Gisel stood in her herb garden and looked around. She sighed. There was a lot to do. She would have to pull out most of the plants along with the weeds. She would dig up the beds and replant them. Then everything could grow again, blossom and bear fruit.

A nuthatch fluttered into the air with a loud "Twett". Gisel looked after it until it was just a tiny speck in the sky. She let her eyes wander over the fence into the vastness of the Bohemian Forest. The green hilltops and wooded hills stretched as far as the horizon. The higher mountains were still white with snow.

Gisel stretched for a long time and breathed in the air. It smelled spicy and damp. "This is what freedom smells like!" she thought to herself and felt a tingling sensation in every single one of her limbs.