Hige dreamed. In the dream he ran through tall grass that smacked on his flanks, smelling of flowers and the warmth of the sun. The meadow was filled with peaceful noises, the rustling of the grass, the buzzing and humming of mosquitoes and flies, bees and bumblebees, the scurrying of the smallest and smallest creatures, mice and beetles and grasshoppers. his nose picked up the varied smells. that he carried to him in a light wind, the smell of herbs, the scent of flowers and all the messages that told him which of the little creatures he passed by. He dreamed that the meadow was endless, reached to the end of the world and beyond. He ran and ran, and there was no obstacle blocking his path, locking him in on all sides. The world he walked through had no limits.
When Hige woke up, still half asleep, he raised his head. His ears picked up the peaceful sounds, his nose the varied smells. The sun-drenched meadow was speckled with flowers.On the slopes of the hills, around paradise, up to the round peaks, grew dense forest, dark coniferous green and dark leafy green interwoven.
To the north-east rose the broad flank of a mountain; the snow-covered summit rose so high into the blue of the sky that it seemed to touch the clouds. A brook ran babbling and murmuring through the Pardies. Aspens stood in the grass at the edge of the valley. Its leaves on the thin branches did not stop for a moment, every breath of wind whispered and whispered in the leaves.
A flock of birds passed over Hige, he watched them go until they disappeared over the forest-covered hilltops. There, behind the hills, was the limit of paradise, which you were not allowed to cross, especially not if you were a young wolf and the smallest and weakest of the siblings. But birds were allowed to fly wherever they wanted. Longing filled Hige. He wished he could run along in his dream, over endless meadows, over hills and valleys, on and on.Somewhere in the unknown was Africa, the land of summer, of which the migrating birds told, where the sun shone even in winter and where there was no snow, no cold and no icy winds.
A harsh screech startled Hige. Rusty the eagle sat in one of the trees and looked down at him. (So ​​Rusty is Leala's bird in the second episode (It was the second one, wasn't it?), And because I didn't know what to call him, I took Rusty! ^^)
"Are you dreaming again, kid?" he snarled.
"Rusty", Hige called, "you have wings! Have you never wished to fly far away?"
"What for? Am I a wandering bird? Always flying, day after day! That's not for me. And just so you can tell stories about a country where, as I've heard, there shouldn't be any fir trees, like here at us!"
"But don't you want to know, Rusty, what's behind the hills?"
The eagle began to hop back and forth on its branch, screeching. "O you little pointed ear!"he scoffed." Go with the migratory birds and you will know! Only you have no wings and you will fall from the sky! "
Rusty spread his brown wings, eyed them carefully, flew up and streaked toward the forest, where his screeching laughter faded into the treetops.
Hige sat up. His siblings, Blue and Kiba, showed up at the aspen grove. After them, the puppies that were born that spring, Tsume and Toboê, trotted along. (Sorry to all fans of both of them that they have to be the puppies! V.v)
Above the valley, high up in the sky, a bald eagle circled; Carried by a current of air, it floated calmly, without swinging its wings. But Tsume and Toboê were in no danger, even an eagle would think twice before attacking pups when other wolves were around. Hige never looked up at the sky.
Kiba and Blue stalked through the grass, heads craned out, very tense attention.Then Kiba jumped up on all fours; Curved his back he hung in the air for a moment, landed with his front legs spread apart, snapped at something, bit down and swallowed. At the same moment Blue jumped too. The pups did it eagerly, but were still too slow, they missed the prey and whined in disappointment. Toboê sat on his back legs, ran his paw over his muzzle and rocked, while Tsume immediately tried again. This time he was successful and Blue was enthusiastic.
"You did well Tsume!"
Kiba and Blue were teaching the pups how to hunt mice, and it wasn't as easy as it might seem; Until puppies learned to prey on mice, they had to practice it over and over again. What was like a game was just as important as hunting deer. Even if a mouse was only a tiny morsel, many mice still satiated hunger when there was no other prey.
Blue jumped again, but this time, head first.She jumped out of friends in the movement and because the day was so beautiful and the air was full of the warmth of the sun. With a waving tail she hovered vertically over the meadow, turned in a flowing movement around herself and sank back into the grass. The joy of the game grabbed the others too. Hige got up and trotted over to his siblings. Kiba chased after Blue, who ran lightly along. Tsume and Toboê fell on each other and wrestled. one tried to catch the other's tail or to throw the other onto his back. When they saw Hige, they rushed at him, baring their teeth, and bit into his fur. Before he could shake it off, there was a deep, throaty growl from the slope on the opposite side, followed by loud yapping that turned into a happy howl.
