Note - I'm intending that this be split across multiple pages, as a childs picture book. I have some idea of how to split it (hence the gratiuitous use of paragraph breaks) but that's gonna change as the text does, I should think.
Comments would be very welcome. ~ is the heroine's name, which I haven't decided upon. The misuse of comma before and appears inevitable.
Muchly like :) The repeated quartet of her running has 'flet' not 'felt' in the first line. I didn't notice any outright grammar mistakes but I wasn't looking. It's rather effective - SunKitten
This appeals to me. It reminds me of some of the Orson Scott Card stuff (don't recall titles, but his stories set in early America in a world where magic exists and works.) Really nice. - MC
That would be the Red Prophet series - with Alvin, whose title I can't remember. I liked them - SunKitten
And another book series on my list of stuff to read :) Thanks, for the comments here, and in IRC and for the book recommendation. --Vitenka
First draft, so expect much nastiness.
Upon the morning after Starnight, before the sun had risen, ~ awoke, surrounded by Four-Legs-Grey-Fur - that we call wolves. She dressed. The wolves awoke; and they were hungry. "Good morning Silent-Howler." said Short-Tail. Then he told her that the fast was now over. So she took some nuts, and ate a part of the nuts. The wolves yawned and waited. Then she took some berries, and ate a part of the berries. And the wolves stretches and waited. Then she took some of the leaves, and she ate a part of the leaves. And the wolves licked their chops.
And pounced!
But ~ ran/ She ran and she ran. She ran through the forest.
This world has many truths and one of them is that wolves run faster than people.
As she ran she felt their eyes upon her back... Then she felt their breath upon her legs... Then she would feel their claws at her heels... And Ah! She knew that she would feel their teeth at her neck.
So she dropped the rest of the nuts. ToDo: Insert prayer type short speech here? Seeing her plight, the trees dropped their nuts too.
Suddenly squirrels ran down to collect the nuts for their hoards.
And the wolves bounced and pounced and ran and sprang and danced and pranced - and over all toyed with the squirrels like Four-Legs-Stripey-Fur that we call Cats.
So ~ crept away quietly.
But soon the wolves ran out of squirrels and once again, they gave chase. ~ ran away quickly.
As she ran she felt their eyes upon her back... Then she felt their breath upon her legs... Then she would feel their claws at her heels... And Ah! She knew that she would feel their teeth at her neck.
So she threw the rest of the berries into the face of the lead wolf. ToDo: Insert prayer apology type short speech here?
Seeing her bravery all of the bushes at the edge of the wood stood up to help.
And so ~ escaped for a second time. She ran until the sun was risen, while the wolves fought.
But of all of the truths in the world, another is that wolves win their battles. Even against bushes that press thorns and thistles into their noses. Alternate: and that is why so many armies so name themselves.
But as she ran she felt their eyes upon her back... Then she felt their breath upon her legs... Then she would feel their claws at her heels... And Ah! She knew that she would feel their teeth at her neck.
She had reached the edge of the forest, the start of the great water. So she stopped. And the wolves had caught her.
The wolves came near, warily. Short-Tail spoke up. "You have run well, Silent-Howler." "Thank you." she replied, politely.
They came closer. Short-Tail spoke again, brushing the thistles from his nose; "And you have fought well, Silent-Howler." "Thank you again." she answered, smiling.
"So, now we will live up to our third promise." said Short-Tail, coming very close indeed. "Yes?" She smiled widely.
"You are trapped. Give yourself to us and we will leave your people alone."
~ was taken aback. "But you promised to spare the gift giver! I gave you squirrels!"
"Squirrels don't count." snarled Short-Tail.
And he pounced.
All in a panic, ~ leapt into the water. The water was very cold and she was very tired. ToDo: And the prayer which seems to naturally fit here is the reason why I suspect I might want to put calls into the other two.
Then she remembered the leaves. She threw them upon the water and they became a boat. And she sailed away into the dawn.
And that is the how of one of the truths of this world. That wolves will chase and eat people. Because we can run as Cows cannot and fight as Sheep cannot and because ~ did not sacrifice herself for us; at least not to the wolves.
And because Squirrels don't count.
This is kinda-sorta part two of a three parter, or maybe just a set featuring the same figures. The unspoken backstory is that she stayed up at new years howling to the stars with the wolves, who have a sort of a truce at new years. Whilst there, they all make promises to the stars, which are obliquely referred to at the end. This isn't intended to be required knowledge - more a way of linking explanatory myths together. I'd like to know how well it reads both before and after you know of this link.
I feel a need to explain that. I came up with the outline, but realised that it was too long and that the hook was terminated midway through and the story sorta dangled. So what you have here is the middle chunk, which seems reasonably self contained. Maybe the prior and latter parts have enough in them to become parts of other stories, but I can't see an easy way to write them and keep them interesting, right now.
By the way, I'm nut sure where I'm going, entirely, with this myth - I figure it's one of those chains where the hero (or heroine in this case) can have plenty of different 'how she died' stories. Oooh, I cocked up the gender of that sentence bad.
And title - it kinda gives away the end, but for this sort of OralTradition? story, is that a bad thing? Better titles would be good though.
![[Home]](/img/text_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Vitenka/SilentHowlersEscape