This worn storybook looks to have been written and decorated by a cub. A small pawprint adorns the cover.
There once was a sleepy, abandoned cottage on the edge of Harvest Den. But this cottage was different from all the others. It had legs! They were long as a heron's and as strong as if they belonged to the fastest journeykin in the derby.
But legs weren't the only thing that made the cottage special. It also snored! Long and loud into the night. Some bearkin neighbors complained that the cottage kept them awake all night. Between its thunderous snores, and the coughs of smoke that wheezed from its chimney, the village bearkin were fed up with all the noise!
One morning, the neighbors knocked on the cottage door. Or at least, they tried to... But the cottage stood so tall on its legs that nobody could reach the front stoop! A few bearkin tried climbing the legs, but the cottage was ticklish! It shook so mightily with laughter that the bearkin could hardly make it a few claw lengths up without falling off.
So the bearkin got a new idea. They tossed stones at the cottage door, trying to make knocking sounds. This seemed to get its attention, until one stone missed and accidentally broke the cottage window!
"Ouch!" the cottage shrieked, as broken glass streamed down its front like teardrops. The bearkin called out their apologies, but it was too late. In a huff, the cottage stormed off, stomping as many of the bearkin's flowerbeds and gardens as it could along the way.
For many moons, none of the village bearkin knew where the cottage went. Some rumors said it had been spotted in the bog, but no one worked up the courage to go check. Indeed, the cottage had found a secret spot near the bog's edge where no one could cause it any more trouble.
Until...one day, a strange woman appeared on the cottage's front stoop. How she had scaled its legs to the heights of the stoop, even the cottage was unsure.
"Poor thing," she said, her voice full of forced pity. "Those awful bearkin can be so cruel," she cooed. And through some strange show of odd gestures and harsh sounds, she mended the cottage window!
The cottage was shocked. And confused. But most of all, happy. Though the broken window was an accident, the truth was that the cottage hadn't felt this loved since before its builder had left it so long ago.
In a tremendous whoosh of warm, dusty air, the cottage swung open its door, welcoming the woman inside.
"A bit dusty, but...you will do quite nicely for my needs here in the bog. Yes, quite nicely." She smiled a sour smile, then shut the door behind her with a surprising gentleness.
From then on, she oft made herself at home in the cottage. Every visit, the cottage invited her in with a cozy fire and the warm light of the hearth. And here, she'd roost lazily by the window, scouring for unlucky bearkin lost wandering the bog alone.
***At the end of the story, a note in much neater writing reads: "Spooky and creative! A fine story, Poky. Imaginative as always!"
Janthir Wilds: Act 1: Penned by Poky — Read the story that Poised Arrow wrote as cub. (1
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