"Chee! Chee!Chee! Sheeee! Chit Chit Chit, Cut-Cut-Cut, Cheree!"
It was Blue Jay! He had found them, and was sitting on Mr. Neigh!'s ear, trying to wake both him and Red Riding wolffe up!. Of course, what they heard was . . . "It's morning! It's morning! Wake up! Wake up!, sleepy heads!"
When she opened her eyes, Red Riding Wolffe saw the deep blue sky above the very tall fir trees, under which they had made their warm bed on the dry needles, so deep that they made a soft bed. "Oh! Look over there!" she exclaimed, pointing to a wide stretch of the bluest water she had ever seen. And there, not far away from the hill they were sleeping on, just past the fresh green meadow below, was the part of Seattle's water front called Meadow Bay, by people in her time. It was very beautiful!
"Can we go to the water?, she asked. "Please, it would very nice, and you can watch and rest for awhile there," she said to Mr. Neigh!.
"Well, I would like to," he said, but your mother must be worried about you! We need to get back, so she won't be alarmed!"
"I can take care of that!" Blue Jay flew down onto Mr. Neigh!'s back. "I'll go right now and tell everyone that you're both OK, and that something scared you last night, Mr. Neigh!. I know Mrs. Wolffe will be happy to have her little daughter here, with you, and, maybe I can find out what scared you, too."
"OK, but do come back right away, so I know it's OK," Mr. neigh said. "I don't want to stay here if Red Riding Wolffe's mom wants her back home. We'll stay at the water, down there." He lifted a front hoof to point to the water at the edge of the middle of the meadow. But, he soon was to wish he'd pointed out another spot!
Now, this time was a verrryyy, verrrryyyy long time ago, and names of things were different then. The name for the area was Seattle, or "Sealth," in that people's language, but the water was called "Creator's Kitchen," because it was a great source of many kinds of food. Some even called it "Creator's Table," because of the beauty of it and the surrounding shores, and it was usually calm, unlike the ocean, where it came from, far to the North.
Many streams and several rivers brought fresh water to it. and many fish entered their family's fresh water homes through it, to lay their kinds of eggs for the next generation.
The noisy, long-flying geese from the coast lands far to the North landed on this great body's shores, to rest and eat high-energy grasses they needed for their long flights. From far to the South, humming birds came here, to hover over bright, beautiful flowers that gave them sweet nectars to nourish and give them energy for the long flights back to their Winter homes in the South. Many honey bees made this land their home, and it was a happy bear who found a bees' nest in an old, hollow log, and ate honey till it was groggy - and full of bee stings!
Each Spring Blue Jays welcomed their cousins from the South, the Robins, and distant 3rd cousins, the Swallows. On his way to tell mother Wolffe the good news of finding her daughter and Mr. Neigh! safe and sound, and their request to visit Meadow Bay, Mr. Blue Jay remembered meeting his very best friend, Red Robin, that last Spring, who had just arrived from his Winter home in the South.
Red Robin had been in a cheery mind, happy to have arrived on such a fine day in his favorite Summer home. He had already started to build a nest for his pretty wife, but had stopped to pull up a tasty mouthful - er, beak full, of big, fat juicy worms! To Mr. Blue Jay, the worms were, well, shall we say, "Lacking for taste appeal?, so he waited while Cousin Red Robin finished his meal.
"Fine to see you, cousin!," Blue Jay said.
"Oh!," exclaimed Red Robin. I didn't see you! Yes! And it's very good to be back! I trust that you've had a pleasant Winter?"
"Well, 'cept for a long spell of heavy rains, when it was a mite difficult to get out for meals, yes, it was an OK Winter. I'm happy to see it's Spring again, too!"
Red Robin was happy to bring Blue Jay to visit his wife and they had a wonderful time together last Summer.
Today, he was not expecting to see the Red Robins, it was much too early in the year. Just as fast as Cynthia, Melissa, and Eriel can eat their moms' fresh-baked chocolate chip, oatmeal and raisin cookies, dipped in cold strawberry milk, on a hot Summer day, Mr. Blue Jay was arriving at the Wolffe's home by the tall tree, to deliver the good news, and Riding Wolffe's request. Little did he realize that he had still another unexpected message to bring back home, before this was even delivered!
