Crying Wind

Silver Horns was a strong and mighty Elk. There was not another Elk in the high mountains that was even half his size. His antlers were huge. They were four feet high and had twelve points and were as thick as a young sapling. He was proud of his antlers and polished them on the trunks of trees until they shined like silver in the sunlight. Silver Horns had over a hundred cows in his herd, and with luck, they would all have calves just before summer and his herd would double in size.

Silver Horns was proud and brave. He protected his herd from wolves and bears and mountain lions. More than once wolves had tried to attack his herd, but he had tossed some of them high into the air with his antlers and sent the rest running for their lives.

Life was good. Life was perfect-until Silver Horns heard the deep-throated bugle scream from another bull elk in the forest.

Another elk was in Silver Horn's territory! Silver Horn answered the call and started crashing through the woods to drive away the threat of another elk that would try to steal his herd.

Minutes later, two huge bull elks stood in the forest challenging each other, blowing and snorting and pawing the ground.

"I am Silver Horns, this is my forest, this is my herd, leave before I'm forced to rip you apart with my mighty antlers!" Silver Horn threatened.

"I am called Leaps to the Sky because no elk can leap higher than I can. And I can outrun a mountain lion. I have ten points on my antlers that are sharp and strong. You are older, but I am younger and stronger. I only have forty cows in my herd, but when I take your herd I will have more cows than any elk in the mountains. Leave now and save your life," Leaps to the Sky said.

Silver Horns had been challenged many times by many young bucks that wanted to steal his herd, but he had soon made them flee from his giant antlers. He had years of experience battling young bucks that tried to steal his herd.

The two elk pawed the ground, shook their giant antlers, growled, and bugled at each other. Then they charged. Their huge, heavy antlers crashed against each other time and time again. The noise echoed through the forest alerting all the cows of the battle.

Again and again the two Elk charged, crashed, and backed away to charge again. They were evenly matched. Silver Horns was huge and experienced in battle; Leaps to the Sky was strong and had youth on his side.

Surely this battle had to end soon. Silver Horns backed up and charged Leaps to the Sky. Their huge antlers crashed together, but when they tried to pull apart for another charge, the antlers were wedged together. They were nose-to-nose, eye-to-eye. They struggled to pull free, but their antlers wouldn't budge. They shook their massive heads. They even used their front hooves trying break the antlers apart.

An hour later they were still locked together. They were exhausted. All the ground around them was dug up from their hooves.

"We are going to die," Leaps to the Sky said. "We will die from thirst."

"If the wolves heard our battle, they will come out of the forest tonight and eat both of us. We cannot fight a pack of wolves with our antlers locked together. The wolves will eat us first and then attack our herds of cows because they will have no protection," Silver Horns said. "How foolish of us to fight. There are plenty of mountains and valleys for both of us. Now, because we both wanted to rule the forest, we will both die terrible deaths when the wolves find us."

"And then our herds will be easy prey to wolves, bears and mountain lions," Leaps to the Sky said.

"Wait, we are only trapped by our antlers. If we break them apart before the wolves find us, we can live," Silver Horns said. "If we don't sacrifice our antlers to free ourselves, the wolves will be gnawing on them tonight.

The two huge Elk struggled to a giant pine tree and began banging their antlers against the tree trunk. After several tries, a fork of Silver Horns' antler broke off. A few more heavy hits with their antlers and two points of Leaps to the Sky's antlers broke off. They ran into the tree one more time, and Silver Horn lost one more point. Leaps to the Sky lost two more points, but they were able to pull apart.

They both shook their heads and snorted. They still had massive antlers but they were no longer beautiful, no longer majestic. They had both lost some of their huge antlers, but they were alive and would not be food for the wolves tonight. In a few months, they would lose their broken antlers and grow new ones with even more points.

"We are lucky we didn't die today," Leaps to the Sky said, "I will move my herd to the higher pastures. You can keep your home in this part of the forest. We will never challenge each other again."

"It's done as you say. We will not fight again," Silver Horns said.

The two Elk moved away from each other, returning to their own herds.

Silver Horns let out an ear-piercing bugle. From deep in the forest came an answer from Leaps to the Sky.

Life was good. Life was perfect.

Crying Wind is the author of Crying Wind and My Searching Heart, When the Stars Danced, and Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in Our Veins.