The Corporal recites to Jo a poem he says is an old German poem. As he recites it, however, the rhyming scheme is in English with words that would not rhyme in German.

Benjamin befriends a bear cub, the Germans arrive in the village, and Benjamin is harboring a little girl, Leah, at about the same time early in the movie. The Germans are said to be in the village for two years. More time passes and a late scene shows the bear cub, older and bigger now, recognizing Benjamin. But Leah doesn't appear to age a day.