“Don’t do that! If you put your hoof in there it’s gonna get stuck you know!” “No it won’t, watch I’ll prove it! You’re such a wimp!” the young male stuck his hoof into the mysterious looking hole in a pile of rotted logs while his anxious friend watched him a moment. “See? It’s not…” the one with his hoof and part of his foreleg was pulling on his leg, trying to yank it out, and watched as his friend started to panic at the idea that the others leg was stuck. “I told you that would happen! I told you! Now what!?” There was laughter as the buck yanked his leg out. “Hahaha! I fooled you!” “Hey that’s not fair!”
The pair squabbled a moment, not realizing they were being watched by another kin a short distance off, who shook their head and came upon the two young ones. “That wasn’t a particularly nice trick to play on your friend. He’s right you know, you could have become stuck.” “But I didn’t!” “This time. Let me tell you a story of a buck I met, who reminds me a lot of you young one.”
Guardian of Life came forward then and looked between the two bucks, the one who’d been trying to warn his friend watching her with wide eyes, and the other looking sullen for being caught teasing his friend like he had been. There was a gentle smile on her face as she addressed them.
“This buck, he had been a daring one all his life. He was as brave as a Totoma though he was only a Kimeti. He would climb high things, swim in the deep depths, jump things that most would fear to, he didn’t have a care in the world when it came to this sort of thing. Though, that is the problem with bravery young ones, it can make one foolhardy, and do foolish things and though he had years of daring deeds behind him, even he made a bad decision one day.”
She looked thoughtful a moment, noticing the sullen buck was watching her with a bit of a curious look on his face now, and she smiled inwardly. Good. He is listening to the warning. she thought to herself as she continued.
“One day, he was dared by another buck to stick his hoof into a hole not so different from this one really, though it was covered in layers of spider web and moss. There was stories about how dangerous things live in this hole and anyone who stuck a hoof into it, or worse their nose was sure to lose it. So no one ever dared to do it, until that day. He took the dare without a second thought and he plunged his hoof into the dark, and the rocks came up to, oh just about here…”
Guardian nosed at the knee joint of the young buck and watched his eyes grow wide. “Funny you wear that look, that was the same look he had, when something started to nibble at his hoof, and then his leg. He had beaten the dare, he stuck his hoof in. He was never told how long to keep it there so he pulled backward to get his leg out of there except, he couldn’t. It was stuck fast. The hole had almost closed around his leg, though it didn’t look any different on the outside, but his leg was stuck fast.”
“What did he do!?” the buck who’d done the teasing was hanging on her every word. “He did the only thing he could do, he had to wait. He was brought food, and water by the friend who’d dared him because he felt responsible for the situation his friend was in, and with good reason. A week passed by, then two, then just before a full moon had come and gone, and the buck had given up hope, he felt his leg give a little as he pulled his leg though he didn’t expect anything to happen.”
She made a motion with her own leg to show the slow movements of the buck who’d been caught by the hole. “Little by little he pulled, because every time he seemed to get overly confident he would be free in a moment it seemed as if his leg would get stuck yet again and he’d have to stop and wait. It took almost a day for him to pull his leg free, and when he did he was shocked to see it was no longer the same bright red and orange the rest of him had been, but it was instead black as night. His friend helped him to water nearby and they both tried to clean the mark from his leg but it was no use.”
“What happened!?”
“Well, when I was talking to him, he told me that he had plenty of time to think and he feels it was his own arrogance that trapped him in that hole in a way. That it’s what stained his leg. It is a visible mark to all that he was foolhardy and had to learn the hard way, the error of his ways. There’s nothing else wrong with his leg other than it’s pure black now. So you see boys, just because something seems harmless like this, doesn’t mean it is. He was trapped for a month, and though he got free, now he has this physical reminder not to be arrogant, or foolish.”
The two looked up at her with wide eyes, then at each other and then over to the hole that had started this all. “Just remember that next time someone dares you to do something, or you decide to trick someone, that it could have unforeseen consequences.” She walked away from them, hearing them talking quietly, wondering if it was true or not, though she smiled as she heard the one buck, finally apologize to the other. Good.
The pair squabbled a moment, not realizing they were being watched by another kin a short distance off, who shook their head and came upon the two young ones. “That wasn’t a particularly nice trick to play on your friend. He’s right you know, you could have become stuck.” “But I didn’t!” “This time. Let me tell you a story of a buck I met, who reminds me a lot of you young one.”
Guardian of Life came forward then and looked between the two bucks, the one who’d been trying to warn his friend watching her with wide eyes, and the other looking sullen for being caught teasing his friend like he had been. There was a gentle smile on her face as she addressed them.
“This buck, he had been a daring one all his life. He was as brave as a Totoma though he was only a Kimeti. He would climb high things, swim in the deep depths, jump things that most would fear to, he didn’t have a care in the world when it came to this sort of thing. Though, that is the problem with bravery young ones, it can make one foolhardy, and do foolish things and though he had years of daring deeds behind him, even he made a bad decision one day.”
She looked thoughtful a moment, noticing the sullen buck was watching her with a bit of a curious look on his face now, and she smiled inwardly. Good. He is listening to the warning. she thought to herself as she continued.
“One day, he was dared by another buck to stick his hoof into a hole not so different from this one really, though it was covered in layers of spider web and moss. There was stories about how dangerous things live in this hole and anyone who stuck a hoof into it, or worse their nose was sure to lose it. So no one ever dared to do it, until that day. He took the dare without a second thought and he plunged his hoof into the dark, and the rocks came up to, oh just about here…”
Guardian nosed at the knee joint of the young buck and watched his eyes grow wide. “Funny you wear that look, that was the same look he had, when something started to nibble at his hoof, and then his leg. He had beaten the dare, he stuck his hoof in. He was never told how long to keep it there so he pulled backward to get his leg out of there except, he couldn’t. It was stuck fast. The hole had almost closed around his leg, though it didn’t look any different on the outside, but his leg was stuck fast.”
“What did he do!?” the buck who’d done the teasing was hanging on her every word. “He did the only thing he could do, he had to wait. He was brought food, and water by the friend who’d dared him because he felt responsible for the situation his friend was in, and with good reason. A week passed by, then two, then just before a full moon had come and gone, and the buck had given up hope, he felt his leg give a little as he pulled his leg though he didn’t expect anything to happen.”
She made a motion with her own leg to show the slow movements of the buck who’d been caught by the hole. “Little by little he pulled, because every time he seemed to get overly confident he would be free in a moment it seemed as if his leg would get stuck yet again and he’d have to stop and wait. It took almost a day for him to pull his leg free, and when he did he was shocked to see it was no longer the same bright red and orange the rest of him had been, but it was instead black as night. His friend helped him to water nearby and they both tried to clean the mark from his leg but it was no use.”
“What happened!?”
“Well, when I was talking to him, he told me that he had plenty of time to think and he feels it was his own arrogance that trapped him in that hole in a way. That it’s what stained his leg. It is a visible mark to all that he was foolhardy and had to learn the hard way, the error of his ways. There’s nothing else wrong with his leg other than it’s pure black now. So you see boys, just because something seems harmless like this, doesn’t mean it is. He was trapped for a month, and though he got free, now he has this physical reminder not to be arrogant, or foolish.”
The two looked up at her with wide eyes, then at each other and then over to the hole that had started this all. “Just remember that next time someone dares you to do something, or you decide to trick someone, that it could have unforeseen consequences.” She walked away from them, hearing them talking quietly, wondering if it was true or not, though she smiled as she heard the one buck, finally apologize to the other. Good.
