The Hunter's Fall

[Chrystali]

As told to her first clutch, to teach self-reliance and awareness as hunters.

The Kimeti was a strong buck. There was nothing that he could not hunt, and in turn, there was nothing that could topple him. He was arrogant of his prowess, easily played to by his vanity, which earned him many a doe and buck at his whim. It was said that his pelt was spun of cattail fuzz and his horns as strong as the earth, his hooves powerful enough to strike the earth into quakes if he so desired. Some whispered he was the Swamp's avatar, and he basked in all the praise and glory.

One day, he came across a caiman seemingly stuck beneath a bolder that had rolled over her foot in a rocky part of the Swamp. "O great hunter, most powerful of the kin!" the caiman cried out, "Might you aid this humble beast with your great strength?" The hunter, chuffed by the praise, was eager to oblige. He was more interested in showing off his strength than to spare the caiman, pressing his shoulder to the boulder and rolling it off of the reptile with some struggle.

He was about to go on his way when the caiman again spoke to him. "O great hunter, as generous as the Swamp itself!" She looked over the rock she was on, tired and worn. "Might you help this stuck creature to more even ground?" And he, glowing in her words of praise, obliged once more. He laid down so she could get on his back, picking his way across the rocky ground to the marshy swamp.

He started to kneel when she again spoke, softer as she was close to his ears. "O great hunter, faster than the crane can fly," she murmured tiredly, "I am but a short-legged, feeble thing. You, with your strong legs and endurance to move mountains, might you take me home? It is not far, brave Hunter, and surely is but a simple task for such a glorified kin." And he, practically ruffled in joy of her words, said that he would do just that.

They traveled for half the day, the caiman apologizing for being 'turned around' and 'oh so stupid,' easily encouraging him to continue. As the swamp darkened and the marsh became thicker and deeper, he began to feel a bit tired, for his muscles ached from moving the boulder and carrying the heavy reptile on his back. Now, almost breast deep in thick mire, he could barely move for all his fatigue, but he went forward until she gratefully thanked him for taking her home. She slid off his back and into the deeper waters, hale as can be.

"O hunter, thank you for the meal you've brought me!" she crowed with delight, agile in her own territory.

"But little thing," he replied, perplexed, "I've not hunted anything to share with you."

"O hunter," she cooed, eyes above the murk as she closed in on him, "you have brought yourself into my territory, exhausted from your work, and I, having done nothing, am refreshed. I too am a hunter, you see, and I am hungry."

And she, smarter, craftier and on her guard, opened her jaws to grab the shocked kin by his throat, dragging him under.

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"Hubris will get you nowhere, small ones," she had told her vaguely horrified children. "Let pride not lead you, let confidence not control you. Dictate your own choices by the mind of a hunter and not the ego of idle gossip - and above all, rely on your instinct, for only a fool wanders into a territory where the hunter becomes the hunted."