In normally peaceful Apple Village, the events of the past month had left 12-year-old Elint-nicknamed Curly Nettle in the village for her curly hair and sharp tongue-utterly confused.
What was the wild forest boy known as Wild Drummer trying to tell the villagers with these words:
"You're so obsessed with apples, you can't see the blessings of the forest."
Most of the villagers, including Curly's father, Scribe, and the Teacher, Meticulous, were against the Wild Drummer. They wanted to keep this wild forest boy out of the village. Who was right and who was wrong? Should she follow the crowd, or should she defend the Wild Drummer?
Did the Teacher really teach everything worth learning, as her father claimed, or was there much to learn from Doctor Oma and Taleteller Opa, from others and from the forest?
And what about Stonehead, the giant of a boy who couldn't bring two sensible words together and smashed his school desk with a single punch when angered? Was the Teacher right in wanting to expel him from school for good, or did Stonehead-unable to express his feelings in words-possess a golden conscience that deserved to be understood?
Curly was deeply troubled. Would she be able to make sound judgments and find the right path?
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This fairy-tale-like story takes place about 2000 years ago, in the ancient lands of Eastern Anatolia, on the banks of the great Euphrates River.
In this story, the Wild Drummer tries to protect the forest-which he sees as his homeland-from the ever-expanding apple plantations that threaten to destroy it. He also rebels against what Vandana Shiva calls the "monoculture of the mind," meaning mechanical uniformity and diminished diversity.
Wild Drummer of the Apple Village is a storybook with pictures and music. Two pieces of music, available through the provided social media links, accompany the story:
- Wild Drummer Overture
- Wild Drummer's Song
Author's note: I wrote this story originally in Turkish as a present for the 12th birthday of my daughter Elif Sumru, in May 2021. Later, I translated it into English. My daughter was about 12-13 years old when she drew the illustrations of this book with colored pens and pencils.
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This is a story with pictures and music for children aged 9-15 that encourages holistic and ecological thinking.