Young wolves and puppies froze, pricked up their ears, and then ran across the valley towards the slope. Rusty the eagle joined them screeching. He too had heard the message that the hunt had been successful.Tall grass brushed the wolves' flanks, and sprouts and flower heads swayed. Hige and his siblings sped long trains, full of anticipation for the meal. They reached the edge of paradise, plunged into the forest, jumped over fallen, half-rotten tree trunks and glided through the thick undergrowth as effortlessly as through the grass. The Wlps followed as fast as their short legs could. Rusty flew over the treetops and was the first to reach the place where the wolves had struck their prey, an already decrepit buck.
Zari Kan and Ashi, the lead wolf and the lead wolf, and Ooki and Ken, (the two puppies of Moro from Princess Mononoke. I gave them names! ^^) the next ones, had already started to eat. When Cloe, the young wolf, wanted to push herself between the two lead wolves, Ashi pulled up the Leftzen, bared her teeth and growled. Cloe jumped back nimbly, twisting and twisting her lithe body provocatively to attract the attention of the lead wolf.Zari Kan ignored her.
Rusty flew out of the treetops and grabbed a bite. Ashi greeted him with a light wag of his tail. The eagle poked her ear, hopped on the antler, and screeched. The pack did not let itself be disturbed; The wolves tolerated the wanton bird in their flock, he cheered them up with his jokes and passed the time for them.
When Hige and his siblings arrived, Tsume and Toboê crawled up to Ashi's belly, poked their snouts begging at their face and jaws and announced with a whimper that they were keeping small, weak and hungry. Ashi dropped the piece of meat she had in her mouth, licked the pups' fur and then gently nudged them aside.
Now finally Cloe was allowed to eat undisturbed. Hige, Kiba and Blue also began their meal, at first modestly, as it should be, without having to dispute the bigger bites from the older wolves. The plentiful supply of food and the tempting smell of fresh blood made the ranking quickly forgotten.The wolves fought mock battles happily and exuberantly. They drove towards each other, growling, growling, their teeth bared, each against each other as if a deadly fight for the food had broken out. Toboê tumbled around on Ooki and Ken, Tsume yelped at the lead wolf and pinched his fur disrespectfully. Rusty fluttered over the wolves and encouraged them to bite each other to death.
When they were all fed up, the wolves returned at a leisurely trot to their camp at the edge of the forest. Rusty had flown away and was wandering about in the forest with a flock of other eagles, Where they screeched through the treetops, snatched a tan-cone from a careless squirrel and answered the angry cackling with a screeching laugh. Ravens had gathered at the abandoned Hirschkadever; Her scratching attracted a wild fox. A weasel also scurried by and got a part of the wolf meal.
Thick bushes enclosed the wolves' camp on three sides; it was open to the meadow and afforded a clear view of paradise.Further inside in the forest, hidden behind color, was the entrance to the cave where Ashi raised her puppies every spring. Now tsume and toboê were already big enough and no longer needed the protection of the cave. The brook splashed down the slope and collected its water in a pool before flowing through the flat meadow.
The wolves had stretched out under the low-hanging conifers, were sleeping or dozing, Zari Kan and Ashi were lying on a hump in front of the camp and almost seemed to be asleep; any unusual sound, no matter how quiet it was, would have woken her up immediately.
The day was drawing to a close, the sun was disappearing behind the hills, the light was slowly fading, almost imperceptibly. The first stars were already shimmering in the sky, which was getting darker and darker. Tsume and Toboê woke up, were immediately wide awake and thought it was time for a game. They chose Ken as a victim, first ruffled his fur thoroughly and then tried to pull out his bushy tail.Ooki came to his companion's aid and rolled over on his back, an invitation the pups couldn't resist. They read from Ken's tail, climbed up on Ooki and pinched his fur once here and there. A swipe of a paw would have been enough to throw her away, but Ooki patiently endured everything.
The three young wolves watched the puppies playing. Cloe had sauntered out into the meadow, stretching and stretching in the sunlight, trying to catch Kiba's eyes. Cloe was the only one who wasn't born into