Believe - Chapter 20: Cernunnos

"Come oot, the weather is nice today." The deep voice of Liam woke Imya up. Red was already awake and turned his head to the wolf pup. "Ya shadda hurry. Liam always is in a hurry, sure he is, yo!" and with a chuckle the red fox was out of the den. Imya slowly got up and stretched. Since they met the stag the old energy of Red was back and it seemed he got even crazier since then. "Good evening!" she said to the stag when she exited. It was the first time she spoke to the big animal. At night she lost a bit of her shyness and fears but she still looked at him with big eyes. "Sorry to fling you out of the den this early." He said with a soft voice and his head was close to the ground again to look into the eyes of Imya. "Am sure Cernunnos did geez you a nice dream." Imya was confused. "Who is cernunnos?" she asked. Curiosity even shove away the last bit of shyness and she now stared with wanting eyes up to the head of the stag. "You dae no ken Cernunnos?" he asked her with the same disbelieve in his voice like Red had shown when she asked about she-who-breathes-the-wind. "No, I never heard of him. Who is he?" - "Wit did your maw and da teach you? Red, didnae you tell her about Cernunnos?" he turned to the red fox who was jumping a bit to see if his leg was not hurting anymore. "Aren't ya da best for that?" the fox countered and stretched. "Aye, you are right there." He answered and raised his head to look at the sky. The star was already high above them. "A will tell you about Cernunnos while we go." He decided and without any other comment he started to walk uphill. Red and Imya followed him and after a few minutes Liam started to tell the legend of Cernunnos.

"When the world was young and the first animals roamed through the trees and over the wide plains, there was a big uproar between them. The reason was a drought that brought a big lack of food to the land. The weather got baltic and the plants did not grow as much as before. - Just like at this moment." Liam turned his head and winked to Imya. She just looked up to him while walking and continued to listen. "But with the lack of food for all the vegetarians, there was also declining food for the predators. The prey was too afraid to go to the water holes or on the plaints to search for food because they knew that the prey was waiting there. Some of them tried to eat the bark of the trees and others snuck out there at night one by one and most of the times didnae return. But this caused many other problems. The predators started to fight over the few animals they found and the trees started to get ill because without the bark they were exposed to the cold and wet weather. More and more of the trees died and the forest, the last hideout from the predators, who did not dare to go into the territory of the forest animals because they were much more than the predators, got smaller and smaller. One day they held a big meeting to decide how they should continue to live from now on. They were afraid that if the forest would shrink any further, it would vanish completely. The biggest problem was not the food however but the water. There was only one water hole left which was outside the forest now and with all the hungry predators around, the forest animals were too afraid to approach it. Some of the bigger animals suggested to all go to the water hole and trample the predators. They got a lot of cheers for the suggestion but one of them, the biggest and strongest, stepped into the middle of the circle and raised his voice.

'And wit dae you when you trampled them? Are they not also part of this world? They kill, aye, but only because they starve just like us. We are not killers. We wilnae kill any of them just for water.' A lot of the others mumbled and groaned to his words but most of the animals nodded and agreed with his them. He was not only the strongest but also respected by all of them.

'A will go to them and talk. We must find a solution and they are just as much in this as we are. I will tell you tomorrow what they said.' The other animals were afraid about him not returning. After all, even if he was the strongest, he too was just a prey and with all the predators out there he would not be able to escape if they decided to take him for dinner. But this animal was not only strong but also smart. He knew about the dangers but he had a plan how to survive the mission. He asked the beavers to cut two big branches of a tree and bring them to him. Wondering about what he wanted to do with the branches they complied and soon they brought big branches with many twigs to him. He ate all the leaves and then asked the beavers to make the ends of the twigs pointy and to remove some of the weak ones. The beavers, friends of his, also did him this favor. Then the animal took the branches and placed them at his head. He asked a family of spiders to web their nets around them and his head so that the branches would not fall off. More and more animals came to watch what he was doing. After the spiders had webbed a net around the branches and his head he raised it high and with the branches on his head he looked like a big tree. This night he moved out of the forest with the branches still on his head and the animals looked worried after him. The next evening he came back. He was sweaty and had a scratch on his leg but one of the pikes of his branches also got a bit blood on it and he seemed okay else. When the animals asked him he said that they tried to attack him but he was able to save himself because of the branches. At the next day he went out again and at the next evening he came back with even more scratches on his body and parts of fur on the branches. He told them again that he was attacked but could fend them off. On the third day he went out but he did not return by evening. The other animals thought that he would not come back and finally the predators got him. They discussed what to do next for the whole night but when they just decided to use the idea of trampling all the predators to dust the big animal with the branches came back. He did not have new wounds and at his branches was no new blood or fur.

'Whit happened?' the other animals asked him and he smiled. 'A talked to them and found an agreement. When the moon gets up we can all go to the water hole. They will not attack us for as long as the moon is on his way over the night sky.' The other animals cheered and were happy about this news. 'However a agreed that they can come into the forest once every week without us attacking them so that they do also not have to starve.' He said. A lot of the animals were afraid of the predators coming here but after he explained to them that this was the only way and if the predators would not let them to the water hole they would die, they all agreed. A law was created to not attack the predators in the forest at the special day in the week. It was allowed to run from them or to fend them off, but not to kill or serious wound them.

So the animals were saved because the predators and the forest animals both kept their word and when the drought was over, the weather got warmer and all went back to the way it was before. But some of the predator felt so safe and comfortable the forest, that they decided to stay there and live together with the forest animals while some of them also decided to move out to the open plaints.

At one day, some of the animals came to the big animal, and asked him why he did not take off the branches now. He never had taken them down. The big animal shook his head and all the webs came down and the others saw that the branches were connected to his head and had become one with the animal. He looked so majestic that they all fell to their knees and praised him. And they gave him the name 'Cernunnos' which means 'horned god'. This is how he became the leader of all animals in the forest and his ancestors, the deer, can be found even now in the forest. This is my species."

The stag stopped and smiled. "But did you not say that you are a stag?" Imya asked. She was confused that he now called himself a deer." - "Aye, we call the male deer a stag." He explained. Imya pondered a bit to get all the new learned things sorted in her head. "How do you then call a deer girl?" she asked. The big stag chuckled and his warm voice was clear and deep when he answered. "A female deer is a doe and when they are a wean, just like you, they are a fawn."

Imya yawned. She had not noticed while listening to the stag's story that she got so tired. "A think the toaty is knackered." Liam said and Red turned to Imya. "Imma think so too." He replied. "Imma hatta den close by, sure Imma do, yo! It is day soon anyways." Imya just followed red to the den that was still ten minutes away. Liam left them again to find some place to sleep and something to eat as well. Red talked with him outside while Imya already rolled into a ball inside the den. Red followed her ten minutes later but Imya did not notice that. She already was fast asleep.