The Willow, The Fawn, and The Squirrels

A short story by Alyssa Martin

Once, many turns ago, there lived a Willow Tree in a garden of Wisteria. At the time of this tale there lived a Fallow Fawn, which had been left under the roots of the grand Willow by her mother. The Doe who had left her, The Willow had told her, had done so with guilt in her eyes.

“She did not wish to,” The Willow had said many times, “An old tree such as myself can always tell.”

“Whyever did she do it then?” the Fawn always pleaded, “Why did she leave me here among the Wisteria and Squirrels?”

The Willow always laughed in return, “Do not forget; She left you with me.” The Willow would speak with such joy, “She left you among my roots, not with the Wisteria and certainly not with those foolish Squirrels; with me.”

It happened, one day as The Fawn grew, that she had wandered to the edge of the garden, where hedges of Beauty Bush stood just high enough to block The Fawn’s view of the world outside.

“Whatever could you be doing, Little Fawn?” One of the many Wisteria asked, “What has brought you this far from your Willow?”

“I have come looking for The Squirrels." The Fawn answered, in a matter of fact sort of way, “They have chewed through one of My Willow’s roots, and have not yet apologized.” She huffed angrily, “They’ve instead said they will not do so until I win their game!”

“What may this game be, Little Fawn?” Asked the Wisteria.

“They’ve hidden, and I must find them before the sun has set on today.”

“I do think-” Another Wisteria began to suggest, “That they climbed through the hedges, out into the world beyond the Garden.”

“Beyond the garden!?” The Fawn cried, “However will I find them now? Those mischievous Squirrels will hide beyond the hedges until long after the sun has set!”

“You could always,” The second Wisteria began again, “Go beyond the hedges yourself.”

“Me?” The Fawn questioned, “But I am small, whatever awaits in the world beyond is so much bigger!”

“You are no smaller than a squirrel!” The first Wisteria chuckled, “They return from The Beyond all the time! It may be that it is simply your turn!”

“But how?” The Fawn asked, “I cannot fit through the branches of the Beauty Bush, and I most certainly cannot climb!”

“Leap!” Both Wisteria answered, “Just as we saw a Doe do once!”

“A Doe?” The Fawn repeated.

“Yes! We saw her leap into the Garden!”

The Fawn looked at the hedge, just taller than she; taking a few steps back, she ran forward, and with all her might; leapt over the hedge.

On the other side, in The Beyond, the sun glared down, brittle ground crumbled slightly under her hooves. In the distance she could see The Three Squirrels she had been searching for.

“You!” She cried, “Apologize to My Willow!” The Squirrels did not give her even a moment before they split, darting off in three directions, “Come back!” She exclaimed, running after one of The Squirrels.

Chasing, she followed the squirrel until they came to a small oasis deep in the dry land of The Beyond, “You have caught me.” The First Squirrel cheered from the water’s edge, “I will return to The Garden and apologize to The Willow!”

“Where have the other two gone?” The Fawn questioned with a frown.

“I will tell you where one has gone!” The First Squirrel taunted, “He has made his way to a Maze of Pins!” With the hint, he scampered off back toward The Garden.

“A Maze of Pins?” The Fawn grumbled, “However am I supposed to find A Maze of Pins?” In the distance she spotted a bit of green as the sun reached its highest point, “A Forest!” She smiled, “Perhaps I will find the aid I need there!”

She found soon that the forest was a Forest of Cacti, the Maze of Pins the Squirrel had told her of. Through winding halls of pins and needles, after some time the stump of an ancient tree appeared, and there sat The Second Squirrel, “My my! What a brave Fawn!” The Squirrel exclaimed, “How smart too! To have found your way through the needles and green!”

“Where is your other brother?” The Fawn asked, tired from the trek, “The one who did not go to the oasis.”

“Such a hurry!” The Second Squirrel tsked, “He has made his way underground, a cave to the West, with the face of a wolf!” With that, The Second Squirrel rushed off, back through the maze and back to The Garden.

It was not until the sun was nearing the horizon did The Fawn find the Wolf-Faced Cave, its entrance the maw of the beast; its fangs bared. She looked in horror ahead at the stone beast, then to the sun a mere hour from setting, “For My Willow.” She nodded and stepped into the cave. She found The Third Squirrel quite quickly; for he lay on the ground, his head nowhere to be found.

“How foolish.” A shadow laughed, as it paced and blocked the way back out of the cave’s maw, “What Doe would make its own way into the jaws of a Wolf?”

“That Squirrel was supposed to apologize to My Willow!” The Fawn stomped, “How can he do that now that he is gone?”

“A fool you are, that is for certain.”

The first two Squirrels sat with The Willow as the sun set, “Where is My Fawn?” The Willow asked the Squirrels.

The First Squirrel shook his head, and said somberly; “I fear The Wolf may have been home.”