Soon after they had started for the edge of the meadow, to sit by Meadow Bay, "Creator's Kitchen," what we call Puget Sound, Mr. Neigh! and Little Red Riding Wolffe found a family of otters, who were sliding down a mud slide into a tiny stream. Their shrill shrieks of laughter, pranks of splashing mud on each other, and swimming with their tummies floating out of the water, and eating clams on their "tummy tables," was fun to watch. When they had watched and laughed for a while, the horse and his little rider set off for Meadow Bay again.
"I wish Mrs. Weasel could have fun like that," Miss Riding Wolffe said. "she is too unhappy all the time. Maybe she would like to laugh if she was sliding down the mud slides with the Otter Family!" Just thinking about this was so funny, to imagine a very fancy, elegant, proper mother Weasel sliding in the mud, that they laughed!
Now, to really understand what happened next, don't peek ahead! In just a few pages you'll get a big surprise! But, for now, just keep reading, because you will need to know what I have to tell you, so the surprise makes sense! Or, if grandma is reading this to you, just be patient! We'll get there soon enough!
Sometimes, when you looked at something like a mountain, rising above a flat ground between you and it, it looked like you could just walk over to the mountain. Right? But, if the curve of the Earth made the ground closest to you hide the rest of the way to that mountain, and there was actually a river, or even a canyon between you and the distant mountain, how would you know, except that you actually traveled toward the mountain, and discovered the canyon, or stream?
So, to Mr. Neigh! and Red Riding Wolffe, Meadow Bay water looked like it was an easy walk to get to its edge.
Miss Little Red Riding Wolffe was just a young wolf-pup, but she had a deep faith in Creator to keep her safe, and to guide her where He wanted her to go, and to experience all He wanted her to, so she would grow up trusting Him for all she needed in her life. Her trust in Him made it easy for her to go where grown up wolves would fear too much to go, and make excuses why 'not' to explore new things and places. So, it was probably a good thing that Miss Riding Wolffe was the one Creator led to this place, and have such a desire to explore all she could, there. Otherwise, we would never have the wonderful story of her great discoveries, and all her surprises!
Now then, I said that often we see a distant place we want to go to, and all we see is flat ground between where we stand, and the distant place, and we think it would be a simple walk to get there. Well, as Mr. Neigh! walked toward Meadow Bay, they found that the way was blocked by a deep, steep-sided ravine, with a fast, deep stream at the bottom. It was full of large rocks, and many tough bushes, called "iron bush," were between them and the bottom of the ravine. The bushes were so thick they couldn't see the way down to the bottom of the ravine, or any pathway to get there.
Red Riding Wolffe had the solution, though. It's the same solution to every problem any creature has, and so she said, out loud, "Father, You see our problem. In fact, You knew we would face it, here, and yet You gave us the interest to go to Meadow Bay, so You also know how we are to cross this ravine." And, just then is when the Otter Family went by, headed down toward the fast stream, past where they stood! They had missed seeing a narrow path just wide enough for the otters, and slippery for them to slide down!
Mr. Neigh! looked at it, and backed away! "Please," asked Miss Riding Wolffe, so he said, "Well, I'll try." He was not so sure it was a good idea, at all! But, if he had not made this important choice to at least try, we would not have one of the most fantastic stories ever told!
Tiny Tim Otter waved as he went by. So did Mary Sue, Joshua, and even grandpa Otter! "Hey! Do you want to get across?," Joshua asked. "I know where the stream is shallow. Just walk along this bank, down stream. We'll show you a place to come down to the stream. Follow us!"
All the Otter Family led horse and rider along the top of the high bank, down stream. In about a mile, a loud roar from the stream rose from a water fall, but the side they traveled on was beginning to have a less steep slope down to the stream.
"The pathway down is right there!," little Joshua Otter said. He pointed to a very small. otter-sized path going down from the bank almost at Mr. Neigh!'s feet. Below them, the stream fell over a high cliff, but the path the otters now took was less steep, where it went down the bank to the stream below. The trouble for Mr. Neigh! was, it was too small for a horse!
But, he wanted to please his sweet little friend, so he decided to try to take her safely down the bank. He didn't know he was about to meet an ancient enemy he had only instinctual memories about. He had never in his long life met such a creature!
"Ugh!" Mr. Neigh! got so stuck halfway down that narrow little path, it's a miracle we now have the strange story that is coming up shortly!
No comments:
Post a Comment