in and Raimund says: “All right, I’ll take over. First, let’s all go into our big forest back there and collect branches. Mercy, please bring all the pigs to the meeting. Especially Quax, Carlos and Emma.
Mercy the wild boar sets off. A short time later, everyone is in the deer enclosure waiting for Raimund’s orders. Mercy turns round and heads towards the duck pond with her head hanging down. “Mercy, what’s going on?” asks Raimund, roaring softly. “Why are you going away?”. – “Yes, but you told me to bring the pigs here. But you didn’t tell me to stay. That’s why I wanted to leave again.” Little tears roll out of Mercy’s eyes and he feels ashamed. “But Mercy, you’ve got it all wrong. I have an idea. You’re my assistant now. I can’t organise the party on the 2nd Advent on my own anyway. The ducks and geese won’t stop chattering from all the excitement, and you know I can’t stand that,” Raimund said gently and laid his head with the heavy antlers gently on Mercy’s back. Mercy had always been rather sensitive. Before he came to Gut Aiderbichl, he ran around all alone until a car stopped, a woman who loved animals took him and brought him to Aiderbichl. He has been looking for friends ever since. His best friend is Quax, the pet pig, and for a few months now he has also had the woolly pigs Carlos and Emma.
“Well, now get on with it – what should we do in the forest, Raimund?” asks Quax, the pet pig, bored. “Please, bring as much brushwood as you can from the forest so that we can decorate the enclosure fences. Just take them with your trunks. You can do it!” says Raimund, pointing with his head towards the forest.
After a while, a huge mountain of fir branches appears in the courtyard of the Köglerhof. Now it’s all about who is going to attach the branches and, above all, with what. Koni, the swan, had bought some ribbons, but he can’t remember where he put them. A loud chattering begins. The ducks and geese are eager to get to work and surround the frightened Mercy. It was so loud that the chatter could be heard for miles.
“Hello, my dears. Have you ever heard that Advent is a quiet time? Look, Engelbert, Elvira, Koni and Seeli, here are some beautiful green silk ribbons. Koni has remembered that he brought them to Susi, our blind hind. Kira, the young grey goose, has now cut beautiful long pieces with her goose teeth. So we’re ready to go. Engelbert and Kira, take the ribbons and tie the branches to the fence. And Koni and Seeli, you can help too”.
“But I’m finding it a bit difficult, you know, I’m not the youngest anymore. But maybe Kira can help me?”. With shining eyes, Seeli looked at Kira, who shyly hid her head in the feathers. The two of them were a great team and decorated the fence the most beautifully of all. Once everything was ready, the ducks attached golden baubles to the branches.
Raimund stood contentedly at the clearing and watched his friends go about their business. The pigs lay wearily beside him and he had to smile. “Why are you laughing, it wasn’t that easy to get all those branches out of the forest!”. Raimund bent his head towards Emma and said, “You were great. Besides, I know that pigs like to be lazy”. Suddenly all the pigs stood up, chased Raimund through the enclosure and grunted “Well, that’s the height of it! Us and lazy!” – The grunting got louder and louder, then quieter and quieter and at some point they all lay down in the snow: Raimund surrounded by the pigs Mercy, Quax, Emma and Carlos and the swans Engelbert, Elvira, Koni and Seeli. Kira, the young grey goose, had made herself comfortable on Raimund’s back. The ducks snuggled up close to the pigs. Nobody was quacking any more.
It was getting dark and a few snowflakes were falling on the animals. Then you could hear soft, gentle footsteps in the snow. “I’ve been blind since birth, but I wanted to make something for the Advent celebration.” Slowly, all the animals lifted their heads and looked around. They saw that someone had brought an Advent wreath with two candles burning on it. It was Susi, a young, blind doe. She placed the Advent wreath on the snow-covered ground. Mercy got up and ran to Susi. He walked close beside her until they reached Raimund’s house. Susi lay down there and was content. Now they were all together and Raimund told the blind doe Susi about the many stars that could be seen in the sky.
