Property of the House of Rask

kajira norla

A Boy's First Hunt

norla smiles then begins....Long ago, in the small village of Karatu, a Father decided it was time to take his son for his first hunt

You say: Game had been scares and the Father was growing concerned, though the Boy was young, he thought if he could learn to hunt it would improve the chances of the family surviviing through the winter

You say: Ths boy was too small to draw a longbow but he was doing with with a spear, so armed with a spear made to fit his size the Boy followed His Father out into the wild lands the surouned There village

You say: Three days they hunted, but saw no game, and three nights they sat by the fire and the father told the son storys of hunts and wars and tarn riders from the great citys, and each night the Boy listened and dreamed as He slept of the adventures He would have someday

You say: On the forth day they found the torn remains of a small beast, it was ripped to shreads, and near it there were tracks left by a larl, this worried the Father, for he know He and his small Son could not hope to win should the larl find them, and since they were far from it's normal range the larl must be desperite for food

You say: The father decided to double back and move as fast as possible back to the village, not only for He and His Boys safety, but also to warn those who shared His Homestone of the danger

You say: The Boy did His best to keep up and as it became to dark to see they had covered one third of the distants back to the village, that night the father did not speak but sat with his back to the fire so his eyes would be sharp, and keep gaurd all night, the boy though scared by His fathers nervousness was very tired and feel asleep in in just a few Ehn

You say: As the first light struck the ground it found the Boy following His father through the forest again, moving as fast as the boy could go, for they had awoke to the sound of the larl, and it was much too close for their liking

You say: They heard the larl again, now clearly on their trail. The Father knew they could not outrun it, and that he must try and stand against it, if only to let his son have a chance to escape

You say: The father stopped on the trail stepping sideways so the boy still running went right past, as he turned back raising is spear the father yelled at the boy to keep running toward the setting sun until he was home

You say: The larl charged down the path at the father, and with all his streagth the Father threw his spear, praying to the Preist Kings for a clean kill, but the larl moved left and the spear struck it in the left shoulder, slowing it some, but it would not kill it

You say: The father ran as fast as he cuold going away from the path in hopes that he could lead the larl farther from His sons trail before it killed him

You say: The father ran on, each Ihn thinking the larl would fall upon him, but knowing the farther he ran, the better the chance His Son would live...

You say: Finally he could run no further and was forced to stop, with his back against a tree he drew his knife and waited, determined to not go down with out a fight, he waited, and began to catch his breath, but that larl never came

You say: The Father did not understand but thought maybe he had hurt the larl more than he first believed, he had damaged his bow while he ran and armed with only a knife he decided it would be best to try and get back to the village, but He did not return to the path incase the larl was still on his scent, He did not wish to lead it back to his son

You say: With a great sigh of relief the father saw the lights of his village, and as he came to his hut he threw open the door to suprise His family who would sure have thought him dead

You say: The fathers heart sank as he found His son had not returned, and now the larl not having caught him seemed to have only one meaning, it had traked and killed his son instead

You say: At first light the father with 7 men from the village setout to kill the larl

You say: Fathers face was grim, his thoughts filled with the image of his young Son running as the larl stalked the boy, alone and no doubt feeling he had been abandoned by his Father

You say: The men had been on the path for less than on hour when they heard something heavy coming toward them on the trail, they took there posistions, and the Father stood as first spear as the sounds got closer, he straied his eyes to see down the trail but the larl seemed to be moving very slowly, perhaps from the wound in his shoulder

You say: the Fathers eyes filled with tears as at last he saw the source of the sound, it was His young son moving slowly down the trail, at first the Father thought he must be injured since he moved so slowly and learning badly, but he was aliveand the father ran to him, his spear still at the ready in case the larl wasstill on the boys trail

You say: As the boy saw his father he let go of the bundle he was dragging and ran to him, and the two hugged, the father searching with his hands for any wound on the boy but he found none

You say: And he looked back up the trail the Father saw the bloodly rough hacked rear quater of the larl the boy had been dragging, in disbleive he asked the His Son what had happend

You say: The boy though he looked tired and near exhuation explained how he had stopped right after his father did, He knew that if anything happend to His Father His family would not be able to survive, he held his small spear highand stood as second spear behind his father as the larl charged, and after Hisfather had cast the son waited until the larl was almost upon him beforecasting His spear, He know he could not penatrate deep enough to hit theheart, so he cast for the eye

You say: The larl died in an instance but it's body still knocked the boy overand it took him over and Ahn to climb out from under the larl, after he did sohe tried to find his father but could not, so he used his knife to cut meat forthe famliy and then setout for home

You say: The father took the boy and the mat home and the other men of the village went to get the rest of the larl for the village

You say: The boys mother who had been morning Him was over joyed when they got home

You say: The boy was no long a boy, though small and young, he was now a Man, for the meat of the larl helped the whole village, and his mother made him a winter coat from the pelt

norla smiles softly...And from then on in the village, whenever fathers took their sons out for their first hunt, this was one of the stories they told