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Brethren Valley
The doe ran as fast as she could, through thickets of bramble and tufts of grass tripping over rock and sledge. Nimble legs leapt over the tall bushes, she huffed and puffed as the wolves chased her.
“Stop your run girly!” howled the first wolf as he tried to gain speed, four paws digging into the earth. “Please! Before you do harm!”
Wild eyed and determined, the doe ran on, leaping over a low-lying branch.
“Turn away dogs! I am going on to freedom!”
The wolves ran so swift after her, dusty turf flying from their paws as they chased, all the while watching her go. She was so fast.
The doe made eager leaps to the forest, trusting on the world to guide her way. Darting here and there in unknown plain, trusting to her self that only must she leave the valley below.
The smell of fear was thick in her nostrils as she ran from the wolf pack, so she turned fast and leapt here and there. And with nimble legs and a frightened heart, she disappeared into the trees.
Huffing and puffing the wolf pack stopped at the ridge.
Mists of white steamy breath came from each of the four wolves as they watched her go.
The first wolf sighed heavily. “Jane!”
The weary pack turned back toward the valley floor.
Brother wolf was angry at this indiscretion as he came down from the ridge. He grimaced his teeth and grunted as he pawed back to the village with his pack.
He called a great meeting of the carnivores.
And once assembled, he looked out at all his brethren below.
“Hail ye foxes and dogs and bears! We fools in this valley are losing our supply of food!”
The flesh eaters listened.
The black bear sat with the wolverine and next was the bobcat and the weasel, the fox and rat. By air the eagle listened too as well as hawk and falcon and owl, all being enraptured with the words of the wolf.
“We are carnivores! And our brothers herein must make a payment, for our souls!”
* * *
Down on the valley floor ate the herbivores. The deer and ox, the rabbit and cow, the prairie dog, mule and horse.
They all grazed in the hospice of the day.
The sun shone bright and the clouds drifted lazily across the sky.
And then from up on the hills came a rumbling and a dust.
Many animals were coming down and in a hurry to the valley floor.
The carnivores were descending in droves. Clawed feet kicked up the dust as they ran down the valley walls to surround the herbivores.
The tigers ripped the dirt in their run; the polar bears loped as fast as they could across unfamiliar unfrozen land.
The grizzlies jumped amazingly fast from place to place and the lions made a stately walk down.
Brother wolf was at the front and he waved an angry paw to lead them all down into the valley.
The herbivores were startled and began to step back, but one of the brother rabbits ran up the slope to meet them. He padded up hill and across the grass to finally stop before the wolf “Why are ye here?”
Brother wolf was aghast! “Why are we here? Ye silly rabbit! One of yours has left the valley and upset the balance!”
The rabbit looked low and nodded “Aye this is true, and true.”
“I be sorry for this, but Jane doe has taken it upon herself to leave us.”
Like a ripple in a river, the implications resounded to all the animals in fear.
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