Father and Daughter by Michael Dudok de Wit

My friend sent me very moving story about the love tapestry between a father and her daughter. Please prepare a box of tissue paper cos it definitely proves to be a very touching story especially the last part of the animated film.

In this story you can see the girl accompanying her father on the bike to the sea where his father probably went off to sail. When the father came down the slope, leaving a little girl on top of the slope, the father ran back to her and carried her in a merry-go-round dance and probably promised her that "I will come back this evening soon."

Then the father went off the sea while the little girl looked upon him, running up and down, probably shouting at him "Please come back soon, daddy!".

Then when his figure disappeared from her vision, she cycled back along the lonely path, hoping her daddy would be back soon, probably to play the favourite game with her or to tell her bedtime stories before she slept.

So, in the evening, the little girl cycled back to the same spot where her father left her and there was no sight of returning father. His bicycle was still left leaning against the oak tree. "Where are you, daddy? When will you come back? I am waiting for you to come back."

Even if the typhoon had been lashing against the coastal area, the little girl persisted to cycle back to that place. But his bicycle was still there and there was no sight of her father.

A few years later, the little girl had grown up and she cycled back again to find her father. His bike was not there anymore perhaps some one had taken it away. She came to the end of the slope. "Where are you daddy? I miss you so much." Even the sea turned deaf ear to her pleading voice. Her father has not returned yet. It created a melancholy picture that framed lonely girl, her bike and two oak trees. A waiting daughter and her father who had gone with the wind.

Finally the little girl had finally grown up into a high school girl and she went cycling with her female classmates. She passed by that spot and paused for a long time. "Daddy, where are you now? When will you come back? I long to see you so much." Her classmates beckoned her to come along quickly. Finally the school girl broke from her contemplative thought and cycled hard to join her friends. "Daddy, I will wait for you."

A canadian goose flew past the starless sky while the school girl finally had her sweetheart of her life. Her sweetheart cycled with her who sat on the rear of the bicycle along the same and lonely road that was lined with cedar and oak trees casting their lonely shadows. It was like a shadow of a shadow of the dream.

Finally the autumn came. The schoolgirl was finally married to her sweetheart and she has 2 little children. They all went to the jetty together and that woman stood at the top of the slope looking out for her daddy. That was the exactly same place where she, as a little girl, witnessed her father sailing away until the father's figure vanished into the horizon. "Daddy, I have been waiting for you. Where are you, Daddy? I miss you terribly. I have been waiting for the day to be reunited with you again. Please come back, Daddy."

Years later, the woman came back to that slope and she decided to walk down the slope. The water had subsided below the water line and she wondered whether she could walk along the newly formed land. She decided against walking across this unknown place and cycled back home.

A little old woman was pushing her bike along the same path, wearing her shawl. She had been walking with her bike for quite some time at a slower pace. Finally that old woman stopped at the top of the slope and walked down the slope. She decided to walk across the land which was once a sea.

For hours, she had been walking over great distances and finally a familiar boat appeared in front of her. She walked towards this boat and realised that that boat was her father's. Consumed by her sorrow and helplessness, she collapsed onto the boat, and perhaps cried for hours. This boat had claimed her father. She only wanted her father back.

Suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. "My baby, my baby" She lifted her head to respond to this voice. She immediately recognised his voice. Daddy is calling me, she thought. Yes that was my daddy's voice. "Daddy, daddy, daddy. Where are you?" She got up from the ground and ran towards the direction of the voice. Suddently she found herself shrinking in human size to the point when she was once a little girl who saw her father off. All through her life, she had spent her futile efforts to wait for her dad to come back. Wait wait wait wait wait....and all her dreams to be reunited with her daddy came to the nought. She found herself running faster with the full valour and youth as a little girl once more, and finally she stopped herself in her track. Her daddy was standing there! "Daddy...daddy, was it you?" she thought to herself.

"Yes, my darling. I am here." The little girl ran towards him, scrutinising for familiar features whom she had not seen for years. Yes, it was her daddy, her only DADDY. "Daddy" she called out and hugged him. A final reunion between daddy and daughter.