Sunday, January 25, 2009

The hunt for the most satisfying meal..

It was a dark and gloomy morning; the skies threatened to release its tears upon the land. The wolf crawled out of its den and met its comrade. The two were going on a hunt, one that preceded the 'organised' hunt agreed upon by the rest of the pack. The two had greater plans..

Tengger* was good to them that day and held back the rain, letting only a little drizzle fall sometime during the middle of the hunt. The two wolves started out running shoulder to shoulder, neither one wanted to fall behind at such an early stage of the journey. Pride. That was what distinguished a wolf from a dog. It was not the first time that these two hunted together; the chemistry between them was impeccable. It seemed that each knew what the other was thinking, how the other was feeling and how to react accordingly to ensure the survival of both of them.

On the way, they met two more wolves, presumably also out hunting. They looked older, bigger and much more experienced. The four wolves, with nothing said, seamlessly integrated to form a pack even though they were from different territories. This made the travelling much easier, with the alpha male leading the charge in front against the 'white-hair' blizzard*.

However, after travelling further, the differences between the young and old wolves became more significant. The fresh, light-footed younger wolves had much more stamina than the older wolves whose speed began to decrease bit by bit. The pride in the two young wolves quickly overcame them, and they broke off from the pack, running into the wind on their own. They probably felt humiliated the instant the pair of older wolves led the way, but decided to follow behind, seeing if there was anything the older, more experienced wolves did that they could pick up and learn.

The rest of the journey was simply magic, with each wolf taking the lead when the other felt tired. This drafting played on like an orchestra, each movement deliberate and precise.

Along the way, the two wolves spotted many dead animals, probably killed the night before. These included 2 rats, a snake and a bird. The two did not feed on them, considering them an insult; they wanted to eat food hunted themselves. They finally did, after 2hrs from setting off, and boy did they enjoy their kill. It tasted so sweet, and the icing on the cake was the fact that they beat the 'organised' hunt to the freshest kill of the day.

*Heaven
*very strong winds

n/b: Inspired from Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That my brother, is as magical as it gets. Wonderful prose and words. It brilliantly captures the essence and mood of that day. Namaste.

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