A Tale from the Northwoods

A Tale from the Northwoods

Feathers, Fur, and Her

My name is Poe, and I am a raven. Along with two of my flock, Joe and Crok, I am sitting on a long pine branch just above the ground where four wolves are licking their wounds after our recent battle. The battle began with six ravens against four wolves. Two of us were badly wounded and left the scene, barely able to fly. Nuk, the third one of us, was wounded and limped off to hide. We all communicate very well in raven speak but Joe and I sometimes use human speak which we learned by attending outdoor movies showing subtitles.

The largest wolf looked up and around the trees where we were perched. It spotted us and bared its teeth. Its nose was still bleeding from Crok’s attack. Twigs snapped in the distance; our human friend Nina is running away from the wolves. Oh, no!

The wolves picked up their heads in the direction of the snapping sounds and rose to their feet. Our only chance was to somehow separate the wolves from each other. I recalled a movie where I watched a large group of humans attacking another. A man on a horse shouted, ‘divide and conquer’! then rode toward a large group of other men on horses. The attackers split the other force into two. It worked for them; it might work for us.

Joe was next to me; I tapped his head with my wing and pointed toward the three wolves who were trotting in Nina’s direction. Crok just sat staring at the large wolf below us, he wanted to finish their battle. “Quork, quork, quonk, crok,” I called to Crok. Joe and I jumped off our branch and flew toward the three wolves heading in the direction of the twig snapping. Crok stayed, watching his target. His wings were bent up; he was ready for battle.

We saw Nina running, as we glided over the three wolves. They reached Nina before us and encircled her. She picked up a large stick and waved it in a circle toward the wolves. She screamed and yelled, “HELP me, someone HELP me!” Dad... Mom... Poe... anybody!”

Joe and I circled over Nina’s head, drawing the wolves attention away from her, but not for long. One of the wolves dashed in and grabbed a torn piece of her pants. It pulled on it until Nina lost her balance and fell down. “No, no, you big bad wolf. Get away from me.” She smacked its head hard with her stick, but it didn’t let go. A second wolf moved in, tore her bag away and chewed it to pieces as I circled above. I saw my chance and dove straight at it, my feet and claws outstretched in front of me. I hit the wolf right in the face. It howled and yelled, “oww, oww, yee, yee, ark, ark,” then backed away from Nina. She laid on the ground screaming while using her stick to smash the wolf who had a hold of her clothes. Joe was chasing the third wolf who circled in toward Nina. Joe landed on top of the wolf and drove his beak into its neck, pulling some of its fur out. It howled, then opened its mouth and snapped at Joe, just missing his tail. Joe flew up and landed in a tree, I joined him, and we watched as the wolf who had a hold of Nina’s pants, let go, but grabbed her leg in its mouth. “Owww, owww, aiiieee, aiiieee, ahh, oww!” she screamed. She smacked at the wolf with her stick, but it held on, its sharp teeth clenching Nina’s leg. Nina kept screaming while clubbing the wolf on its head. Each time she swung; the wolf snarled but didn’t let go. One of the wolves circling Nina, moved slowly toward her head. She turned and grabbed a small stick with her other hand. The wolf opened its mouth, bit down on the other end of the stick, and started pulling on it. Nina was stretched out now with a wolf at either end of her. The third wolf slowly moved toward her neck; we had seen wolves use these tactics on other animals. We needed to make our move now.

“Joe, fly over to that small tree and wait for my wing signal.”

Joe flew directly over Nina and the wolves. They glanced up at Joe as he flew past and landed in the tree. The wolves went back to their task of attacking Nina. I raised my wing to Joe, and he nodded. In my throatiest voice I yelled, “You three sonsabitches let her go!” I remembered hearing that call from an outdoor movie. I called out again, “Joe, get your noisy stick ready and shoot those furry bastards.”

“I am on it, Poe pal. Smokin’ Joe will save the day!” Joe squawked from his tree.

The two wolves let go of their hold of Nina and the other stopped right next to Nina’s head, its mouth open. They looked up and around, fear showing in their widening yellow eyes. Slowly they backed away from Nina, searching the sky for where the human voices might be coming from. I left my tree and flew right at the wolves who were grouped in a circle, their rear ends touching one another. Down I went, diving into open teeth-filled mouths. “Your circle won’t last against the mighty Poe-Joe show!” I yelled into their faces.

Joe attacked the group from the other side, stretching his talons in front of him and shouting, “Nevermore, nevermore!” I knew where he got that from. I smashed, feet first, into the face of the nearest wolf. The collision knocked me to the ground. I rolled away but quickly stood up. I couldn’t straighten my left wing so hopped away as fast as I could. I watched Joe fly back into the trees. His target was lying on its side, “arrr, arrr, ouuu, ouuuuooooo, aoiuuu,” it yelled in pain. The three wolves gathered themselves and ran back into the woods where they had left their large companion. Nina wasn’t a big enough prize to fight the Poe-Joe battle.

Nina was still lying on the ground, crying. She tried to stand up but fell backwards. Finally, she stood up, dropping her sticks. She just stood there, crying. Drops of water were running from her eyes. Joe flew over to me and we looked up at Nina.

