There was once a man who sat on a hill
Who believed he could force time to stand still
So he called out to the sun; “Do not rise
Morning come!” Not hearing it say: “But I will.”
One cool October morning, a little boy named Andy wandered off of his mother’s ranch and trod into the vast and balding forest not too far off. His mother had always told him to keep away from the forest, as in it lived the wolves who were very deceptive and quick, the bears who were very strong, mean and loved to eat little boys, and the owls – who were very old and wise, but often told lies and supposedly would feed innocent travelers to their young.
But Andy loved adventure, and being a mischievous boy who was seven years old and wanted to show that he could take care of himself, he scrambled off when his mother was milking the cows and baking a pumpkin pie, keeping in mind to come back for story-time and snacks in the afternoon.
His little legs carried him for what felt like hours! (And what was truly only fifteen minutes). His yellow goulashes were muddied and stuck with leaves and the hat on his head (his very least favorite as it was brown and green with a large puffball on the tip) was growing damp from the wet air. Soon however, he came to a clearing with a very nice wooden cabin.
“That’s funny,” Andy mumbled. “Mama never said people lived here.” And it was true – making it especially odd that the windows were glossy and clean, and that smoke bubbled out from the chimney.
Andy was a very brave and curious little boy however, so he waddled up to the cabin and knocked on the door, scratching at the itchy hat that covered his ears as the door opened to reveal that – indeed no people were living in this house! A wolf looked down at him, standing on its hind legs as it held the knob!
“Hello there!” The wolf said, with a rather scratchy but overall nice voice, “We don’t usually get any visitors!” Andy did not respond, but rather saw behind her that there were many wolves in the home! A wolf reading a paper, and two little wolves playing, and an old graying wolf – knitting! But then Andy realized that if his mama was there she would be very cross that he hadn’t even said hello to someone who opened the door for him.
“Hello,” he said shyly. “I’m Andy; I live outside of the forest. I didn’t know that anyone lived out here.” He paused. “You have a very nice house.” The wolf barked a few times, and Andy panicked before realizing that she was laughing.
“Of course! Wolves have to live somewhere! We have a bad reputation ever since some hooligan tried to eat a little girl and her grandma, but it’s nice to see not everyone is scared of us.” And the wolf lowered her paw and Andy shook it. “Would you like to come in?”
Andy thought about it, as it smelled very nice in there, and it was cold outside, but he thought better of entering a stranger’s house.
“I have to go some more places,” He replied. “But I’ll come back!” And he waved goodbye before continuing his adventure. They didn’t seem so bad at all! thought Andy, walking carefully on large tree roots – but not careful enough, as he tripped and fell on a big root covered in leaves.
Just as he landed, a bellowing roar beat down on his head, and he covered his ears.
“Who crosses my fortress? Who dares to tread on my home?”
A large, muscly black bear with a muzzle covered in purple juices and some shiny sticky stuff, plodded out from a den right behind Andy. He hadn’t tripped on a root at all; he had tripped on the bears’ home!
“Don’t eat me!” Shouted Andy “It was an accident; I didn’t mean to do anything!”
“Eat you?” The bear said in a deep, grumbly voice. “Are you a berry bush?”
“No, I’m Andy, and I’m seven.”
“I don’t eat Andys that are that old. I eat berries that are just ripe! I eat fresh fish! I eat honey!” And the black bear licked his chops. “You should be careful not to cross me though; bears have no code of honor.” This alarmed Andy, before the bear started to laugh. “I have no reason to harm you, child. So long as you don’t take my things and don’t wake me up, I have no quarrel with you.”
Andy did not know what that word meant, but the bear did not sound angry, so he relaxed. “Be on your way now, I am going to sleep soon, so I need to finish gathering my meal.”
Andy waved goodbye to the black bear, and continued on.
That wasn’t very scary. Andy thought, curling his cold toes in his rain boots. He didn’t even try to eat me!
A few minutes later, Andy heard a loud “Who?!” A large bird swooped down before him, white and brown with a sharp, heart-shaped face.
“Who do you think you are, little boy?” said the great owl, spreading her wings. “Have you not heard the tales of this forest? You believe that that you are invincible like so many humans do? Have you not seen the dangers that swarm within these rotting lands?”
“You’re making things up! My mama – she said –”
“Insolence!” Screeched the large owl, fluffing her wings and snapping her beak. “You humans are all alike! You tell lies of the unknown and expect all to understand your miserable aspirations! The last little boy who came here grew up to chop down trees! Our trees!”
“That wasn’t me though! I didn’t do anything!”
“Nor did I, and yet I am the liar.” Andy thought about this for a moment, peering up as the owl spread her wings once more, casting a shadow over his face.
“Are you going to feed me to your babies?”
“Oh! Revolting! Horrendous! Disgusting! Vile!” Squawked the owl. “I want nothing of the sort! I want one thing from you as a human and one thing alone!”
“What thing? You can have my hat if you want it!”
“I want you to tell the true story of this forest. You will go back and show them proof of what you have seem, and how you were left unscathed, and perhaps then…” The owl ruffled her wings and bowed her head. “Perhaps then we will be considered in the human conquest to fulfill their greed.”
Andy did not understand most of what the owl said, but when she curled her head down and plucked several feathers from her right wing he reached his hand out automatically.
“You will show the humans. You will show them that we are not as bad as they believe.”
“Okay, ma’am.” Andy said, balling his fist over the soft feathers.
“I am not ma’am. I am Nela. I am the wise woman of the forest. Baron is the guardian, and Freya is the medium who dedicated herself to learning human ways, to understand why they come to this forest.” Nela crooned and clawed at the wet earth with her talons. “She is too kind, and the humans do not anger her as much as they do me.”
“She was a nice lady.”
“You are but a child, so I do not chastise her allowance of your impertinence, she does not know all that I do, she is very young, and her naivety I worry will be the destruction of us.”
“I’m not gonna do what you said. I’ll show them your feathers and I’ll help!”
“Do what you must, child. I send you off with the warning that just as you believed we were dangerous, the people of the forest see the outsiders as much worse. You have the ability to change much, but in the end it is the choices we make.” With that, the owl gazed at a rotted tree stump in the distance, flourished her wings, and flew off.
And so Andy walked, and walked, and walked back to the bear, Baron, who had already been spoken to by Nela. He had silently plodded over to the little boy, held out his paw and uncurled his claws, dropping a single sharp bear tooth into his palm. Andy looked into his sleepy, black eyes and understood as his tilted his muzzle towards the front of the forest.
And so Andy kept walking, and kept walking, and kept walking! He had not noticed how long he was walking before, and when he reached Freya’s home, he yawned and stared at the swollen sun being hugged by clouds overhead. A sweet smelling breeze splashed over his face as he knocked on the wolf’s door once again.
Freya opened it up, smiled a toothy smile and handed him a fluffy piece of fur.
“Here wait!” Andy babbled before she closed the door. “I want you to have this!” Andy yanked his brown and green hat off of his head and handed it to her. “You can cut holes in the top for your ears!”
Freya laughed her bark-ish laugh again, took his offering and gave him a soft hug goodbye.
“I’ll come back one day!” He shouted behind him, running back home and she closed the door behind him.
After another long fifteen minutes, Andy saw the barn growing in the distance, and sprinted as fast as his seven-year-old legs could take him.
“Andrew!” His mother scolded her eyes large. “Where on earth have you been? What’s all that you’re holding? What happened?”
“Mama, mama!” He shouted, grinning big, “Let’s eat some pie! It’s my turn to tell a story!”