1. Treetowers of Strangers

The beautiful Sumberland counted Fifty Treetowers, and nothing happened in all of them. This made it impossible for Sotho to move. He might as well have been a statue.

The sloth lay on a pile of leaves. And even though he had barely slept for months, he was restless and really wanted to go up there now.

His best friend’s voice sounded nearby. Sotho finally moved—but only to hide behind a massive tree. He hadn’t seen or spoken to his best friend in a year, and he wanted it to stay that way. Because he adored that funny sloth and today was a bad day.

Lothan sleepily trudged past him; Sotho dove further into a pile of leaves. Eyes closed, stay silent. Unfortunately, that was the moment another sloth fell from her Treetower hundreds of meters above the ground.

Finally! He had to be quick!

His best friend had barely turned the corner when Sotho stormed from his hiding place and ran for the elevator.

A wooden square hung from thick ropes attached to treetops. It already floated. The falling sloth hit a few wooden structures in the sky, rolled onwards, then landed on a branch that bent excessively.

This quickened the elevator’s pace.

Sotho leapt towards it and barely grabbed the edge. The large claws of sloths were made for grabbing, but still it felt like too much effort.

As the elevator lifted him off the floor, young sloths giggled all around him. They slid down large slides as if all of Slumberland were a playground. The long wooden tubes meandered through the area like giant snakes that fought each other in the sky. One of them even had a vertical looping. The oddity had been necessary to make space for a different structure that the sloths had built long ago.

He allowed himself to keep looking. These sloths were very young, so he watched until they were all tiny dots that crashed into the forest floor. The falling sloth was a dot now too, as she fell on the final branch, which bent downward and gave the elevator a final push. He did not want to look at her. He refused to even think of her name when he whispered his thanks.

Sotho arrived at the highest layer. From here, he chose the right cable car that brought him to his own Treetower. Thick ropes, often strengthened with vines, connected all canopies like a spider web the size of a city. Stones hung below those ropes. They were polished to be smooth enough to sit on them, as you comfortably whooshed along the cable.

He enjoyed the wind in his fur—and almost fell asleep at an elevation of a hundred meters—when a loud splash reached him. Ah yes, of course. Yesterday, Lothan had fallen out of his tree, which had moved the Water Lever, which meant they now pumped water from the sea automatically. It would refresh the many fountains and surrounding flowers.

Sotho tried not to think about any of the sloths that could now drink fresh water thanks to his journey.

When he arrived at his Treetower, however, the splashing didn’t cease. His home was close to the sea, yes, but now it sounded as if the ocean could swallow him at any moment.

Was it worth taking a look? He was restless enough to consider jumping out of his Treetower; on the other hand, moving to the window felt like too much effort. Maybe someone would see him! Catch him putting in effort and being out of breath! It would be as shameful as the time Grandmother saw him walk instead of taking the wooden escalator. Brrr.

He wished, as he did daily, that the Curse of Slumberland would disappear. It was his only goal in life, and he hadn’t come any closer. Brrr, even thinking about goals was exhausting.

He kicked the wooden plank that showed his house number and pulled on his face. Stupid world. Stupid place. Why did he have to be born here?

His body decided to lean against the wooden wall and get some sleep—

The splashing had been replaced by a loud creaking, crunching and … singing? The sound of breaking twigs erupted, combined with a beep. The sound they’d hear when one of their wooden machines hadn’t been oiled for a while.

Oh crushed leaves and snapping twigs!

He looked out the window—and what he saw made him tumble over the edge and fall back down again.

Yes, stupid world. Certainly.

His fall bent a few branches. This helped the young sloths—who had gone down the slides just now—back up using the elevator. Some stayed on the floor, though, curious about those sounds. Sotho’s gaze was firmly fixed on the black dot that crossed into their territory.

The dot slowly received a shape. It was a living being, yes, walking on two legs, with a really strange fur and—

Another sloth suddenly grabbed him, twenty meters before he’d hit the ground. It was his Grandmother, the oldest sloth in all of Slumberland. Or simply the oldest sloth that he could remember.

“Humans,” she whispered, her body tense and fur prickling. She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “One human. Young female.”

They hung from the same branch and watched as the dot stepped forward. Sometimes she’d crouch to study a plant or cut off some tree bark and put it in a bottle. Anything she found was placed on her cart, which squeaked as she pulled it along.

“Did you say human?” asked Sotho. “Like from your ghost stories?”

Like his best friend, he hadn’t spoken to Grandmother in a while. This conversation also wasn’t allowed to take too long. For ghost stories about humans, though, they’d always found the time.

Together they climbed to a lower branch, mere meters above the woman’s head. Dozens of sloths inhabited the surrounding trees and did the same thing. They followed every footstep as if it were some breathtaking spectacle, every sung note as if it contained a secret messages. The youngest sloths froze on their slide and asked each other what a human was.

This stranger had playful curls and was barely an adult, as she hummed and seemed to really enjoy every blade of grass. Her arms held seven bottles now, of which two were filled with insects that tried to break free.

When she stepped into the heart of Slumberland for the first time, she dropped them all.

“Oh my. Oh my god. Are those slides? And—”

She ran to the wooden structures. Her fingers pulled and pushed the levers. That she moved four tree homes and two cable cars among the clouds, was unknown to her.

Then she froze, as if she’d burned her fingers on boiling hot wood. She looked around anxiously. Her head made many circles before she thought to look up.

“Aaah!”

Her hand covered her mouth. Her screaming had already made two sloths fall down.

“Oh my god. Sorry. I’m leaving, I promise. I didn’t know this was … sloth territory.”

Of course, dear reader, the sloths did not understand a thing. Since the accident with the Babble Brothers, most animal species could not understand each other anymore. I simply translate everything to make you understand, dear reader. Because this is a story you wouldn’t want to miss.

The animals ducked away. They hid behind their parents, covered themselves with leaves, or put in the huge effort to climb their tree manually.

Even Sotho cringed. So large! With such long arms! And that mouth filled with sharp teeth! He felt restless, but this … this humans was moving all the time! She had covered a huge distance in Slumberland in just a few minutes!

His thoughts filled with visions in which he was eaten or crushed by this human. He suddenly understood why they were the dominant species in the world.

“That armor protects them. We mustn’t attack,” said Grandmother. “They call it clothes, but you won’t take me for a fool!”

“Don’t talk to me so much,” muttered Sotho. He looked into the black, shimmering eyes of his Grandmother. “I … I can’t lose you yet.”

She smiled briefly, then looked away too.

“My name is Mindy,” said the human with a trembling voice. “I just happened to walk here. Sorry.”

She pointed all around her. At the colorful flowers, the imposing Treetowers, the beautiful paths and the slides that connected it all effortlessly. Even fireflies were caught and placed inside colored glass to create a rainbow of pretty lights. Hedges, cut into the shape of mythical animals and gods, formed a guard of honor as Mindy approached.

Sotho thought that Slumberland had to be incredibly ancient, for his ancestors had to build all of this at their snail’s pace.

“But how …” said Mindy out of breath. “How did we not discover this place before!? How?”

Grandmother jumped into action. Her next words were hard to believe, especially when he noticed Mindy cringing like they did, keeping her arms before her in a protective stance.

But her words were clear and decisive.

“She has to be erased, as quickly as possible. Tempt that female to touch the Curse.”