A Tale Told By A Raven

 

          One night Suzy had a powerful dream. It left her feeling a little bemused and confused. She felt like sharing it with someone, but for some reason didn’t feel like explaining it to Willie. He had a male tendency to poopoo certain types of material.

            She would have told it to her lady, but there were translation problems. No matter how earnestly she looked into her lady's eyes, it came through garbled every time.
            She decided that Toots would probably listen. Toots had never let her down and was wise in the interpretation of dreams.
            Therefore, she settled herself down in a good position for the telling of tales way down under some stuff, where nobody would notice her. It was better for intense concentration when nobody was watching.
            She said, “Toots? Are you there? I had a strange dream. Would you like to talk this morning?”
            “Sure,” said Toots. “What’s up? You want to tell me a dream? I’d love that!”
            “It was like this,” said Suzy. A great huge black bird spoke to me, as real as I am talking to you right now Toots!”

*O*

            I was flying very high. I was enjoying the air currents lifting me and then letting me fall lower and then lifting me back up again. I was so high that even I with my sharp eyes couldn’t see anything but the tops of the fir trees. There was a light dusting of snow on them which made them very pretty in the late morning sunlight.
            I decided to drop down through the trees to Ralph’s spot on earth, where time doesn’t have much purchase, just to see if anyone was around and what they were doing this day.
            As I got low enough, I saw that Ramona had been preparing to cook something. She had gone back into the cave to fetch something else I suppose and had left a lot of onions, carrots, and a big piece of pork and this and that on one of those logs by her fire. I couldn’t see anyone around at all.
            But as I watched a wild pig with ten little striped oinkers ran into the clearing! It didn’t look good! They discovered her onions, etc, etc, and gobbled it all down! Oh my! Oh no! I was the only one who had seen the crime and I would have to be the one to tell the tale.
            I dropped down and settled on a lower branch to wait for Ramona to come back out.
            When she did, she just stood there looking all around, obviously wondering what had happened to her ingredients in such a short span of time. Well, I knew.
            “What in the world?” said Ramona to the air, or no one in particular.
I spoke. “I know. I saw it all! I know the crime and the criminals!”
            “Oh, Maeve. Tell me Raven. How could my onions and carrots and meat vanish in two shakes?” asked Ramona, with her eyebrows raised. “I was gone about long enough to turn around and come out with my big pot!” She stood there with her hands on her hips, as angry women do.
            “It was pigs Ramona! A dam and ten little squealers! They washed through like a wave on the sea and consumed it all in a moment! I saw them truly.” I did love being in the know.
            “Well! We’ve never been visited by pigs before,” said Ramona. “I wonder what to do now!”
            “I can think of one thing,” I said. “And only one thing. I will go tell Thaga and Ooog what happened and ask them to send you some more onions and carrots. Then Twigg and Berry and Bob could take a bag and go fetch them for you. How about that?”
            “I think that would be alright. He surely knows the way to Thaga’s house,” said Ramona. “But we’ve never let him go alone before. I’m not sure I should let him go.”
            At that very moment Ralph himself strode into the clearing. He had been hunting far and away.
            “I didn’t have a whole lot of success, Mona my sweet,” said Ralph, laughing a bit.
            So, I flew to his shoulder and told him the whole story right into his ear.
            Ramona said she didn’t know whether she should send Twigg and the bros to Thaga’s house for more onions and so forth since he had never gone there alone, even with the cats.
            At last Ralph said, “let’s do this. Maeve can you fly over to Thaga and Ooog’s place and ask them for a bag of onions and carrots to replace the lost ones? Tell them that Twigg and the cats will be walking right after you. It will be a good experience for Twigg. Maybe he can do it all the time and save some of us some steps!”
            “I’ll go,” I said, and took off.

*O*

            “Suzy, why did Ralph laugh about not very much success hunting? You didn’t tell me that part of the dream and I was wondering,” said Toots.
            “It was kind of funny. I got the feeling that stories about Ralph often end up funny,” returned Suzy.
            “How was it funny,” asked Toots.
            “Well, as it turns out, in the dream, he only got four little striped piglets in his whole day of hunting, piglets that were full of Ramona’s onions and carrots. So, in an odd way, the story comes around full circle,” said Suzy finally.

            “What a peculiar dream, Suzy,” said Toots. “I wonder if it is true?”
            “I think it must be. I don’t think that big black bird would lie to me,” said Suzy. “She said her name was Maeve.”
            “I never heard of a Maeve before,” Toots smiled a little at the funny name.
            They purred together for a while, then went on with their days.