Joe turned to me and said, “Poe, are you alright?” 

I stretched out my wing and waved it in a circle. “I think so but my wing hurts. I might not be able to make it all the way back to our roost without resting. Can you wait here with Nina while I go see how Crok is doing with the other wolf? Yell out a ‘quork, clik, clik’ if you need me.”

I hopped a little then jumped up and flew slowly toward where we left Crok and his wolf. I reached the battle spot and saw Crok, standing majestically in full control of his surroundings. His wolf and the others were nowhere to be seen. I landed close to Crok and walked over to him. He watched me come towards him; I could see he was badly injured. There were feathers all around and piles of bloody gray fur everywhere. Crok’s head was covered in blood, some was dripping from his beak. One of his wings hung down to the ground. He was standing on one leg; I couldn’t see the other one.

“Quork, clik, clik, clik, clik;” he trilled and then fell over.

“Quonk, clik, clik, clik,” I replied.

He didn’t answer, just stared up at me with one eye. He blinked once then closed his eye. Here is my great friend and hero, now lying motionless on the ground. I put my foot lightly on his neck, hoping to feel some movement. There wasn’t any. I began to get angry and thought to chase after the four furry monsters myself. A flutter of wings came from behind me. I turned and watched Joe land next to me.

“Joe, Crok beat off the wolf but paid with his life.”

Joe walked over to Crok and put his foot on Crok’s head, “He was the strongest and bravest of us all. I am very sad.”

Joe and I stood next to Crok. A noise turned our heads and we watched as our missing raven, Nuk, appeared from her hiding spot. She must have seen the entire battle. She limped over to us and began speaking. “Quork, quork, quork, gronk, clik, clik, caw, clak….; Nuk croaked and croaked until her throat turned raspy. Nuk told us that Crok dove at the wolf many times, hitting it with his talons until the wolf’s eyes were bloody. On one dive, the wolf fell down and Crok bit its eye out with his beak. The wolf got up on its hind legs and knocked Crok to the ground. The two of them tumbled around, feathers and fur flying. The wolf bit Crok’s leg off and ran into the trees with his leg in its mouth. Crok hopped after him for a short distance and then returned here. He stood, fell over, and stood back up again on one leg. Nuk felt paralyzed in her hiding spot and couldn’t help Crok. The three of us walked around Crok several times, hoping he would stand up on his one leg. He didn’t. One by one we hopped on Crok’s body, then flew back to Nina.

Nina was sitting on a log, her face in her hands. She lifted her head, “I would like to kiss and hug you all for an hour, you saved my life!”

Nina held out her hand, patted each of us on our heads, then slowly stood up and hobbled a short distance. She found a piece of cloth from her ripped up bag and wiped the dirt from her face and arms. We each took turns giving her a wing brush across her bloody leg then flew up into the trees, watching to see if any wolves returned.

I Smell a Human

My name is Brian and am a member of a search party with a dozen volunteers from the local counties of Cass, Itasca, and Wadena in northern Minnesota. Nina is my good friend who went missing following the tornado strikes near her uncle’s cabin on Roosevelt Lake. The search party is covering a forested area near the smashed car that Nina, her mom, and aunt were travelling in. The rescue team found her footprints leading into the woods. We  have a black Labrador dog named Butch who picked up Nina’s scent after our group found her makeup case in the woods.

Butch snapped his nose up from the ground and pulled hard on his leash. Harry unhooked his restraint and Butch bolted into a clearing up ahead. We ran after him as fast as we could. He stopped, sniffed the air and blasted off again into the woods, howling and barking loudly. Tripping over limbs and jumping over downed trees I ran ahead of our group. Suddenly Butch was quiet. I climbed over a large tree trunk; Paul and the rest followed. On the other side, there was Butch, sitting with his nose proudly pointing in the air enjoying a young woman petting his head.

“WE FOUND NINA,” I yelled several times while running over to her. Butch’s tail was wagging and so was mine. She heard my yell and saw all of us running toward her. She stood up, broke away from Butch and limped over to me.

 "Brian, is it you? It's me, it’s me …Nina!" she yelled.

We met in a crash of bodies as we wrapped our arms around each other.

“Nina, Nina, Nina! You made it, everything is all right now,” I whispered into her ear.

 I kissed her all over her face and forehead. Dried blood, sweat, tears, and dirt never tasted so good! We hugged each other as Paul and the other rescuers surrounded us and began clapping and cheering. Butch was barking and wagging his tail. It was like a scene from the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy returned to Kansas.

Nina gently pushed me away and said, “Brian, look up into the trees over there.” Nina pointed in the air. “Poe and his ravens saved my life! They fought three wolves who had a hold of me and were about to tear me apart!”

Our whole group looked up to where Nina was pointing. There they were, three of my feathered friends. Poe, Joe, and Nuk looked down at us. I waved and yelled out, “thank you my dear friends!”

Poe raised his wing just as the man with the shotgun raised it to his shoulder and aimed at the ravens.

“No, you imbecile!” Paul yelled and shoved the shotgun up in the air as it fired.

Poe, Joe, and Nuk quickly jumped off their branch, flew over us into the woods, and disappeared.